CarTV Cast
Video on your car display.
None of it reaches us.
Add your own playlist, media server or files and play them on the CarPlay screen. There is no account to create, and the addresses and passwords you enter stay in your iPhone’s Keychain.
For passenger use only. Never watch while driving.
- No account
- Credentials stay in the Keychain
- No analytics of what you watch
-
Direct
Your own sources, played on the CarPlay screen.
No Wi-Fi needed -
Receive
Another app casts to CarTV over your network.
Needs Wi-Fi -
Mirror
Your whole iPhone screen, over the CarPlay connection.
No Wi-Fi needed
What CarTV Cast is
Your own sources
An M3U link, an Xtream account, your Jellyfin or Emby server, or video files already on your iPhone.
Three ways onto the car screen
Play your own sources, receive a cast from another app, or mirror the whole iPhone. Two of the three work with no network at all.
Player only, no channels included
The app arrives empty. Whatever you end up watching, you brought it with you.
The point of the app
Video on your car display
Play your M3U channels, Jellyfin/Emby libraries and local videos on the CarPlay screen. Wide-screen controls, designed for passengers.
Connect CarPlay the way you normally do, by cable or wirelessly, and open CarTV on the car display. Nothing new to pair, nothing to sign in to.
Parked, offline
A campsite with no bars.
You have pulled in for the night. There is no Wi-Fi, no signal and no data. The films you imported from Files earlier that week play from the iPhone’s own storage, straight onto the car display.
For anything else — a downloaded episode in another app, a map, a photo library — Screen Mirroring puts the whole iPhone on the car screen over the CarPlay connection. Nothing in that sentence needs a network.
Only Receive needs Wi-Fi, because that is the one route where another app has to find CarTV Cast on a network. Direct and Mirror do not.
It arrives empty
What CarTV Cast is, and what it is not
CarTV Cast is a player only. It does not provide, host, bundle, or recommend any content. You supply your own playlists and servers and are responsible for having the right to use them.
No catalogue. No login. No middleman between you and your own video.
It does
- Play M3U and M3U8 playlists that you provide
- Sign in to your Xtream, Jellyfin or Emby server
- Play video files you import from Files or Photos
- Put all of that on the CarPlay screen
- Receive a cast from another app on your network
- Mirror your whole iPhone screen
It does not
- Ship with any channels, films or playlists
- Search for, index or recommend content
- Host or relay anything on a server of ours — we run none
- Require an account, an email address or a password
- Upload or copy your playlists anywhere
- Record what you watch, search for or mark as a favourite
Sources
Five kinds of source. All of them yours.
CarTV is a player and comes with no channels. Paste an M3U link, sign in to an Xtream account or connect your Jellyfin/Emby server.
M3U & M3U8
Paste a link or scan a QR code. Groups and artwork are recognized automatically, and CarTV remembers where you left off.
Xtream Codes
Server address, username and password. Live channels, films and series arrive as separate lists.
Jellyfin
Sign in to your own server and browse libraries, seasons and episodes. Episodes play in order and resume where you stopped.
Emby
The same as Jellyfin: your server, your libraries, your progress. Nothing is copied anywhere on the way.
Local files
Import from Files or Photos. Imported files are copied into CarTV and sorted automatically, ready to play offline.
Server addresses and credentials never leave your device. They are written to the iPhone’s Keychain and read back only to talk to the server you typed in.
Cast & Mirror
Direct, Receive, Mirror.
Three routes onto the car display. These three words mean the same thing everywhere on this page, and in the app.
- Direct: video from a source you added plays on the iPhone and is drawn on the car display through the CarPlay connection. No network is involved.
- Receive: another app on your Wi-Fi network finds CarTV Cast as a UPnP/DLNA renderer and hands it a stream, which CarTV then plays on the car display.
- Mirror: the whole iPhone screen is captured and sent to the car display over the CarPlay connection. No network is involved.
Direct
Your own sources, played straight onto the CarPlay screen. Streams arrive as HLS or plain HTTP, are decoded on the iPhone and drawn in the CarPlay window.
No Wi-Fi neededReceive
CarTV Cast is a UPnP/DLNA MediaRenderer. It announces itself with SSDP and answers AVTransport, so apps with a Cast button — Bilibili, Plex, Emby, Infuse, VLC — can hand it a stream.
Needs Wi-FiMirror
A ReplayKit broadcast extension copies the whole iPhone screen to the car display, so apps with no Cast button work too. The frames travel over the CarPlay connection, not over the network.
No Wi-Fi neededGoogle Cast apps go through Mirror
Google Cast is a different protocol from UPnP/DLNA. YouTube, TikTok and other Google Cast apps will not list CarTV Cast in their Cast menu, and no setting will make them. That is not a bug in your network. Use Mirror for those apps: it puts the whole iPhone screen on the car display and works with every app on the phone.
| Route | Needs Wi-Fi | Works with | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct | No | The sources you added to CarTV | Keeps running, with a Live Activity on the Lock Screen |
| Receive | Yes | Apps with a UPnP/DLNA Cast button | Keeps running, with a Live Activity on the Lock Screen |
| Mirror | No | Any app on the iPhone, Cast button or not | Keeps running, with a Live Activity on the Lock Screen |
Casting and mirroring keep going while you use other apps. A Live Activity sits on the Lock Screen so you can stop either one without going back into CarTV.
Car Mode Pro
Built for a dashboard mount.
Landscape layout with oversized controls for a dashboard mount.
Large type, oversized controls and one-tap switching, sized to be read at arm’s length from a mount. If your car has a rotary knob or a scroll wheel, Car Mode answers it directly: turn to move through the list, press to play.
Never watch while driving. Car Mode is designed for passengers with the phone in a dashboard mount.
Car Mode is part of CarTV Cast Pro. Everything else on this page, apart from the limits noted below, is in the free app.
Playback
It plays, or it tells you why.
Hardware decoding first, because that is the fast, cool, battery-cheap path. A software decoder catches everything else, without asking.
Two decoders, one decision
Streams arrive as HLS or plain HTTP. CarTV tries the iPhone’s hardware decoder first. When a file’s container or codec sits outside what the hardware handles, it falls back to a software decoder on its own — that is what gets MKV, HEVC, DTS and AVI to play.
Subtitles, including the awkward ones
Embedded and external subtitle files, including tracks buried inside an MKV. Load a separate .srt when the stream has none.
It remembers
Every film, episode and local file resumes where you left off. Continue Watching sits at the top of the Home screen.
Multi-line channels
When a playlist gives the same channel several URLs, CarTV groups them into one entry and puts a line switcher above the player. If one line is down, try the next.
All of this happens on the iPhone. There is no transcoding server in the middle, because there is no server of ours anywhere in the path.
Your library
A home that cleans itself.
Long playlists rot. Channels go down, come back, and go down again. CarTV keeps the Home screen honest without you doing anything.
A background checker quietly tries every channel in your playlist. The ones that cannot play right now drop off the Home screen; when they start working again, they come back on their own. The full list is always one tap away under the group heading, so nothing is hidden from you permanently.
Each card shows the measured round trip in milliseconds, so a slow channel is visible before you tap it. You can turn the checker off, or ask for a re-check immediately, in Settings.
Groups as rows
The group-title in your playlist becomes a row, and tvg-logo becomes the artwork. Nothing is fetched from us; the logos come from the URLs in your own file.
Search and favorites
Search across channels and videos. Long-press any channel and choose Add to Favorites. They live on the device, in the app’s own database.
Mini player
Playback keeps going while you browse, with a grid of everything else under the player. One tap changes channel.
Privacy
Every connection the app makes.
Not adjectives. A list. Point Little Snitch or your router log at the app and check it line by line.
- Playlists, credentials, favorites, watch history and health results stay inside the iPhone.
- Requests go out to the servers whose addresses you typed in.
- Cast discovery goes out to your local network and no further.
- Purchases go out to Apple’s App Store.
- Playlist and stream requests
- The server address you typed in, and nowhere else. Nothing is proxied through us.
- Xtream, Jellyfin and Emby sign-in
- Your server. The password is stored in the iPhone’s Keychain and sent only to that server.
- Channel logos
- The image URLs written inside your own playlist. We do not host or cache artwork.
- Background health checks
- The same stream URLs that are already in your playlist. No result is reported anywhere.
- Cast discovery (SSDP)
- Your local network only, and never off it. It does announce your iPhone’s name to that network, because that is the name other apps show in their Cast list.
- Screen mirroring frames
- The CarPlay connection. They are handed from the broadcast extension to the app on the device itself and never touch the network.
- Purchases and Pro status
- Apple’s App Store, and RevenueCat, the service we use to read the App Store receipt. RevenueCat receives an anonymous app user ID, the receipt and basic device details — never your sources, credentials or viewing.
- What you watch, search for and favorite
- Nowhere. It is written to the app’s own database on the iPhone and read back by the app.
- Analytics or advertising SDK
- None.
- Crash and usage reports
- Only what you have already chosen to share with Apple in iOS Settings. We see the aggregated App Store reports Apple gives every developer, which contain no content and no identity.
No account
There is nothing to sign up for. We never learn an email address, so there is no list you could be on.
Keychain
Server addresses and credentials never leave your device.
Verified on the device
Pro is an App Store purchase, checked against Apple’s signature on the iPhone. We have no membership server of our own.
The full policy, in the same plain language, is in the privacy policy. If a row here ever stops matching what you observe, write to us and we will correct the page.
CarTV Cast Pro
Everything for the road, unlocked.
Pay once and keep it forever, or subscribe and cancel anytime. Purchases are handled by the App Store and verified on your iPhone.
Monthly
$5.99 per month
Lifetime Pay once
$14.99 one time
What Pro unlocks
- Unlimited sources
- Car Mode
- Real-time subtitle sync
- Unlimited casting
What the free app includes
- One playlist or server
- All three routes onto the car display
- 15 minutes of casting per session
- Every playback, subtitle and library feature on this page
Purchases are handled by the App Store, so we never see a card number. Restore Purchases lives in the app, under Settings. Prices are shown in US dollars and may differ where you live; the App Store shows your local price before you buy.
Questions
The ones people actually ask.
What is a “source”?
A source is where your video comes from: an M3U or M3U8 playlist link, an Xtream Codes account, a Jellyfin or Emby server, or video files you import from Files or Photos. CarTV Cast has no content of its own, so until you add a source the app is empty on purpose.
Where do I find a playlist?
From wherever you already have one. If you pay a provider, they give you the link or the Xtream account details. If you run Jellyfin, Emby or Plex at home, that server is your source. We do not supply playlists, sell them, or point you at anyone who does, and we cannot help you find one.
My link won’t load.
Open the link in Safari first. A working playlist either downloads a file or shows text that starts with #EXTM3U. If Safari shows an error page, the link is the problem, not the app.
If Safari is fine but CarTV is not, check that you copied the whole link including the part after the question mark, and that you are on the same network or VPN the provider expects.
Why did some channels disappear from the Home screen?
A background checker tries every channel and hides the ones that cannot play right now, so you do not tap into a dead stream. They come back automatically when they start working. The full list is still there under the group heading, and you can turn hiding off or force a re-check in Settings.
What do I need to watch movies on the car screen while parked?
An iPhone running iOS 26.1 or later, a car with CarPlay, and at least one source. Connect CarPlay the way you normally do, by cable or wirelessly, then open CarTV on the car display. For passenger use only; never watch while driving.
Does casting to the car need Wi-Fi?
Only Receive does, because another app has to find CarTV on a network to hand it a stream. Direct (your own sources) and Mirror (your whole iPhone screen) both go over the CarPlay connection and work with no network at all — which is why they still work at a campsite with no signal.
My YouTube Cast button doesn’t list CarTV Cast.
It never will. YouTube and TikTok use Google Cast, which is a different protocol from the UPnP/DLNA one CarTV speaks. Nothing you change in the app or on your router will make them see each other. Use Mirror instead: start Screen Mirroring in CarTV and the whole iPhone screen, YouTube included, appears on the car display.
A UPnP app can’t find CarTV as a cast device.
In the other app’s Cast list, look for CarTV followed by your iPhone’s name — that is the exact name the app advertises, so it will sit next to your TVs rather than under “CarTV Cast”.
If it is still missing: connect CarPlay first, turn Wi-Fi on, put both devices on the same network, and allow Local Network for CarTV in iPhone Settings. Discovery uses SSDP multicast, which some guest networks and client-isolation settings block.
Which formats play?
The honest answer is a mechanism rather than a list. CarTV tries the iPhone’s hardware decoder first, and falls back to a software decoder when the container or codec is outside what the hardware handles. In practice that covers HLS, plain HTTP streams, MP4, MKV, HEVC, DTS audio and AVI. If something still refuses, pin the software decoder in Settings and try again.
One channel won’t play, but the rest do.
Usually the stream is offline, geo-blocked, or needs a different line. If your playlist gives that channel several URLs, open the line switcher above the player and try another one. If the channel card shows a very high latency in milliseconds, the server is struggling rather than the app.
Where is Pro verified, and how do I restore it?
Pro is an App Store purchase. It is verified against Apple’s signature on your iPhone; we run no membership server, so there is no account of yours for us to check. On a new device, sign in with the same Apple Account and use Restore Purchases in Settings. Subscriptions are cancelled in the App Store, not in the app.
Can you see what I watch?
No. There is no account, no analytics SDK and no server of ours in the path between you and your video. Your playlists, credentials, favorites and watch history are written on the iPhone and stay there. The full list of connections the app does make is in the ledger above, and you can verify every line with Little Snitch or your router log.
What happens to my setup if you disappear?
Your sources are yours: the playlist links, the server addresses and the files are all things you already have. If the app stopped being updated tomorrow, the copy on your iPhone would keep working exactly as it does now, because it does not depend on anything of ours being online.
Support
Write to a person.
One address, read by the people who build the app. elliotalderson985@gmail.com
What to include
Your iPhone model and iOS version, the app version from Settings → About, the kind of source involved, what you expected and what happened instead. If it is a car-screen problem, say which car and whether CarPlay was wired or wireless.
What we cannot do
We cannot look up your account, because there isn’t one. We cannot pull a log off your phone, see your playlist, or check a channel for you — none of that reaches us. That is the cost of the architecture on this page, and we would rather pay it than hold your data.
We do not supply, sell or recommend playlists, and we cannot help with a provider’s account or billing.