How do you mirror your phone screen on PC via USB? This is a question many people have been asking in tech forums and discussion websites and that’s why we have gone ahead to put together this detailed step by step guide.
Let’s get started.
Ways to Mirror Your Phone Screen On PC Via USB
There are several methods to choose from if you want to mirror your phone screen on PC via USB. All these methods require some applications. The Best 3 apps to use are Vysor, ApowerMirror and scrcpy app from GitHub. However, before applying any of these methods, you’ll need to enable USB Debugging on your Android phone for all these methods to work.
Enable USB Debugging
Before we dive into the methods that you can follow to mirror your phone screen on PC using USB, you will need to enable USB debugging on your phone. Here are the steps to do that.
Step 1: Open the “About Phone” Option On Your Phone
Open settings from your android phone then scroll down, click on System then select About Phone.
Step 2: Tap on Build Number
Now scroll down again and tap on Build Number five to seven times. You should see a notification that you’re (x) number of steps away from being a developer.
Step 3: Open “Developer Options”
Once you have executed the above steps successfully, head back to System settings and you’ll see a new menu item added to your System: Developer options. So tap this new option.
Step 4: Enable USB Debugging
Tapping on the developer options will give you a list of options. Enable the USB Debugging option and confirm the action when prompted by tapping on the ‘Ok’ button.
Now that you have enabled USB Debugging, you will need to follow one of the following methods:
Method 1: Mirror Your Phone Screen On PC Using Vysor (Windows & Mac)
Vysor is an Extension supported by Google Chrome that allows you to view the phone screen on PC via USB with ease.
There is a free version, and a Premium version. What makes them different from each other is the resolution of the mirrored device.
That being said, here’s how to mirror your phone screen on PC via USB using Vysor
Step 1: Download Vysor on Your Android Device
Open Google Play Store, search for Vysor, then Install it on your Android smartphone
Step 2: Connect Your Android Phone To Your PC
Connect the smartphone whose screen you want to mirror to your PC via USB
Step 3: Download Vysor on Your PC
Launch your Chrome browser, search for Vysor and download it for your system Windows or Mac. If you can’t find it, here’s a link to the extension’s official page.
Step 4: Add Vysor to Chrome
Now click on the Add to Chrome button to initiate the installation process.
Step 5: Confirm Vysor Installation
Click on the Add App button from the pop up that will appear on the top of the browser to authorize the installation of a new extension.
Step 6: Mirror Your Phone
Now that everything is set up, click on the View button within the Vysor application and you will successfully mirror your phone on PC
Method 2: Mirror Your Phone Screen On PC Using ApowerMirror (Windows & Mac)
Another method you can use to mirror your Phone on PC is to use the ApowerMirror desktop app.
This app allows Android users to view or control devices from PC with the computer’s mouse and keyboard.
Here are the steps you must follow:
Step 1: Download ApowerMirror
Download and Install the ApowerMirror application of your computer.
Step 2: Connect Your Phone On Your PC
Afterwards, using a USB cable, connect your Android device to your PC and enable USB debugging as described at the beginning of this article.
Step 3: Download ApowerMirrorr On Your Phone
Now open Google Playstore and search for ApowerMirror. Tap on the first result then click the install button. When done with this, the install button will change to open.
Step 4: Open the ApowerMirror App
Once the installation is completed, open the application. You’ll now see a pop up notifying you that you want to mirror your phone. Simply click on Start Now and begin using the mouse or keyboard to control your Android phone.
Method 3: Mirror Your Phone Screen On PC Using scrcpy
It is easy to mirror your Android smartphone to a PC (Windows) if you use the srcpy application from GitHub.
However, you should be warned that this method does not support or may not work with all Android phones or tablets.
So, to view your smartphone screen on PC via USB using scrcpy, use the following steps:=
Step 1: Get scrcpy
On your PC, head over to scrcpy page on GitHub, scroll down and select the Get the App option
Step 2: Choose Windows Version
Find Windows subsection, then click on the download link to download the .zip archive. It may look something like: scrcpy-win64-v1.19.zip but the last few digits may change if the app has been recently updated to the latest version.
Step 3: Download scrcpy
Click on the link to download the scrcpy .zip file.
Step 4: Extract the File
Now that the file has been downloaded, you can go ahead and extract its contents. To do so, head over to the folder where you have downloaded the scrcpy .zip file, right-click on the file then click Extract files.
Step 5: Choose the Extract Destination
When the Extract Compressed/Zipped folders screen appears, click Browse for you to choose or create a new folder (the destination in which the extracted files should be saved). Then click on the option that says show extracted files when complete.
Step 6: Install scrcpy Application
Once that’s done, double-click on the adb.exe file to initiate the installation process of the Android ADB tools. Note that you might not see the installation progress on your screen because it is usually done in the background. Again, it should take a second or two to complete the installation.
Step 7: Connect Your Phone To Your PC
Now that your Android phone is ready for mirroring and scrcpy is successfully installed on your computer, it is time to connect the two. Connect your Android phone and computer using a USB cable.
Step 8: Launch scrcpy App
Find the scrcpy application from the desktop applications then double-click on it to start it. Windows might notify you that you are running an unrecognized app, depending on your security settings, don’t panic. Simply click on the More info button, and then Run anyway to continue.
Step 9: Always Allow USB Debugging
When your Android phone asks you to Always Allow USB debugging, just tap Allow. This is to prevent the pop-up from appearing in the future.
Step 10: Mirror Your Phone
Once you’ve executed the above steps successfully, the scrcpy window will be shown with the screen of your Android device and that is how this super-simple app works.
With it, you can use your keyboard and mouse to control your Android device just like you would have used its touch and in-built keyboard to send messages and browse through the phone.
If you’re wondering, this application will allow you to type messages, start apps, view photos in your gallery, and play mobile games on your PC’s large screen.
What is more?
By making use of the drag-and-drop feature in Windows, you can drop files onto the scrcpy window and easily copy any files from your computer to your Android phone.
How to Mirror an Android Phone to a Mac
Well, most of the methods we’ve viewed above are the most convenient screen mirroring apps for you to use to mirror your phone using a USB cable on your Windows PC. But how do you do the same on MacOS?
Worry no more because the scrcpy application is available for Mac OS X devices too.
Keep reading.
Step 1: Open Finder
Unlike in Windows PCs in which we just download a .zip file and unzip it, Mac does it differently. For you to use scrcpy, the Homebrew app should be installed first so open Finder on your Mac.
Step 2: Open Applications
On the left menu, click Applications and if this option is not visible, press Command+A on your keyboard.
Step 3: Open Utilities
From the list of applications that will be listed after the above step, go ahead and open Utilities.
Step 4: Open the Terminal
Once that’s done, launch the terminal application so that we can begin typing our commands.
Step 5: Copy Command 1
Select the entire command below and copy it:/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)”
Step 6: Run Command 1
Paste the command you just copied above into the Terminal then hit Enter on your keyboard. It will take about 10 to 15 minutes for Homebrew to install.
Step 7: Run Command 2 to Install Android ADB
Once the Homebrew installation is complete, you can now install Android ADB tools.
To do so, copy and then paste the following command into Terminal and press Enter on your keyboard:
brew cask install android-platform-tools
Step 8: Install scrcpy for Mac
After installing Android ADB, run the command below to install the scrcpy app. You do this by copying the command below into command Terminal and pressing Enter on your keyboard.
brew install scrcpy
Be patient until the download and installation is complete and then proceed to the next step.
Step 9: Connect Your Android Phone To Your MacOS Computer
To establish the connection between Android and Mac OS X, connect your phone to your Mac computer using a USB cable.
Step 10: Allow USB Debugging
You’ll now see a USB Debugging notification on your smartphone, tap Allow or tap Always allow from this computer” to continue.
Step 11: Start scrcpy
Jump in Terminal on Mac then type scrcpy to start the application.You’ll now be able to mirror your Android’s screen on your Mac OS X computer or laptop.
Conclusion
Well, these are some of the popular ways you can use to view your phone screen on PC via USB.
However, if you want to seamlessly mirror your Phone without any sluggishness, ensure that the speed of your internet connection is stable because the performance of these methods will entirely depend on the speed of the Wi-Fi network.
Have any further ways you think we should add to the ones discussed? Feel free to add them in the comment section. Feel free to also share it with your circle and friends.
