Apple Intelligence is now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac!

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Airplay Icon Missing

Just upgraded to Yosemite on my lat 2008 MacBook Aluminum. Now I don't see the Airplay symbol. Is it that my MacBook is not supported? If Yosemite doesn't support my MacBook, can I downgrade back to Mavericks?

MacBook, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 18, 2014 7:19 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 12:00 AM

on restart reset PRam ( pushing "alt+comand+ r + p" the same time till the sound comes the second time) and than after restart disable firewall, start Itunes, then Airplay symbol should be visible, then turn firewall on again.

Of course you should be in the same network as the other Airplay devices,

I don't know if the thing with the Firewall is important, but it worked well for me with a late 2008 MacBook pro🙂

12 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 21, 2014 12:00 AM in response to chitai

on restart reset PRam ( pushing "alt+comand+ r + p" the same time till the sound comes the second time) and than after restart disable firewall, start Itunes, then Airplay symbol should be visible, then turn firewall on again.

Of course you should be in the same network as the other Airplay devices,

I don't know if the thing with the Firewall is important, but it worked well for me with a late 2008 MacBook pro🙂

Oct 21, 2014 12:27 AM in response to Kwoemm

Its the Firewall!!! on Security: Firewall, Firewall-options: if there is "discoveryd" disabled for connections you should turn it on green!!!! That's the reason the Icon is not visible if firewall is turned on... And if after switching of and on the Firewall as I described you wont be able to get a connection.... So in options turn "discoveryd" to green. Than everything should work for fine.. …

Oct 21, 2014 12:59 AM in response to chitai

As there are several places where the airplay icon is displayed, we need to know where you find it missing

The airplay icon is displayed on the menu bar only when airplay mirroring is available and it has to be enabled by going to


System preferences > Displays > Display > Show mirroring options in the menu bar when available


Both Yosemite and Mavericks have the same requirements when it comes to supporting Airplay.

An late 2008 aluminum macbook does not support Airplay mirroring. It supports Airplay via iTunes however


P.S. The late 2008 aluminum macbook looks like a macbook pro except it has no firewire port

Oct 24, 2014 3:59 PM in response to chitai

I had the same problem with my MacBook Air after upgrading to Yosemite: no more Airplay icon in iTunes, but also Airplay Display would not longer find any device to connect to, even though my Apple TV was on and working.


After restarting my Apple TV it all worked again:

  • Airplay Display found my Apple TV and works 🙂
  • Airplay icon reappeared in iTunes and works 🙂


I had tried the PRam and firewall tips given above without success.


Another discussion confirm that the Apple TV reset will help (and also suggests to restart router and your other Airplay speakers; but this was not necessary in my case): TS4215 Airplay icon missing

Jul 5, 2015 2:31 PM in response to chitai

AirPlay Audio works across all Apple hardware that can run OS X 10.7 or iOS 6. AirPlay Streaming is supported on hardware that is capable of on-GPU H.264 encoding. This includes any Mac after 2011, the iPhone 4S, and iPad 2.

Your 2008 MB should support AirPlay Audio but not AirPlay Streaming (pushing video to other AirPlay devices like the AppleTV).

As for the icon disappearing, this is something I'm still trying to figure out and why I am posting. I have a Mid-2015 MBP 15" and just upgraded to 10.10.4 with iTunes 12 and Apple Music. I've come across a similar issue (missing AirPlay icon) when switching between the standard iTunes window and the MiniPlayer. I can quit iTunes altogether, relaunch it and the icon returns. Switching to MiniPlayer removes the ability to select AirPlay playback sources. Closing the MiniPlayer returns to iTunes window without AirPlay icon.


An annoyance yes, but my workaround is simply launching AirFoil from Rogue Amoeba. AirFoil allows me to output any source from my Mac to my AirPlay network.

Can you downgrade to Mavericks? Of course. It should be listed in the "Purchases" section of the App Store (Apple Menu > App Store... ). You can use Apple's own KBase article to make a bootable USB stick.

Hope this helps.

Jul 14, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Julius Lopez

Posting the fix here which could be one of ways this issue can be fixed. I replied to the original thread which is mentioned below. Doing it here because Google and People can find it.

I was struggling for a month to get this missing AirPlay icon fixed in both my iPad (ios 7 and 8) and Macbook Pro (Yosemite). I always assumed the problem was with my Denon AVR-X1000 or something to do with my Macbook Pro and iPad settings. I tried every possible combination only to fail in vain. Finally I chucked the AirPlay option and ordered a Logitech Bluetooth receiver adapter and plugged it to my AV receiver's RCA/AUX inputs, only to find that the sound quality was absolutely pathetic. I then realized this was happening because lossy compression of the bluetooth protocol and I didn't want any quality loss in my music. So, I fell back to the AirPlay option.

I tried googling around for the solution for a whole day and tried out everything people said and finally I tried a "AirPlay missing icon + TPLink" search in google and voila it landed me in here. Never thought a simple security setting was causing the issue. Before this suggestion I set my routers in dual mode AES+TKIP in my previous setting which was the cause of all the issue. Following your suggestion I changed the security to WPA2 with AES mode and voila the problem got solved.

Note: Dual mode of TKIP + AES will also make the AirPlay icon missing/disappear. Did not try but pure TKIP also may not work. Set your settings only to WPA2 + AES to ensure you have your AirPlay icon visible in your Apple devices or laptops.


Thanks a lot to Alex!! who posted his suggestion here

I am unable to airplay my apple devices on apple tv after changing my modem to TP-LINK TD-W8951ND. Can anyone help?

Nov 3, 2015 6:45 AM in response to Ummite

Has been a recurring problem for me, often persisting after making sure (or switching such that) my devices were on same WiFi Router Channel.


I think restarting Apple TV probably would have worked this time, but before that I tried switching to another router channel, and back to the original that matches the devices. The Icon popped right up in iTunes, so connecting reconnecting *might* be all it needs. Anything to speed these things up a bit.

Airplay Icon Missing

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