How to Enable AirPlay Mirroring on iPad 2 on iOS 5

One of the announced features of iOS 5 at the WWDC 2011 keynote was AirPlay Mirroring. Apple didn’t demonstrate this, but essentially this feature will stream your iPad’s homescreen to your Apple TV 2–wirelessly.

Here’s how to setup AirPlay Mirroring:

1. Install iOS 5 on both your iPad 2 and Apple TV 2 (developer account required).

2. Turn on your Apple TV 2. Double tap the Home button on your iPad 2, and swipe to the right (where the volume/brightness controls are).

3. Tap the AirPlay icon, and select your Apple TV. A toggle will appear for “Mirroring”. Turn this ON, and magically your iPad’s homescreen will now be streaming to your Apple TV 2 wirelessly!

Notice the status bar becomes blue at the top of your iPad to indicate AirPlay Mirroring is active, along with the AirPlay icon:

There is barely any lag, and this feature works amazingly well. If you have a widescreen TV, you’ll notice black bars at the sides due to the iPads 4:3 ratio. Nonetheless, this is one cool feature!