Now Showing Support

Any of four setups: a Mac mini (M1 or later) connected to a TV, an Apple TV 4K connected to any display, an iPad with M1 or later driving a USB-C external display (iPadOS 26), or a modern iPad mounted on the wall as its own screen. A Mac can drive several displays at once; an iPad or Apple TV drives one. One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

Configure it from an iPhone, iPad or Mac. Open Now Showing on that device, choose the Apple TV as the target display at the top of Settings, and set it up there. Both devices need to be on the same network, with Now Showing open on the Apple TV.

Yes. Set the display’s orientation to Portrait Left or Portrait Right in Settings and Now Showing rotates its picture itself, even on a TV or Apple TV that has no portrait mode. Landscape works too.

On that Apple TV, open Settings ▸ AirPlay and HomeKit ▸ Allow Access and choose Anyone on the Same Network. With a narrower setting, the Apple TV quietly turns the pairing request down, so no PIN and no error appear. Once it’s changed, start pairing again and the PIN shows up.

An Apple TV doesn’t reopen apps after it loses power, so start Now Showing again by hand. On a Mac, add Now Showing to Login Items in System Settings so it opens after a restart; Kiosk Mode locks the display for unattended, always-on installations.

If Settings shows Turn On Separate Spaces for Multiple Displays, click it. macOS has to give each display its own Space (System Settings ▸ Desktop & Dock ▸ Displays have separate Spaces) before Now Showing can run full screen on more than one.

Now Showing finds players on your local network, so it needs permission to look. On iPhone or iPad, open Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network and turn on Now Showing; on a Mac, use System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Local Network. Keep the player and the display on the same network.

Six connect directly: Apple TV, Kaleidescape, Panasonic UHD players, Kodi, Zidoo and Oppo UHD players, plus your Plex Media Server. If you also use Roomie Remote X (a separate app and subscription), Now Showing follows its Activities and supports more than 20 players.

Automatic posters depend on what the player reports. Movies in the TV app, Prime Video and most streaming apps load clean poster art (Netflix on Apple TV stopped reporting what’s playing in March 2026), and Kaleidescape works for nearly everything, but a random YouTube video only offers whatever thumbnail YouTube supplies. For a film you’ll show often, add your own artwork to the Custom collection.

That means the source isn’t reporting playback position at all, so there’s nothing to draw. Players that report only elapsed time, such as the Panasonic DP-UB820, still get a progress display.

Posters come from a Plex Media Server that your own Plex account owns and that Now Showing can reach on your network, not from a Plex player app. The full checklist is in this answer.

Set Panel Height on the Display screen to the panel’s real pixel height, such as 360 for a 1920×360 bar. Tall, thin text means the setting is too large (or still None); short, wide text means it’s too small. A true 32:9 monitor needs None.

Turn on Synchronize Displays in the gear menu at the top of Settings. Cycling is then staggered so each screen shows something different.

Open the gear menu, choose About Now Showing, then Restore Purchases, signed in with the Apple Account that bought it. One purchase covers every platform, and plans are shareable through Apple Family Sharing.

Subscriptions are managed by Apple. On iPhone or iPad, open Settings ▸ your name ▸ Subscriptions; on a Mac, open the App Store ▸ your name ▸ Account Settings ▸ Subscriptions. If you’d rather not subscribe, Perpetual is a one-time purchase with no recurring charge. For a refund, use reportaproblem.apple.com.

Open the gear menu ▸ Diagnostics ▸ Collect Diagnostics, make the problem happen again, then choose Send Diagnostics from the same menu.