Iphone-Cast

Read this in Espanol.

Windows desktop app for mirroring your iPhone's screen (AirPlay 2 Mirroring) to your PC. Built for personal use.

This folder contains a simple Python launcher (Tkinter GUI) that drives UxPlay, the open-source AirPlay 2 receiver that does the real work (cryptographic handshake, H.264 stream reception, GStreamer rendering).

+----------+    AirPlay 2 mirror     +----------------------+
|  iPhone  | ----------------------> |  Windows PC          |
|          |                         |  +----------------+  |
| Control  |                         |  | Iphone-Cast.py |  |
| Center   |  Control Center ->      |  | (GUI/launcher) |  |
|   ->     |  Screen Mirroring ->    |  +-------+--------+  |
| Screen   |  "PC-Cast"              |          v           |
| Mirror   |                         |       uxplay.exe     |
+----------+                         |       (GStreamer)    |
                                     +----------------------+

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• Python 3.10+ installed and on PATH
• iPhone and PC on the same WiFi network (no VPN, no guest network)

Everything else (MSYS2, GStreamer, UxPlay, Bonjour SDK, venv, .exe, desktop shortcut, firewall rules) is set up by install.ps1.

Quick install

git clone https://github.com/JVMart/Iphone-Cast.git
cd Iphone-Cast
.\install.ps1

On a clean Windows 10/11 box this takes 25-40 minutes unattended. Every step is idempotent, so if something fails mid-run you can re-execute the script without worry: it skips what's already done.

Flag	Effect
-SkipFirewall	Don't touch firewall rules (you'll add them yourself).
-Force	Re-run every step (useful after UxPlay or GStreamer updates).

If PowerShell blocks the script because of execution policy:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

What install.ps1 does: (1) silently downloads and installs MSYS2, (2) invokes scripts\build_uxplay.sh, which installs 244 pacman packages + clones the Bonjour SDK + builds UxPlay with Ninja, (3) creates .venv\, (4) compiles Iphone-Cast.exe with the embedded icon, (5) places the desktop shortcut, (6) adds 3 firewall rules (prompts for elevation). Read the script for details.

Manual install (advanced)

If you prefer to understand or control each step, or if install.ps1 fails and you want to debug, follow the sections below. This is exactly what the script does.

Install UxPlay on Windows

UxPlay has no official .msi installer. It's installed via MSYS2 (a Linux-style environment for Windows that ships GStreamer). It's tedious the first time but you only do it once.

Step 1 - Install MSYS2

Download and install MSYS2 from https://www.msys2.org/ . Accept the default path C:\msys64.

When done it will open an MSYS2 UCRT64 terminal. If it doesn't, open it from the Start menu: "MSYS2 UCRT64" (important — not "MSYS2 MSYS").

Step 2 - Update MSYS2

In the UCRT64 terminal:

pacman -Syu
# Close and reopen UCRT64 when asked.
pacman -Su

Step 3 - Install dependencies and build UxPlay

3a. pacman packages. In the UCRT64 terminal:

pacman -S --needed \
    git \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-ninja \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openssl \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libplist \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gstreamer \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gst-plugins-base \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gst-plugins-good \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gst-plugins-bad \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gst-plugins-ugly \
    mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gst-libav

3b. Bonjour SDK. UxPlay needs Apple's Bonjour headers (dns_sd.h, dnssd.lib) to advertise the mDNS service on the network. It's not in pacman. The quick way is to clone a pre-extracted mirror of the SDK:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/G-P-S/bonjour-win-sdk.git /c/BonjourSDK
export BONJOUR_SDK_HOME="C:\\BonjourSDK"

If you want this to persist, add that export line to your ~/.bashrc.

Alternative: download "Bonjour SDK for Windows v3.0" from Apple's official site (developer.apple.com, free account required) and install it. By default it lands in C:\Program Files\Bonjour SDK, which is where UxPlay looks without needing to touch BONJOUR_SDK_HOME.

3c. Clone and build UxPlay.

git clone https://github.com/FDH2/UxPlay.git
cd UxPlay
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -G Ninja -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/ucrt64
ninja
ninja install

This puts uxplay.exe at C:\msys64\ucrt64\bin\uxplay.exe (the app auto-detects this path, and it's the same folder where the GStreamer DLLs live).

Note: older guides used cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" + mingw32-make. The current mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc package no longer ships mingw32-make.exe, so we use Ninja instead.

Shortcut: some UxPlay releases include precompiled binaries in the repo's Releases tab. If you find one for Windows, download it and point config.py -> UXPLAY_PATH at it. You can skip everything above.

Step 4 - Verify from a regular Windows terminal

Open cmd or PowerShell and try:

C:\msys64\ucrt64\bin\uxplay.exe -h

If it prints the help text, it's installed. If it complains about a missing GStreamer DLL, add C:\msys64\ucrt64\bin to your system PATH (Settings -> System -> About -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables).

Create the Python venv

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\activate
# This app uses only the Python standard library — no pip install needed.

Usage

Double-click Iphone-Cast.exe (next to main.py). Equivalent to opening a terminal and running:

python main.py

The .exe is a tiny Win32 wrapper (~520 KB with the embedded icon) that launches pythonw.exe main.py with no console. It prefers the project's .venv; if missing, it falls back to pythonw.exe on PATH. To rebuild it after editing launcher.c, launcher.rc, or the icon:

# in the MSYS2 UCRT64 terminal, from the project root
/ucrt64/bin/magick.exe -background none -density 512 icon.svg \
    -define icon:auto-resize="256,128,64,48,32,16" Iphone-Cast.ico
/ucrt64/bin/windres.exe launcher.rc -O coff -o launcher_res.o
/ucrt64/bin/gcc.exe -O2 -mwindows -static -static-libgcc \
    -o Iphone-Cast.exe launcher.c launcher_res.o

A desktop shortcut (Iphone-Cast.lnk) is also created with the same icon, pointing at the .exe.

1. Click Iniciar receptor (Start receiver) in the app.
2. On the iPhone: swipe down from the top-right corner to open Control Center.
3. Tap Screen Mirroring (two overlapping rectangles icon).
4. Pick PC-Cast from the list.
5. Your iPhone screen shows up in a window on the PC. Open your movie app and play.
6. (Optional) Click Pantalla completa to get a borderless fullscreen view of just the mirror. A small [X Salir] overlay appears in the top-right corner and fades out after 3 seconds of no mouse/keyboard activity. Press Esc or click the overlay button to exit.
7. To stop: on the iPhone, go back to Control Center -> Screen Mirroring -> Stop Mirroring. Then click Parar (Stop) on the PC.

While the iPhone is actively mirroring, the PC display is kept awake (SetThreadExecutionState) so Windows doesn't dim or sleep mid-movie. The lock releases automatically when the iPhone disconnects or you stop the receiver.

Configuration (config.py)

Variable	What it does
SERVICE_NAME	Name shown on the iPhone (default "PC-Cast").
UXPLAY_PATH	Absolute path to uxplay.exe if auto-detection fails.
START_FULLSCREEN	If True, UxPlay starts in fullscreen (-fs).
UXPLAY_EXTRA_ARGS	Extra flags list (see uxplay -h for all of them).

Useful flags for UXPLAY_EXTRA_ARGS:

• ["-vs", "d3d11videosink"] - force the Direct3D 11 sink (faster on Windows).
• ["-fps", "60"] - force 60fps (if your iPhone supports it).
• ["-p", "tcp"] - use TCP instead of UDP (stabilizes on noisy WiFi).
• ["-async"] - asynchronous audio mode (slightly higher latency, fewer dropouts).

Firewall and network

The first time, Windows will ask if you want to allow uxplay.exe (and maybe Python). Allow both on the private network.

If "PC-Cast" doesn't show up on the iPhone:

# PowerShell as Administrator
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "UxPlay AirPlay TCP" `
    -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 7000,7001,7100 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "UxPlay AirPlay UDP" `
    -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 6000-7100 -Action Allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "mDNS" `
    -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 5353 -Action Allow

What works and what doesn't

Works fine (no DRM or permissive DRM): Photos, Camera, Safari (web), YouTube, Twitch, games, iPhone home screen, Messages, "alternative" streaming apps, general browsing.

Does NOT work (DRM-blocked): Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Movistar+, DAZN, Filmin. These apps detect that the receiver isn't MFi-certified and render a black screen or show an error. There's no legal way to get around this from the receiver side — it's end-to-end DRM.

If your "movie app" is one of the above, you can't mirror it. This is independent of UxPlay: no solution (paid or otherwise) outside Apple's MFi list will let you.

Project structure

Iphone-cast/
|-- install.ps1         # All-in-one installer (main entry point)
|-- scripts/
|   +-- build_uxplay.sh # UxPlay build (invoked by install.ps1)
|-- main.py             # Tkinter GUI (launcher)
|-- uxplay_runner.py    # subprocess wrapper for uxplay.exe
|-- fullscreen.py       # Win32 fullscreen, overlay, Esc hook, keep-awake
|-- config.py           # Service name, path to UxPlay, extra flags
|-- launcher.c          # Wrapper .exe source (Win32, gcc-compilable)
|-- launcher.rc         # Resource embedding the icon into the .exe
|-- icon.svg            # Vector design of the icon (AirPlay-style)
|-- LICENSE             # MIT (our code)
|-- THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md  # GPL/LGPL/MIT components in the bundle
|-- PRIVACY.md          # Privacy policy (for Microsoft Partner Center)
|-- README.md           # This file (English)
+-- README.es.md        # Spanish version

Iphone-Cast.exe, Iphone-Cast.ico, .venv/, and launcher_res.o are artifacts generated by install.ps1; they're in .gitignore to keep the public repo clean.

License

This project's own code (main.py, uxplay_runner.py, fullscreen.py, i18n.py, user_settings.py, config.py, launcher.c, install.ps1, scripts/, icon.svg) is released under the MIT License — see LICENSE.

The combined installer bundle redistributes third-party software (notably UxPlay under GPL v3, GStreamer under LGPL v2.1, and various permissively-licensed codec libraries). The bundle as a whole is therefore subject to GPL v3 redistribution obligations. See THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md for the complete component list, license texts, and source links.

Troubleshooting

• "uxplay.exe not found" -> install UxPlay (section above) or set UXPLAY_PATH in config.py.
• "PC-Cast" shows up but tapping it doesn't connect -> port 7000 is taken by another app (close AirServer/5KPlayer/iTunes). Or firewall is blocking UDP 6000-7100.
• Connects but the picture is black -> the iPhone app has DRM. Nothing you can do.
• Stuttering picture / audio drift -> try UXPLAY_EXTRA_ARGS = ["-p", "tcp"] or move the iPhone closer to the router.
• UxPlay window doesn't appear -> the GStreamer sink might have failed. Try UXPLAY_EXTRA_ARGS = ["-vs", "d3d11videosink"] or ["-vs", "glimagesink"].