How to turn off AirPlay on all your devices

AirPlay is an immensely useful Apple feature which enables the user to switch content streaming from one device to another at the tap of a button. For example, one minute, you’re listening to Apple Music on your iPhone, and the next, you’ve seamlessly transferred the audio over to your big-screen TV with the vastly superior speakers. But how do you turn off AirPlay when you’re finished? Is there an OFF button or do you need to dig to find the setting? We’ll look at all Apple devices and how to turn off AirPlay on each of them.

How to turn off AirPlay on your iPhone or iPad

The setting will slightly vary on the iPhone or iPad because some apps use a different button to get to the AirPlay function. While many use the standard Apple icon of a pyramid within three circular lines, apps like YouTube, for example, use a square with the RSS icon on the left-hand side.

Whichever icon the app uses, tap it to be taken to the AirPlay options. There, you can turn on and turn off AirPlay. To turn it off, you would just select the original device again, in this case the iPhone or iPad, t0 break the connection.

Screen mirroring on iPhone and iPad

If you are using AirPlay to mirror your screen, either to a TV or to a Mac, then turning it off is simple. Just go back to Control Center and tap the screen mirroring icon. This will give you a list of AirPlay-enabled devices on your home network. At the bottom of the list will be an option to stop screen mirroring. Select that.

How to turn off audio streaming on your iPhone or iPad

If you are using AirPlay to stream your Apple Music or Spotify music to a HomePod or TV, you can easily turn AirPlay on and off by tapping the AirPlay icon at the bottom of the screen. When you do so, you will get your standard list of all AirPlay-compatible devices currently available on your network.

To turn AirPlay off, just select the device you were originally playing it on — in this case the iPhone or iPad — to break the connection.

How to turn off automatic AirPlay to your TV

Apple has this really annoying feature where AirPlay will automatically kick in if an Apple device is in close proximity to a TV. Why Apple feels the need to make these decisions for us is a mystery, but you’ll be happy to know that you can easily turn off automatic AirPlay to a TV.

• On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > AirPlay & Handoff.
• Tap Automatically AirPlay to TVs.
• Select either Ask or Never.

How to turn off AirPlay on a Mac

AirPlay on a Mac is just like AirPlay on an iPhone or iPad. The app you’re using will have an AirPlay button and when you’re finished, select the Mac on the list to break the connection to the other device. If you’re experiencing difficulties though, you can also go to System Settings > General > AirPlay Receiver, and toggle it off.

If you are screen mirroring from a Mac, simply click the Control Center icon next to the date. Then click Screen Mirroring. An option will now appear to turn off Screen Mirroring.

How to turn off audio streaming on a Mac

After listening to Apple Music or Spotify on your Mac, you can turn off AirPlay by clicking the AirPlay icon in the top-right corner of the app screen. Select the Mac to break the AirPlay connection to the device you were streaming to.

How to turn off AirPlay on Apple TV

Apple TVs are usually an output for AirPlay streaming, not a source. If someone’s actively streaming to your TV, hit the Back (<) or Menu button to interrupt, depending on which model of Siri Remote you have.

When you don’t want anyone pushing media to your TV, it’s extremely simple to block it. Open the Settings app, select AirPlay and HomeKit, then choose AirPlay to turn the feature on or off.

If you’re using AirPlay speakers for audio, you can switch back to your TV’s hardwired speakers via Settings > Video and Audio > Audio Output and choosing TV Speaker under Default Audio Output. Make sure nothing is selected under Temporary Audio Output.

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