Newer Macs Can Use Another Mac as an External Display on macOS Monterey

One of the key new features of macOS Monterey is the ability to AirPlay content to a Mac from other Apple devices, such as an iPhone, iPad, or another Mac. According to the macOS Monterey features page, AirPlay to Mac works works both wirelessly or wired using a USB cable, with Apple noting that a wired connection is useful when you want to ensure that there's no latency or don't have access to a Wi-Fi connection.

imac macbook pro macos monterey
AirPlay to Mac also allows users to extend or mirror an Apple device's display to a Mac, and we've confirmed this works on a Mac-to-Mac basis. This makes it possible for supported Macs to use another Mac as an external display, and with AirPlay to Mac working both wirelessly or with a wired connection, Apple has come close to reviving Target Display Mode, which allowed 2009 to 2014 iMac models to serve as another Mac's external display.

It's worth noting that these new AirPlay features do not serve as a complete Target Display Mode replacement, as we've been told that AirPlay compresses video sent from one Mac to another, and at least some latency might still be possible.

Starting with macOS Monterey, a supported Mac can also function as an AirPlay 2 speaker source, allowing users to wirelessly stream music or podcasts from an Apple device to a Mac or use the computer as a secondary speaker for multi-room audio.

AirPlay to Mac works with a 2018 or later MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, a 2019 or later iMac or Mac Pro, an iMac Pro, and the 2020 Mac mini.

macOS Monterey is available now in beta for developers, with a public beta to follow in July. The software update will likely be publicly released for all compatible Macs at some point between late September and early November.

Related Forum: macOS Monterey

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

iObama Avatar
53 months ago
Ugh. Wish I could use my 2017 4K iMac as an external display for my M1 Pro. It’s a beautiful monitor that now just sits on my desk, while I use a 24” 1080p monitor with my M1. Boo.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ultrafiel80 Avatar
53 months ago
Here are the supported devices since it didn't seem to be included in the article:


"Available on MacBook Pro (2018 and later), MacBook Air (2018 and later), iMac (2019 and later), iMac Pro (2017), Mac mini (2020 and later), Mac Pro (2019), iPhone 7 and later, iPad Pro (2nd generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), iPad (6th generation and later), and iPad mini (5th generation and later). Older iPhone, iPad, and Mac models may share content at a lower resolution to supported Mac models when “Allow AirPlay for” is set to “Everyone” or “Anyone on the same network” in Sharing preferences." (https://www.apple.com/macos/monterey-preview/features/#footnote-6)
This is great for my use, as I have wanted to use my 2020 iMac as a display for my work MacBook Pro when I'm at home (which is most of the time now). I tried out Luna Display, but it has some issues that don't work for me. My hope this works well, and with a hardwired connection the latency is not too bad.

Formatting the list better:

* MacBook Pro (2018 and later)
* MacBook Air (2018 and later)
* iMac (2019 and later)
* iMac Pro (2017)
* Mac mini (2020 and later)
* Mac Pro (2019)
* iPhone 7 and later
* iPad Pro (2nd generation and later)
* iPad Air (3rd generation and later)
* iPad (6th generation and later)
* iPad mini (5th generation and later)
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
casperes1996 Avatar
53 months ago
Yeah, no I would've loved Target Display mode for my 2020 iMac to connect a PlayStation or something to it. This is alright for some things, but frankly I don't see myself using it
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JippaLippa Avatar
53 months ago
That's a very cool feature for people with desktop and a macbook on the side, for portable use.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
daanodinot Avatar
53 months ago
For those getting a little too enthusiastic after reading the headline:

It's worth noting that these new AirPlay features do not serve as a complete Target Display Mode replacement, as we've been told that AirPlay compresses video sent from one Mac to another, and at least some latency might still be possible.
Plus, forget about connecting a PC, which you could do with non-Retina iMacs.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
53 months ago
I can still use my Target Display Mode 2010 iMac as a second display with any Mac, or even a Windows PC.

The main problem is that Apple has killed subpixel anti-aliasing, which makes any recent version of macOS look bad on non-Retina screens.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)