How to show photos from your phone on a TV without showing everything

A big screen is the best way to show a room full of people your holiday or a new baby. It’s also the most public screen you’ll ever put your phone on. Everyone is looking, nobody is looking away, and the photo after the one you meant to show is only a swipe away. A little preparation turns that from a gamble into something you don’t have to think about.

Streaming one photo versus mirroring everything

Phones can put pictures on a TV in two quite different ways.

Streaming sends a photo or video from inside an app. The TV shows what that app sends and nothing else. On iPhone, you do this from the Photos app: open a photo, tap the Share button, then the option to stream to a TV, and choose the TV. On Android, many apps show a Cast button for the same purpose.

Mirroring copies your whole screen to the TV. Everything you do on the phone is shown: switching apps, notifications, your home screen, search suggestions and the photo you swipe past on the way to the right one. On iPhone, mirroring starts from Control Center. On Android, it’s usually a Cast or Screen cast tile in Quick Settings, or an option in your TV’s companion app to cast your screen.

When you’re showing photos, stream from the app if you can. Mirror only when you need to show something an app can’t stream.

Before you connect

Gather the photos into one album. Make an album with just the pictures you want to show and play them from there. You won’t need to scroll through your whole library, and the next photo will always be one you chose.

Turn on do not disturb. Messages, calls and app alerts can appear on top of what you’re showing, especially when mirroring. Do not disturb or a focus mode keeps them quiet. Hiding notification previews helps too. See hiding message previews on your lock screen.

Close what you don’t want seen. If you’re mirroring, the TV may show the app you were last using or your recent apps. Close private apps first.

Check which TV you’re connecting to. In a hotel, an office or a flat with several TVs, the list can include screens in other rooms. If the TV shows a code, enter it on your phone; that confirms you’ve got the right one.

While you’re showing

• Hand over the TV remote, not your phone. If someone wants to see more, offer to scroll yourself. See showing one photo without them scrolling.
• Use slideshow mode from the album so the phone does the scrolling.
• Pause before switching apps. On a mirrored screen, the app switcher shows previews of everything you have open.

When you’re done

Stop streaming or mirroring from the phone. On iPhone, tap the streaming button and turn it off, or open Control Center and tap Stop Mirroring. On Android, tap the cast notification or the Quick Settings tile and disconnect.

Your phone may offer to connect automatically next time. On iPhone, the automatic streaming setting is under Settings, then General, where you can choose Automatic, Never or Ask. Ask is the safest choice if you visit other people’s homes or stay in hotels.

TVs that aren’t yours

Hotel TVs, rentals and friends’ TVs come with extra questions.

• Some TVs remember devices that have connected. Remove your phone from the TV’s device list if you see one.
• Avoid signing in to your photo or video accounts on the TV itself. If you do, sign out before you leave.
• Don’t stream very private photos to a TV you don’t control, since you can’t see what its software keeps.

The other way photos reach a TV

Some TVs show photos without you casting at all: a screensaver or ambient mode pulling from a cloud photo account that someone signed in to the TV. If the account is yours, every photo in it is a candidate for the living room wall. Check which accounts are signed in to your TV and which albums its screensaver uses. Shared family albums deserve a look too. See shared albums and your privacy.

Keeping private photos out of the way

The surest way to stop a private photo appearing on the big screen is for it not to be in your gallery at all. Silo, coming soon to iPhone and Android, keeps imported photos in an encrypted vault with its own PIN. They don’t appear in your gallery, in memories or in a cast slideshow, and Silo can hide its screen in the app switcher, so a mirrored screen doesn’t show a preview of it.