Apple Killed Hidden Windowed AirPlay, but a New App Is Coming

Apple has turned off a hidden way to AirPlay video or your iPhone screen to a Mac in a window, but a dedicated AirPlay Receiver app is already showing up, unfinished, in the macOS 27.3 beta, according to reverse engineer pdfu.

Since Apple added AirPlay to Mac in Monterey, receiving a stream has meant giving up the entire display. In August, pdfu found a hidden feature flag in macOS 27 that let AirPlay open in a regular window instead. He later wrote that Apple force-disabled that flag in the macOS 27.2 betas, even if you tried to turn it back on. iOS 27.2 and the rest of that software crop have since shipped.

The better news, he says, is a brand new AirPlay Receiver app. It can switch between Windowed and Takeover mode and remembers which one you prefer. pdfu says the app has been added to macOS 27.3 but is still unfinished.

In the clip he posted today, a music video first takes over the screen. Clicking a small exit-full-screen control drops the same stream into a rounded window on the desktop, with the Dock and other windows still visible. Clicking the window’s green full-screen button takes over the display again. The menu bar identifies the app as AirPlay Receiver, and an About box in the clip reads “AirPlay Receiver Version 1.0 (1.0)” with a 2017 Apple copyright. A matching icon also appears in the Dock.

Pdfu has been digging through the iOS 27.3 and macOS 27.3 developer betas in recent weeks, including code that points to a longer-term memory system for Siri AI. Apple has not announced a windowed AirPlay app, and because this one is still unfinished, it may or may not be ready when 27.3 goes out to everyone.