How to Connect Phone to TV With USB

How to Connect Phone to TV with USB – Getting Started

Smartphones offer a convenient way to access content on the go. But they leave a lot to be desired when it comes to hooking them up to a big display such as a smart TV.

You could be watching something on your smartphone that you’d want to see on a bigger screen or share with others. Fortunately, smartphones are equipped with multitasking features such as gaming, music playback, and video streaming.

Most of them also have the computing capability of a pc in a pocket-sized device, which includes the ability to link them to a second display or screen such as your television.

Users of Android and iOS devices have a plethora of wired and wireless alternatives for connecting their smartphones to smart TVs. However, in this review, we’ll look at how to connect Android and iOS smartphones to TV via USB.

Why should I Connect my Smartphone to A TV via USB?

If you’re gaming and want to connect your smartphone to a smart TV, a USB link cuts down on the lag you’d encounter with a wireless setup.

It’s also handy when there’s no WiFi or when the wireless reception is poor, necessitating a cable connection to access the internet.

Alternatively, you may display select images to the rest of the room, stream higher-resolution clips, or simply just watch stuff on a larger screen.

Android Smartphones

Use USB Cable

How to Connect Phone to TV with USB – Use USB Cable

If your TV has a USB port, you can use a USB cable to connect your smartphone. Instead of just charging your phone when you connect to your TV, click on your notification area to change the protocol from ‘charging’ to ‘files transfer.’

When you want to view files or images on a compatible TV, this method is used since it technically transfers your files for viewing on your TV.

Use USB Adapter

Use a USB Adapter

This method is ideal when you want to mirror your phone’s display to your TV. You need to have an HDMI USB adapter or cable for this method to work.

An HDMI to USB adapter is the best option because you can connect the adapter to your Android phone, then connect an HDMI end to your TV and start streaming.

Ensure your phone supports HDMI Alt Mode before attempting to use this method.

Also, your android phone might have a mini USB port instead of a USB type C port. So this is something else to consider.

Use an MHL USB Adapter

How to Connect Phone to TV with USB – Use an MHL USB Adapter

The MHL (mobile high-definition link) protocol allows compatible phones to connect to a smart TV.

The overall configuration for using MHL to connect your smartphone to a smart TV via USB requires you to have an HDMI cable, an MHL-compatible smartphone, a power cable, and a smart TV with an HDMI output, and a USB to HDMI MHL adapter.

If your smartphone is MHL compatible, connect it to the HDMI MHL adapter and then connect an HDMI cable to the adapter.
Finally, connect the HDMI cable to your smart TV.
You might be concerned about your phone running out of juice. However, you can be at ease because the adapter has a charging port so that you can charge your smartphone as you stream.

iPhone

Use USB Lightning Cable

Use a USB Lightning Cable

This iPhone USB to TV connection process is similar to the Android one, except you’ll need a lighting cable which differs depending on your iPhone model.

Connect the lighting cable on one end to your iPhone and the other end to your TV.
Next, change the usage protocol from ‘charging’ to ‘files transfer.’

Now you can view your iPhone files or photos on a compatible TV as this connection technically transfers your files and photos for viewing on your TV.

Use a USB Lighting Adapter

Use a USB Lighting Adapter

For video streaming from your iPhone, you can use a Lighting to HDMI adapter or Lightning to VGA adapter, depending on the port on your TV.

So connect the adapter to your smartphone on the smaller end and then connect an HDMI or VGA cable to the adapter.
Finally, connect the other end of the HDMI cable to your TV and start streaming.

There are plenty of 3^rd party cables, but most of them don’t work if you’d like to watch saved clips on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Prime Video.

Why is this? Because these cables lack HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), which prevents piracy of the content is mirrored.

Note: You can also connect your Android or iPhone to TV with USB using a converter. So get a converter to connect the USB cable to your phone and the converter, then connect the converter to your TV. The benefit of this method is your phone will charge as its mirrors to TV.

Final Thought

To sum it all up, although the method of connecting your smartphone to a TV via USB varies based on the smartphone and TV input, it’s not that difficult to do once you figure out what’s needed and how to establish the connection.