How to Use iPhone as Speaker For Mac

Have you ever desired to watch a movie on your iMac or MacBook that was kept away from your bed when your significant other was sleeping? Of course, using a monitor headset with its annoyingly long connection or even a Bluetooth headphone is now a possibility. What if you don’t have any of those things? You can use your iPhone as a wireless speaker for your Mac, it turns out. All you need is a WiFi connection and simple software to get started. To get audio from your Mac on your iPhone, follow the steps below.

You may also like to know How to Use iPhone as Wireless Microphone For Mac.

How to Listen Mac’s Audio on Your iPhone

We’re going to utilize an app called Airfoil for this. There are two versions of the software for sending and receiving audio signals. Airfoil is used to send audio from one device to another, while Airfoil Satellite is used to receive audio. Let’s get this party started to use iPhone as a speaker for Mac.

Step 1: Download the app

On your iPhone, install the Airfoil Satellite app. The iOS app is free to download, and there are no commercials or paid versions as of the last time I checked.

download and install Airfoil Satellite

Of course, the software is now looking for its macOS counterpart, so get the Airfoil macOS app. The macOS program is a trial edition with a ten-minute session limit for each session. The audio quality begins to deteriorate after ten minutes, but it continues to play.

use iPhone as a speaker for Mac

Step 2: Connecting the two devices

The Airfoil Satellite app on your iPhone will display your available devices as soon as a macOS app is discovered. Please keep in mind that in order for the app to detect additional devices, all of your devices must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

connecting two devices to use iPhone as speaker

Step 3: Initiating transmission of the audio signal

Click Speakers in your macOS Airfoil app, and your iPhone’s name should appear in the list. Choose your iPhone from the drop-down menu.

initiating transmission of the audio signal

You can also tap the small computer symbol in the top right corner of the iPhone app. If you’re having trouble receiving audio, go to this screen and tap Receive Audio to manually enable transmission. This is useful if you’re already far away from your iMac.

use iPhone as speaker for Mac

Step 4: Choosing the source

Despite the fact that your devices have now formed a connection, you must still choose an audio source. The foregoing steps have established a connection between the two devices, with your iPhone serving as the output device. However, the macOS program allows you to stream audio from your Mac to your iPhone from different sources.

Select an audio source in your macOS app by clicking on Source at the top of the window.

choosing the source from Mac

Alternatively, you can select the source from within your iOS app. Simply select Source from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

select source to use iPhone as a speaker for Mac

Step 5: Installing ACE

Following your selection of a source, such as Safari, the macOS software will prompt you to install an Audio Capture Engine.

installing ace into macbook

When you click on install ACE, you’ll see another pop-up window explaining what ACE is and how it can help you. Simply click install on this window as well, and ACE will be installed. Because it’s such a small item, like a patch, it only takes a fraction of a second to put it on.

install ACE to use iPhone as speaker for Mac

Step 6: Activating audio on iPhone

Here’s when it gets a bit complicated. You’ll have a hard time figuring out how to obtain the audio on iPhone because there are so many tabs on both versions of the app. Here’s a hint: You must search for Airplay Devices on your iPhone. These are the audio devices that you can use to send audio. On this screen, tap on your iPhone’s name to begin receiving audio without lag. It worked fairly well for us, at least.

activating audio on iphone

In the same way, you may select and activate a receiving device from your macOS. This is the place to start looking. To activate a device, click on the small speaker symbol next to its name.

use iPhone as speaker for Mac

Listen to MacBook Audio on Your iPhone

So, just follow these procedures and you’ll be able to use this feature in the future. If you use it frequently, you might want to consider purchasing the app. A single-user, one-time license key for a macOS app costs roughly $35 and can be used on numerous Macs. It will cost you about $18 to upgrade in the future. So, given the price, I believe it must be of practical use to you in order for you to make such a buy. This way you can use iPhone as a speaker for Mac with easy steps as described above. As a result, go ahead and get it set up. If you have a problem that I haven’t addressed here, please let me know in the comments section below and I will respond as quickly as possible.

Also read 7 iOS Apps to Take Scrolling Screenshots on iPhone or iPad.

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