You can mirror your Android phone to MacBook

Mirroring your iPhone to a MacBook is a very seamless experience. If both devices are connected to the same wireless network, you can easily start an unlimited mirroring session using the iPhone Mirroring app on the MacBook. It allows you to put your iPhone aside (it goes into sleep mode once mirroring starts) while still being able to interact with it using the mouse pointer and clicks. The iPhone and MacBook communicate so well because they both use AirPlay, Apple’s wireless communications protocol. Android phones, on the other hand, don’t use AirPlay, making the iPhone Mirroring app useless. But there are ways to have the same experience or get closer to it.

To mirror your Android phone to MacBook, you will need the help of third-party apps. They allow you to mirror your Android phone both with a USB cable and wirelessly. With the wired method described here, you will be able to use mouse commands to control your Android device, and it’s completely free. The app to mirror your Android to MacBook uses the freemium model and is similar to screen mirroring from iPhone to MacBook using Control Panel (you won’t be able to control it on your MacBook).

Among the options to mirror your Android phone screen to your MacBook, Scrcpy is the completely free option. It is an open source application that does not require any root access to your Android device. Simply go to its macOS GitHub page and download the archive file for the correct version for your MacBook – aarch64 for Apple Silicon MacBooks or x86_64 for Intel MacBooks.

Before using Scrcpy, you will need to enable USB debugging on your Android device. Although the steps are different for each manufacturer, here is how to generally do it:

1. Go to Settings > About phone > Software information.

2. Tap the build number seven times.

3. Enter your device’s PIN.

4. Tap OK on the prompt asking you to enable Developer Options.

5. Go back to Settings.

6. Tap Developer Options.

7. Enable USB debugging.

With that out of the way, you can now run Scrcpy on your MacBook. You might encounter the macOS security warning that the app is not from the App Store, but after bypassing it, you will be able to run it without issue afterwards. Follow the steps below:

1. Extract Scrcpy and double-click the executable.

2. If you receive a warning message from your MacBook, click Done.

3. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security.

4. Under Security, click Open Anyway next to Scrcpy.

5. Enter your Mac password to confirm.

6. Double-click the scrcpy executable again to start mirroring.

7. Control your Android using mouse pointer.

If you want to mirror your Android phone to the MacBook wirelessly, there are several apps that allow you to do that as well. ApowerMirror, which you can download from the App Store, is a good one. Next, you will also need to install ApowerMirror on your Android device by downloading it from the Google Play Store. Once these two applications are in place, they will allow the Android phone and the MacBook to communicate over the air.

However, since you will be using the free version of ApowerMirror, you will be limited to 10 minutes per mirroring session, 720p resolution, and one device at a time. There will also be a watermark in the lower right corner of the screen. However, once the session is over, you can start another one (as many times as you want). If you want something like unlimited mirroring and 2K resolution, you’ll need to create an account and upgrade.

To mirror your Android screen to a MacBook using ApowerMirror, connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network (you don’t need internet) and follow the steps below:

1. Open the ApowerMirror app on your MacBook.

2. Click Wireless Connection.

3. Open the ApowerMirror app on your Android device.

4. Tap Cast.

5. Under Castable Devices, tap the device that appears: it will start with “Apowersoft”.

6. Set the drop-down list to Share Entire Screen.

7. Tap Share Screen to start mirroring.