The problem

You found something you want to watch. But you found it on your phone or your laptop.

You want to see it on your TV.

Watch it on your TV with Abeam

Abeam is an app for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac that does two things:

• Show a YouTube video on your TV.
• Mirror your screen to your TV.

It does this with the help of a companion app called Abeam Receiver running on a Mac connected to your TV.

How it works

Set things up

Abeam runs on macOS 26 Tahoe and iOS/iPadOS 27. Get it from the App Store.

Abeam Receiver runs on macOS 13 Ventura. Get it from GitHub. If your drawer has a dusty MacBook (~2017 or newer), now’s the time to take it out of retirement and hook it up to your TV. You may need a USB-C–HDMI adapter.

Send a video

Copy a URL or use the Share button in the YouTube app to watch it on your TV.

This doesn’t use AirPlay or Google Cast.

Share your screen

Open Abeam and go for it.

Why not AirPlay or Google Cast

If they work for you, you should use them. They’re built into your phone or computer, and they work great within their ecosystem.

I wrote Abeam because I ran into too many little issues with each of them. If you’re curious, you can check out the list of papercuts I ran into.