Why Your Roku TV Isn’t Showing Up for Screen Mirroring (And How to Fix It)

Beyond streaming movies and playing games, one of the best things you can do on your smart TV is mirror your phone, tablet, or computer screen. Just like many other smart TV brands, Roku also supports this feature and you can easily mirror your phone to a Roku TV in just a few simple steps. All you need to do is look for the screen mirroring option in your Android’s Quick Settings, your Apple device’s Control Center, or Windows PC’s display settings page (called “Connect to Display Wirelessly”). Next, select your Roku TV from the list of available devices and you should be good to go.

It seems simple enough, but the fact is that you might encounter cases where your Roku TV is not showing up for screen mirroring on your device. There are several reasons why your TV may not be discoverable: from minor misconfigured settings to incompatibility with the device you’re mirroring from. We’ll tell you what you need to do to resolve these issues.

One of the most common mistakes users make when screen mirroring on Roku TV (or any other brand of smart TV, for that matter) is forgetting to put both devices on the same network. If they’re on different Wi-Fi networks, they won’t be able to find each other and your Roku TV won’t appear as a streaming option.

To check which Wi-Fi network your Roku TV is on, here’s what you need to do:

1. Hit it home button on your Roku TV remote to access the Home screen.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Select Network.
4. Press About.

The information for the network you are currently connected to will then appear on the left, with the network name at the very top. While you’re here, make sure the signal strength also reads “Excellent,” which means your Roku TV has a stable connection with your router. Now that you know which Wi-Fi the TV is using, connect your phone, tablet, or computer to the same network and try mirroring your screen again. You should see your Roku TV in the list of available devices to stream to.

With today’s interconnectedness of consumer devices, it’s easy to assume that every device works with every other device you own. This is not the case for Roku TV when it comes to screen mirroring, however. This Roku feature only supports two protocols: Miracast (for Android and Windows) and AirPlay 2 (for Apple devices). If your phone, tablet, or computer doesn’t have any of these options, your Roku TV won’t appear for screen mirroring at all when you try to connect.

Google Pixel is a popular Android brand that does not come with Miracast. Pixel devices are compatible with Chromecast instead of Miracast. So, unless you connect a Chromecast streaming device to your Roku TV, mirroring your Pixel phone’s screen won’t be possible.

Unfortunately, other than using an external device, there’s nothing you can do if your device isn’t compatible with Roku TV. You will need to resort to another phone, tablet, or computer for screen mirroring to the Roku TV.

If your Roku TV’s screen mirroring mode is set to Prompt, a notification will appear on your TV with options to always allow connection, allow only for current session, block for current session, and always block. It’s quite easy to select the wrong button when you’re in a hurry, so you might have accidentally blocked your device. Fortunately, you can still remove the device from the blocked list. Follow these steps to do so:

1. From the Home screen of your Roku TV, navigate to Settings.
2. Select System.
3. Choose Screen mirroring.
4. Open Screen mirroring devices.
5. Check to see if any devices are listed under “Devices still blocked”.

If your phone, tablet or computer is blocked, unblock it by selecting it and choosing Remove device from list. Now check if Roku TV shows up for screen mirroring on your device.

For AirPlay, there is no blocked list to clear, but you can try unpairing all connected devices to refresh the connection. To do this, go to Settings > Apple AirPlay and HomeKit from the Roku TV home screen. Then open About AirPlayselect Reset paired devicesand validate by pressing Unpair devices. When you mirror your screen to the Roku TV, you may be asked to enter the AirPlay code again before you can connect.

Your Roku TV’s screen mirroring mode is already enabled, so even without touching any settings, you should be able to see the Roku TV on your phone, tablet, or computer every time you try to mirror your screen. However, you may have already inadvertently changed the configuration, preventing the Roku TV from accepting screen mirroring requests. Here’s how to check if this is the case:

1. From the Roku TV home screen, go to Settings.
2. Open System.
3. Choose Screen mirroring.
4. Click on Screen Mirroring Mode.
5. Check which option is selected.

If set to “Never allow”, choose Fast Or Always allow. “Prompt” means you’ll see an alert on the TV every time a device wants to mirror its screen, and you’ll need to allow or deny the connection. “Always allow” means that any device connected to the same Wi-Fi network can automatically mirror its screen without asking your permission.

If, on the other hand, your Roku TV has always been set to “Prompt” or “Always Allow” but it still doesn’t show up for screen mirroring, YouTuber WorldofTech shared a workaround that fixed this common Roku problem for him. What you need to do is restart your device and the Roku TV. Once they are turned back on, go to Settings > System > Screen mirroring mode again from the TV home screen. Then temporarily select Never allow before returning to your preferred mode (“Prompt” or “Always allow”).

For AirPlay, you need to head to Settings > Apple AirPlay and HomeKit from the home screen instead. Then simply select AirPlay and change it from “Off” to “On”.

Some Roku users have reported that their Roku TV will not display for screen mirroring if AirPlay is enabled while they are using a Miracast-enabled Android or Windows device. If you’re also trying to mirror a non-Apple device but your Roku TV isn’t cooperating, it’s a good idea to try turning off AirPlay to see if that causes the connection to drop. Here’s a quick guide on how to do it:

1. Go to the Home screen of your Roku TV.
2. In the side panel, select Settings.
3. Click on Apple AirPlay and HomeKit.
4. Check if AirPlay is set to “On”.
5. Press AirPlay to disable the feature.

From there, restart the TV by removing it from the wall outlet and waiting a few seconds before turning it back on. Next, check if the Roku TV now appears for screen mirroring on your Android or Windows device.