How To Stream Movies From A PC To Your Android Phone
Streaming between a smartphone and a computer or smart TV (and vice-versa) won't always be necessary what with the prevalence of Wi-Fi and 5G. However, you may still find yourself in a situation where it would be better to wirelessly view video from your PC to your Android phone — rather than streaming directly through the phone itself via an internet connection.
While digitally projecting videos from your phone to another source has become kind of a built-in feature across both iOS and Android, going the other way requires a little bit more work. It's not an insurmountable task, and once you have everything ready it should be much easier to repeat the process in the future, but you're going to need to download and install an app like Chrome Remote Desktop to make it happen.
Chrome Remote Desktop is just one such example, and there are many other apps that claim to offer the same features. That being said, if you plan to install any other apps in order to stream from your PC to your Android phone, make sure they come from a trusted source or you can otherwise verify their legitimacy. Otherwise you run the risk of accidentally putting malware on your device.
Setting up the stream
In addition to installing Chrome Remote Desktop on your Android phone, you'll also want to make sure both your PC and phone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Once that's done:
- Open the Chrome web browser on your PC and type in remotedesktop.google.com/support to the address bar, then press Enter.
- Find the Get Support section and click Download, then follow the on-screen instructions.
- Once Chrome Remote Desktop is installed, select Generate Code to create a unique code specifically for connecting to your PC.
- Open Chrome Remote Desktop on your phone and tap the Menu button.
- Select Remote Access, then select your PC from the list of connection points.
- Enter the code that was generated for your PC when prompted, then tap the arrow icon to continue.
Once you're connected you can remotely access your PC via your phone, and everything you would see on your monitor will appear on the smaller device. Simply open the video files you wish to stream — or navigate and log in to streaming services — and start watching.