I enjoy using iPhone Mirroring on my iPhone 18 Pro. In most cases, everything works as expected—I can mirror my iPhone 18 Pro to my Mac and use it without any issues. Setting up and using iPhone Mirroring is simple and straightforward.
Sometimes, the feature doesn’t work properly. Sometimes, when I try to connect, my iPhone 18 Pro mirrors as expected, and I can even interact with the screen for a second or two. Then, out of nowhere, an error pops up:
“iPhone Mirroring Connection Interrupted. Ensure ‘iPhone’ is near your Mac, powered on, with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled.”
Even though all the settings are correct, the connection keeps dropping. If you’ve run into the same issue, here’s what might be causing it and how to fix it.
1. Check the Requirements First
Apple lists a few conditions that have to be met before iPhone Mirroring will hold a connection. Go through these before anything else:
- Your iPhone 18 Pro and your Mac are signed in to the same Apple Account using two-factor authentication.
- Your iPhone 18 Pro is set up to use a passcode.
- Your Mac is a Mac with Apple silicon or Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip, using macOS Sequoia 15 or newer.
- Your iPhone 18 Pro and your Mac have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on.
- Your iPhone 18 Pro is locked and near your Mac. It can also be charging and using StandBy.
- Your Mac is not sharing its internet connection or using AirPlay or Sidecar.
If either device is using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi intensively for another purpose, such as streaming audio or video to another device, stop that first. Then install the latest updates on both devices and restart them.
One more thing to rule out: iPhone Mirroring has to be available in your country or region. It is currently unavailable in the European Union.
2. Disable VPN and Security Apps
Make sure that VPN is turned off on both your iPhone 18 Pro and Mac, as it can interfere with the iPhone Mirroring connection. Additionally, disable any firewalls on your Mac and any third-party security apps on both devices, as they may block the necessary network communication between your devices. Here is how:
- On your iPhone 18 Pro: Go to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management > VPN, then turn off the Status switch.
- On your Mac: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click VPN in the sidebar, then turn off the VPN. If you use a third-party VPN app, quit it as well.
- Mac firewall: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Network in the sidebar, then click Firewall. You may need to scroll down. Click Options and make sure that “Block all incoming connections” is not selected, or turn Firewall off altogether.
Once disabled, try reconnecting to see if the issue is resolved.
3. Check and Change Private Wi-Fi Address Settings
Your iPhone 18 Pro chooses Fixed for Private Wi-Fi Address by default when joining a new network that uses WPA2 or stronger security, and Rotating by default when joining a new network that uses weak security or no security. Apple does not list this as a requirement for iPhone Mirroring, but a number of users have found that switching it to Rotating stops the interruptions. Here’s how to check and change it:
- Open Settings on your iPhone 18 Pro and System Settings on your Mac.
- Navigate to Wi-Fi.
- On your iPhone, tap the More Info button next to your connected Wi-Fi network.
On your Mac, click Details next to your Wi-Fi network. - Locate Private Wi-Fi Address. On your iPhone, tap it; on your Mac, use the menu next to it.
- If it’s set to Fixed, change it to Rotating. (If it’s already set to Rotating, this may not be the cause of your issue.)
- Restart both your iPhone and Mac.
- Try iPhone Mirroring again.
4. Check the Wi-Fi Channel Setting on Your Router
If iPhone Mirroring is still not working, check your Wi-Fi router’s channel setting. Set the channel to Auto for each band of your router. When channel selection is set to automatic, your router selects the best Wi-Fi channel for you. If your router doesn’t support automatic channel selection, choose whichever channel performs best in your network environment. Then try using iPhone Mirroring again.
Disabling VPNs, adjusting network settings, and fine-tuning your router’s configuration can often resolve the problem. If none of these fixes work, checking for software updates or resetting network settings on both devices might be the next step.
