Castpane
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My iPhone, iPad or Mac can't see my PC

Your iPhone, iPad or Mac finds receivers by listening for announcements on the local network. If those announcements never arrive, the PC is missing from the Screen Mirroring list even though Castpane is running. Work through these checks in order.

Start with the wizard. Open Castpane on the PC and click Can't see this PC?. The connection wizard checks the firewall, the network type and your network adapters for you, and tells you which of the sections below applies.

Check in this order

  1. Both devices are on the same network
  2. Not on a guest network, no client isolation
  3. The PC's network is set to Private, not Public
  4. The firewall is not blocking Castpane
  5. No VPN or virtual adapter in the way
  6. Office, school or hotel Wi-Fi
  7. What the connection wizard checks
  8. On a Mac: use Castpane Link
  9. Last resort: a phone hotspot

1. Same network on both devices

The PC and your iPhone, iPad or Mac must be on the same local network.

  • On the iPhone or iPad, open Settings, then Wi-Fi, and note the network name. Make sure Wi-Fi is on; mirroring never works over mobile data.
  • On the PC, click the network icon in the taskbar and check it is connected to the same network name. A PC on Ethernet is fine as long as the cable goes into the same router.
  • If your router shows two names, for example one for 2.4 GHz and one for 5 GHz, put both devices on the same one while you test. Some routers and Wi-Fi extenders keep these apart.
  • If the PC has both Wi-Fi and Ethernet connected to different networks, the device has to be on one of them. Disconnect the one you do not need.

2. Guest networks and client isolation

Guest Wi-Fi networks, and many hotel, café and dorm networks, use client isolation (also called AP isolation or station isolation). Every device can reach the internet but not each other. Nothing on the PC can get past that.

  • At home: connect both devices to your main network instead of the guest one, or turn off "client isolation" or "AP isolation" in your router settings. The exact name depends on the router.
  • On a network you do not control: use a phone hotspot.

3. Windows network set to Public

Windows treats a network marked Public as untrusted and blocks incoming discovery traffic. Castpane only opens its firewall rules on Private networks on purpose, so it stays invisible on café and airport Wi-Fi. On your own network, switch the profile to Private.

Windows 11

  1. Open Settings, then Network & internet.
  2. Click Wi-Fi (or Ethernet), then the properties of the network you are connected to.
  3. Under Network profile type, choose Private network.

Windows 10

  1. Open Settings, then Network & Internet.
  2. Click Wi-Fi (or Ethernet), then click the network you are connected to.
  3. Under Network profile, choose Private.

Only do this on networks you trust, such as your home network.

4. Firewall blocking Castpane

If Windows ever showed a Windows Security Alert about Castpane and someone clicked Cancel, Windows saved that as a rule that blocks Castpane. Block rules win over allow rules, so Castpane stays unreachable until the block rule is removed.

Allow Castpane on private networks

  1. Click Start and search for Allow an app through Windows Firewall. (On some versions it is called Windows Defender Firewall.)
  2. Click Change settings.
  3. Find the entries for Castpane and make sure Private is ticked.

Remove a block rule

  1. Press Windows + R, type wf.msc and press Enter.
  2. Click Inbound Rules and sort by name.
  3. Look for Castpane entries with a red "no entry" icon. Those are block rules. Right-click each one and choose Delete.
  4. Quit and reopen Castpane.

If you use third-party security software with its own firewall, it can block Castpane in the same way. Allow Castpane on your home network in that program's settings. For reference, Castpane receives on TCP ports 7000, 7001, 7100 and 7020, and UDP ports 5353, 6000, 6001 and 7011.

5. VPNs and virtual network adapters

  • VPN on the PC, iPhone, iPad or Mac: many VPNs send all traffic through the tunnel and cut off the local network. Disconnect the VPN while mirroring, or turn on its "allow local network access" option if it has one.
  • Virtual adapters on the PC from VMware, VirtualBox, Hyper-V or WSL (often named vEthernet) can confuse network software into using the wrong adapter. Castpane announces itself on each real network adapter separately and skips virtual ones, but the wizard lists every adapter it found so you can see what is there. If you still have trouble, disable the virtual adapters you are not using and try again.

6. Office, school and hotel Wi-Fi

Discovery relies on multicast traffic (Bonjour). Managed networks often filter or limit it, and sometimes only in one direction: your device's questions reach the PC, but the PC's answers never reach your device.

  • Castpane notices when a device on the network is looking for receivers, and also answers that device directly instead of only to the whole network. Whether every iPhone, iPad and Mac accepts these direct answers is still being tested, so do not count on it yet.
  • On a Mac, Castpane Link is the reliable fix for the one-way case.
  • If the network uses client isolation, nothing gets through. Ask the network admin, or use a hotspot.

7. What the connection wizard checks

Open Castpane and click Can't see this PC?. The wizard:

  • checks that Castpane's firewall rules are in place;
  • checks whether the current network is set to Public;
  • lists your network adapters, including VPN and virtual ones;
  • tests whether the PC can send and receive discovery traffic on its own network adapter;
  • asks you to open Screen Mirroring on your device, then listens to see whether your device's search reaches the PC. If the PC hears your device but your device does not see the PC, the problem is one-way. Castpane then starts answering your device directly, and on a Mac suggests Castpane Link.

8. On a Mac: Castpane Link

The Mac's Screen Mirroring list waits for receivers to announce themselves; it does not go looking. So when the network drops announcements from the PC to the Mac, the PC never appears. Castpane Link is a free menu bar helper that asks the PC to send its announcements straight to your Mac. The PC then appears in the normal Screen Mirroring list. The setup guide explains how to install it.

There is no equivalent for iPhone or iPad, because iOS does not let apps add receivers to its list.

9. Last resort: a phone hotspot

If the network will not let devices see each other, make your own network. Turn on a personal hotspot on a phone, then connect the PC and the device you want to mirror to it. Hotspots normally let connected devices see each other. To mirror an iPhone, use a hotspot from a different phone, so the iPhone joins the hotspot as a normal Wi-Fi device.

Mirroring itself is local between the two devices; it does not stream your screen over the internet. Other apps on the PC may still use mobile data while connected.

Last updated October 12, 2026. Still stuck? Contact support.

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