Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

How to enable Home Sharing in iOS 9 beta

Last updated

With the latest iOS 9 beta restoring full support for Home Sharing, here's how to toggle on the feature that allows streaming music and video from computers connected to the same local Wi-Fi network.

Before doing anything with iOS 9, the first step is to toggle the option on in iTunes 12, since a Mac or Windows PC serves as a media hub. From the File menu, find the Home Sharing option, then click Turn On Home Sharing. This brings up a splash screen, prompting users to enter their Apple ID or create one.

Up to five computers can be linked together as long as they're using the same Apple ID. While connected, music and video files can also be copied between each system — but not to or from an iOS device, or an Apple TV, for that matter.

Leaving at least one shared computer on, the next move is to go into iOS 9's Settings app and tap on the Music menu. Towards the bottom of that menu is a Home Sharing section — if a device is already signed in to an Apple ID, that means it's effectively good to go. A sign-in button should appear if not.

One advantage of Home Sharing though is the ability to control iTunes or an Apple TV from iOS. For that people need to download Apple's official Remote app from the App Store. Via an initial splash screen or the app's Settings menu, Remote can be set to automatically detect compatible devices/libraries or manually add an iTunes library.

Ironically, actually streaming music to an iOS 9 device is the least intuitive part of the process. Under the Music app's Library tab, there's a category selector — normally defaulting to "Artists" — that if tapped will bring up Home Sharing as an option, and allow users to pick a library. The selector blends in with the rest of the app's interface, and doesn't initially look interactive.

Streaming video is more straightforward. People simply have to go into the Videos app, hit the Shared tab, then choose a connected Home Sharing library.



4 Comments

🎄
rogifan 13 Years · 10667 comments

This has to be causing some heartburn inside Apple HQ. Pretty embarrassing when Apple loses Jim Dalrymple, someone who is highly regarded inside the company. Jim also tweeted that he just finished a 2 hour podcast with John Gruber talking about Apple Music. I wonder if he'll get the same attention Taylor Swift did. :D http://www.loopinsight.com/2015/07/22/apple-music-is-a-nightmare-and-im-done-with-it/

🕯️
thewhitefalcon 10 Years · 4444 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan 

This has to be causing some heartburn inside Apple HQ. Pretty embarrassing when Apple loses Jim Dalrymple, someone who is highly regarded inside the company. Jim also tweeted that he just finished a 2 hour podcast with John Gruber talking about Apple Music. I wonder if he'll get the same attention Taylor Swift did.

http://www.loopinsight.com/2015/07/22/apple-music-is-a-nightmare-and-im-done-with-it/


Cue (haha) twenty posts claiming Dalrymple is a has-been and his opinion isn't relevant anymore.

❄️
slurpy 15 Years · 5390 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan 

This has to be causing some heartburn inside Apple HQ. Pretty embarrassing when Apple loses Jim Dalrymple, someone who is highly regarded inside the company. Jim also tweeted that he just finished a 2 hour podcast with John Gruber talking about Apple Music. I wonder if he'll get the same attention Taylor Swift did.

http://www.loopinsight.com/2015/07/22/apple-music-is-a-nightmare-and-im-done-with-it/

 

Please elaborate how exactly this is related to " How to enable Home Sharing in iOS 9 beta" which is the topic of this thread?I know you were super excited to post that link, but it's pretty shamelessly off topic. Jim has always been a sensationalist, and I'm sorry, but he's a moron for not making a backup of his music, then bitches and whines when he connects it to a cloud matching service and stuff happens. 

🎁
rogifan 13 Years · 10667 comments

[quote name="TheWhiteFalcon" url="/t/187324/how-to-enable-home-sharing-in-ios-9-beta#post_2751591"] Cue (haha) twenty posts claiming Dalrymple is a has-been and his opinion isn't relevant anymore. [/quote] Of course it's not. :D and he's not. :D [IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/16hkyl4.jpg[/IMG] [img]http://photos2.appleinsidercdn.com/gallery/12486-6435-CCP-lofWIAAuTeK-l.jpg[/img] Look I'm hoping his complaints result in improvements with Apple Music. I don't have a large iTunes library so thankfully it's not really affecting me that much.