How to use Home Sharing between Mac, iPad, and iPhone

Learn how to stream music, videos, and movies from your Mac to your iPhone, iPad, or another Mac using Apple’s built-in Home Sharing feature.

I’ve several old songs and music videos on my Mac that are ineligible to upload/sync to my Apple Music library. As a consequence, these are not available inside the Music app on my iPhone or iPad. I can transfer them to my phone using Finder, but I don’t listen to those tracks every day, and having the entire collection will immediately fill my iPhone’s local storage. Therefore, whenever I want to access these media on my iOS device, I use the handy Home Sharing feature.

Home Sharing allows you to stream content from up to five computers (Mac or Windows PC) when your computer and phone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

The setup is easy, and this tutorial guides you through everything you need to stream your Mac’s media library on iPhone or iPad using Home Sharing.

Step 1: The essentials

• Make sure your iPhone, iPad, and Mac are using the same Apple Account.
• Connect your Mac and iPhone/iPad to the same Wi-Fi network.

Step 2: Turn on Media Sharing on your Mac

1) Open System Settings on your Mac and go to General > Sharing.

2) Turn on the switch for Media Sharing, and you’ll see a pop-up saying, ‘Enter the Apple Account used to create your Home Share.’ Type your Apple ID and password, and click Turn On Home Sharing.

3) If you don’t see the pop-up in Step 2, click the info icon ⓘ next to Media Sharing, check the box for Home Sharing, and then click Turn On Home Sharing. Even if you saw the pop-up, you can use this pane to customize your Home Sharing and allow guests to connect.

Step 3: Authorize your Mac

1. Open the Music or TV app on your Mac.
2. From the top menu bar, click Account > Authorizations > Authorize This Computer.
3. Enter your Apple Account password and hit Authorize.

Note: You can authorize up to five computers (Mac or Windows PC) with your Apple Account. If you’ve exceeded that number, learn how to deauthorize a computer in order to make room for another one.

Step 4: Keep your Mac powered on

Make sure your Mac is powered on, and you’re logged in to your user account. You can also leave the Music or TV app open.

Note: I quit the Music and TV app on my Mac while accessing its media on my iPhone, and it continued to work. Still, it’s better to keep both of those apps open on your Mac. Worth noting is that Home Sharing also worked when my Mac was locked (but not in sleep).

Step 5: Turn on Home Sharing on your iPhone or iPad

1. Open iOS Settings, tap Apps from the bottom, and select Music.
2. Scroll to the bottom and tap Sign In under the Home Sharing heading. Then, tap Sign In and wait a few seconds on this screen until you see your Apple ID under Home Sharing.
3. Go back to the previous Settings app screen, tap TV, and Sign In there as well.

Step 6: Access Mac’s media library on iPhone or iPad

1) Open the iOS Music or TV app on your iPhone or iPad. We are using the Music app.

2) Go to the Library section.

3) Tap the three dots icon from the top and select your Mac’s Home Sharing library. Music files from your computer will now appear on your iOS device.

Note: On older versions of iOS, you should see the Home Sharing option directly in the Library tab. If not, tap Edit, check Home Sharing, and hit Done. Then, select your Mac’s name in the Library tab to access its files.

4) You’re now accessing your Mac’s media library on your iPhone. Go inside Artists, Albums, Songs, Music Videos, etc., and tap a song or video to play it.

If you have a second Mac…

In addition to accessing your Mac’s media library on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can also access, play, and even import the files on your other Mac. Simply open the Music app on your second Mac, click Library in the sidebar, and choose your first Mac under the Home Sharing heading.

You can also give other computers (belonging to you or anyone else) on the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet network access to your Mac’s music and videos using Public Sharing.

To do that, click the info icon ⓘ next to Media Sharing in your first Mac’s System Settings > General > Sharing, and check ‘Share media with guests.’ You can also click Options and set a password or choose to share only selected items.

Other computers on the same Wi-Fi network will now be able to access your media from the Public Sharing section (instead of the Home Sharing section).

More on Home Sharing:

• Home Sharing not working? Try this
• How to choose photos to share from Mac to Apple TV