Unknown devices on airplay and screen mirroring list

Hi,


I live on a college campus and I currently have a few questions regarding something really strange which I noticed. When I connected my iPhone to my headphones using Bluetooth and accidentally clicked on the drop down for screen mirroring, I can see a number of recognised devices which I have never connected to using my iPhone. Were these screens auto connected to my iPhone sometime in the past without my permission because we use the same college WiFi? In my opinion, that would be an outright violation of my privacy



something else which I noticed was that on the drop down section of my music, I can see that my device is trying to connect to numerous Apple TV devices(again ones which I have never connected to before and never asked my iPhone to connect) while my headphones are connected. I got really ****** when I saw this. It’d be great if someone can clear out why exactly this is happening. I wanted to attach screenshots but the file size is too large

iPhone XS, iOS 13

Posted on May 14, 2020 6:23 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 15, 2020 12:12 AM

Hello Payamjyoti-


Do not be alarmed. Those devices [Apple TV and compatible Airplay Devices] show up when available while on the same WiFi network. When you search for WIFi networks in settings then what happens? You begin to see all the available WiFi networks within your iPhone's reach. That doesn't mean that you connected to those WiFi networks in the past. It just means that they are there and you can connect to those WiFi Networks with the appropriate password. SAME PRINCIPLE WITH THE Apple TV and compatible DEVICES NEARBY. You will see the list of available devices and it is up to you to connect to them by using the pairing method including a password.


Axel F.

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 15, 2020 12:12 AM in response to paramjyoti35

Hello Payamjyoti-


Do not be alarmed. Those devices [Apple TV and compatible Airplay Devices] show up when available while on the same WiFi network. When you search for WIFi networks in settings then what happens? You begin to see all the available WiFi networks within your iPhone's reach. That doesn't mean that you connected to those WiFi networks in the past. It just means that they are there and you can connect to those WiFi Networks with the appropriate password. SAME PRINCIPLE WITH THE Apple TV and compatible DEVICES NEARBY. You will see the list of available devices and it is up to you to connect to them by using the pairing method including a password.


Axel F.

May 20, 2020 2:03 PM in response to Axel Foley

I live half a mile from anyone else. I have one Airplay device, a Linux notebook running Shairplay. My old iPhone6 initially saw "Kitchen", "Bedroom", and "Bedroom TV" along with it, but they went away after I tried connecting to each of them and it failed. My new iPhone SE insists on seeing them again, and tries to connect to them automatically, even though they fail repeatedly. I have to wait for them to fail before I can select my working device - which is always off the screen at the bottom of the list in my Qobuz app.


How far does "the same WiFi network" extend? I'm on a rural WISP system with hundreds of neighbors, but they should be hidden beyond my router. Somehow some of them are not...


Looks like "Bill" is running a Homebridge link between two different CPEs?


Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: Bills-Mac-mini.local (64.195.220.77), Dst: 224.0.0.251 (224.0.0.251)

Internet Protocol Version 4, Src: 64-195-220-184.101netlink.com (64.195.220.184), Dst: 224.0.0.251 (224.0.0.251)


And I and probably everyone else are seeing between three and ten of these MDNS hits per second...


58759 12:25:02.234645 0.205381 Bills-Mac-mini.local 224.0.0.251 MDNS 471 0x5b57 (23383) Standard query response 0x0000 PTR Homebridge 9DD5-7682._hap._tcp.local SRV 0 0 51790 0E_EF_86_61_9D_D5.local TXT AAAA fe80::10ca:84ea:499a:27b1 AAAA fe80::d9:3cf3:7170:2454 A 192.168.2.76


I have no way of knowing if Bill or some other neighbor has shared the mystery devices my phone sees, but it seems like a reasonable theory. I suppose he could manually sneak them through his routers onto the main network... I'm surprised my router allows them through, and very frustrated my phone responds to them - if that's what's happening.


Is there any way to tell the phone to ignore them?

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Unknown devices on airplay and screen mirroring list

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.