Mirroring360: Capturing an iPad or iPhone Screen

Background and Introduction

Version note: This article records the author’s first-hand experience in 2024. Mirroring360’s interface, support options, pricing, discounts, currencies, and licensing plans may change over time. When following the steps or considering a purchase, check the latest information on the official Mirroring360 Downloads page and official Pricing page.

Somehow, my previous blog post was already six months ago. Time really does fly. Preparing for a national examination drains practically all of your energy, and it leaves almost no room to do anything else at the same time—it is an activity that makes the rest of life feel frozen.

Now that the national examination is over, I have finally decided that I can stream a little more consistently.

In the past, though, I almost always streamed games—either Switch titles or console games. (Given how rarely I streamed, I even wonder whether I ever actually played a console game on stream XDDD.) I hardly used streaming for anything else.

Recently I have had a few more illustration commissions for work, so I started wondering whether I could stream while drawing. That way I could work on a commission and build up some streaming hours at the same time, instead of looking as if I go live only once or twice a year for no obvious reason XDDD.

But if I wanted to stream my drawing process, the first question was how to project my drawing screen onto the computer so OBS could capture it.

Artists use many different programs. Some still draw in Photoshop, while others use Clip Studio Paint. I use an iPad with Procreate.

I did use Photoshop for drawing for a while, but eventually I found it frustrating that the image did not appear directly beneath my hand while I worked and instead had to be viewed on the computer monitor.

You might ask why I did not simply buy a pen display. Then I could draw in Photoshop on the computer and capture the screen directly, right?

The answer is simple: no money XDDDDD. Pen displays are unbelievably expensive and huge. For someone like me who only takes occasional small commissions, the value is not particularly convincing... and I often draw away from home.

I sometimes work in a café run by a partner, or even at an escape-room venue, where a large display would be genuinely inconvenient. That is why I kept using Procreate with an iPad and Apple Pencil.

Of course, an iPad is itself more expensive than some pen displays—but that is another story XDDDDD.

My computer also runs Windows, so the biggest obstacle to streaming a drawing session was finding a way to project the iPad canvas to the computer with almost no delay and turn it into a window that OBS could capture.

Fortunately, the mighty Google eventually led me to Mirroring360.

Getting and Purchasing the Software

Mirroring360 became popular with many teachers during the period of online classes in the pandemic. It could bring an iPad screen onto the computer so teachers could write on screen even without a drawing tablet.

Many teachers may have used features in tools such as Google Meet. I stream on Twitch, however, so I needed OBS rather than Google Meet and therefore had to rely on a third-party tool.

Before introducing the software, here is the final result of capturing my iPad in OBS.

I had not yet decided what the final drawing-stream layout should look like, so the iPad window left fairly large black areas on both sides of the OBS canvas intended for Twitch. This comes from the difference between the iPad’s aspect ratio and the OBS output frame.

I will probably design a background graphic to deal with that later. Probably. (Looks toward the enormous to-do list.)

By the way, after buying an iPhone 16 Pro, I drew the artwork shown above and used RhinoShield’s custom phone-case service to make a case that belongs only to me and will never match anyone else’s XDDD. It is not sold anywhere XDD.

Everything on the case represents things I personally like, so I doubt anyone else would want it anyway. I recommend drawing your own design and having it printed—it is pretty satisfying.

All right, back to the point: how do you get Mirroring360? It is quite simple—download it from the official site. Here is the official Mirroring360 download page.

Official Mirroring360 Downloads page

When you open the download page, this is the first screen you see.

Mirroring360 is essentially paid software, so buying and installing it involves two parts: downloading the program and purchasing a license.

Download and install the software

On a computer, scroll down the download page mentioned above to find the software links shown in the image (where the red check mark is). Choose the Windows or Mac version according to your computer.

After downloading, locate the file named “mirroring360_win.exe.” Double-click it to open the installer, then follow the on-screen installation instructions.

At the time of this 2024 walkthrough, I also downloaded the corresponding app from the app store on the iPad, iPhone, or Android device whose screen I wanted to mirror.

I did not have an Android device, so I was not sure what the app was called in that store. In Apple’s App Store, it was named “Mirroring Assist.”

Check whether the app icon matches the computer software, since there appear to be several apps with similar functions and it is easy to download the wrong one.

Purchase a software license

I used to react to paid software with, “What? Why is it so expensive?” Later, one of my partners—an enthusiastic supporter of legitimate software—helped me appreciate the advantages of properly licensed tools. After gradually reforming my own software habits, I mostly stopped looking for cracked versions. If software should be paid for, I pay for it.

After becoming a creator of sorts through running my own business, I feel even more strongly that good work deserves financial support. This article will therefore not explain how to obtain a cracked copy.

Just pay for it, everyone. If something is good, why not support it?

Leaving aside the Education/Corporate option for large organizations, Mirroring360 was broadly offered through two payment models in the version described here.

The first was the Standard License, a one-time purchase. One license could be used on one receiving computer, while multiple devices could mirror their screens to that computer.

For the Standard License, the terms shown at the time allowed one license transfer when replacing the computer. A later computer replacement would require another license update.

At the time of writing, the Standard License cost NT$384 as a one-time purchase and appeared to have a 20% discount. I did not know when that discount would end.

The annual Pro Subscription supported Windows only, but included the Standard mirroring features plus the ability to share the computer screen through a link. It also did not impose the same limit on transferring the license between computers.

At the time, the annual plan cost NT$950 per year.

For a fuller and current comparison, see the Pricing page on the official website.

When I bought my computer, I had already configured it close to the highest specification I expected to need, so I was unlikely to replace it soon. I would also mainly capture my iPad through the desktop computer. I therefore chose the one-time Standard License.

To purchase it, select “Buy Now” in the image, register an email address, and pay by credit card. After signing in to the purchased account, the license key appears in the black box shown below. The email address is in the upper-right corner, so I covered it as well.

At this point, the purchase and installation process was complete.

How to Use Mirroring360

Because I only used Apple devices, the instructions below describe the Apple workflow.

Mirroring360 uses the same general screen-mirroring mechanism associated with Apple TV. Normally an iPad or iPhone mirrors to Apple TV; with Mirroring360, the computer acts as the receiving target and displays the device screen.

First, open the Mirroring360 program that you just installed on the computer. You should see the following screen.

The name shown as “My Computer” in the image may be different in your copy because each computer can have its own identifier. You can change it with the pencil icon. Any name you can recognize is fine.

First activate the license. Select the gear icon in the upper-right corner to open Settings, go to “About,” and choose “Use License.” You can then enter the license key purchased on the website.

Once the license key is activated, the software is ready. The next step is to mirror the iPad or iPhone screen to the computer.

Select the QR button in the application window, and a QR code will appear as shown below.

I obscured the QR code just to be safe, so it should not scan to anything XDDDD. Scanning it probably would not cause a problem, but—again—better safe than sorry.

Because mirroring an iPad or iPhone to Apple TV normally depends on network discovery, this 2024 setup required the iPad or iPhone and the computer to be connected to the same network.

A common arrangement is for the computer to use wired Ethernet while the iPad or iPhone uses Wi-Fi. Before continuing, confirm that the sending device and receiving computer are on the same network.

Next, open the iPhone or iPad you want to mirror. In this walkthrough, Mirroring Assist had already been installed.

Because the device had not been paired before, nothing appeared in the list. There was a “Scan code” option in the lower-left corner. Selecting it opened the camera, which I used to scan the QR code displayed on the computer.

After scanning, the computer name configured earlier appeared in the previously empty app list.

Select the computer you want to pair with, and the app will tell you what to do next, as shown below.

Remember how Mirroring360 relies on the same kind of projection mechanism used with Apple TV?

The next step is therefore to open Apple’s Control Center and mirror the iPad or iPhone screen in the usual way.

Control Center is the panel that appears when you swipe down from the upper-right corner and lets you adjust Wi-Fi, volume, brightness, and other settings. It also contains the familiar Screen Mirroring icon.

After selecting the Screen Mirroring icon, the list of available destinations included a computer that had not appeared before. I had named mine “My Computer,” so that was the receiving device shown on screen.

With Mirroring360 open on the computer, select that destination on the iPhone or iPad. Looking back at the computer, you should see the iPad screen captured in a window, as shown below.

Try interacting with the device. The mirrored image may lag slightly behind what appears on the iPad, but in my setup the difference did not feel severe. At that point, the screen was fully mirrored and ready for capture.

Because the mirrored screen now appears as a window, OBS can capture it with Window Capture. I explained that part in detail in another article, so readers who need it can continue there rather than repeating everything here.

My Online-Teaching Journey and My Favorite Tool, OBS

If you want to go further and learn how to combine OBS with Twitch streaming, you can also read the following article.

A Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Twitch Streamer

Both articles cover practical next steps after using Mirroring360 to bring the device screen onto the computer.

Conclusion

Streaming is not limited to playing games. You can stream drawing—or practically anything else—as long as you do not mind the setup and have some time to spare.

I personally have almost no spare time at all, which is honestly ridiculous, hahahaha XDDD.

This article offered a short introduction to projecting an iPad or iPhone screen onto a computer and capturing it with OBS. There may be many other applications; perhaps I will write about them later, or you can explore them yourself.

So, after writing all this, am I finally going to stream a drawing session? Hmmmm. I had planned to draw a prop needed for an escape-room project on stream, but somehow I finished the artwork before I even finished this article XDDD. I probably will not have another large drawing project in the near future.

So I probably will not start a drawing stream anytime soon after all (hey). But I will still try to squeeze out some time for the games piling up in my backlog.

Thank you for reading this long-overdue guide. I hope it offers at least a little help to anyone who needs to project an iPad or iPhone screen onto a computer and capture it. See you in the next article~~~ Bye!