Mirroring mobile screens: ApowerMirror vs. Airserver vs. Reflector (UPDATE)

UPDATE: See below.

Mirroring mobile screens to a whiteboard beamer is extremely useful to teach how to do something. The possibility to share students screens too is not only engaging but makes sure that everyone is involved.

When starting this term (see here) I did not know which program or other solution would be best. After some research the three mentioned programs made it to my shortlist. After some comparison (see table) I decided to use ApowerMirror as a starting point — being free in a (very) basic version being the most important criterion. The other ones do not cost much (starting at $10-$15) for my scenario as only the teachers computer has to be equipped with it.

You can see easily that Apowermirror Free is very basic — but to begin with this is OK. It’s the only candidate needing a special client to install (which is free too) which is not as elegant as the other two requiring no manipulation of the mobiles. And if you want a little bit more (Screen recording e.g.) it is rather pricey.

The other two are different in their abilities: while Airserver does everything I think I will want to do in the future Reflector has some more possibilities.

So I will start with Apowermirror and I think I will switch later to Airserver.

Update: after three weeks and ApowerMirror Evaluation ending leaving me in free mode my verdict has to be changed.  Apowermirrors free mode does not allow zooming which simply is a deal breaker: smaller fonts are impossible to read even when are just a few meters away. So with Apowermirror you have to go Pro which costs about seven times as much as the alternatives (lifetime license). So you have to need Apowers remote control for androids (which could be nice but surely is no need to have asset) to be willing to pay as much still leaving iOS users alone as there is no remote control for them.

The other ones are both OK, zoom mode gives good visibility. Reflector has a director app which I tried — it allows to control visibility of mirrored screens using a mobile/tablet (instead of my mirroring PC). At this time I can not imagine why I would need this.

Although it’s very fine not to have to use a client on the mobiles there is one for Airserver (free) — assisting the connection. As some clients (Android) have difficulties connecting this is quite comfortable. Reflector has a client too — but at this time none for Android.

Overall: Airserver is a very stable simple solution. Reflector is more ambitious trying to offer some more functions but is not as stable and connection for Android mobiles without an assistant was a problem for me.

I will use Airserver.