Presented with great fanfare during WWDC, the iPhone mirroring system is unfortunately not available for European users… Well, officially at least.
The European Commission and Apple are waging a merciless war. While the first is preparing to impose a hefty fine on the second, the iPhone manufacturer is taking features of its operating system hostage to try to create a diversion. The generative AI features presented by Apple during its WWDC will in fact be blocked on the old continent, just like the iPhone mirroring system of macOS Sequoia.
Concerning the latter, that said, the reasons are more vague. Apparently, nothing in this screen sharing system seems to violate the DMA and Numerama has obtained confirmation from Brussels that this tool does not seem to contravene the new European rules. It could well be that Apple is artificially blocking the functionality in Europe to put pressure on the Commission.
The proof, as MacGeneration noted, the iPhone copy is in reality very easily accessible if you are ready to get your hands a little dirty.
How to enable iPhone mirroring on Mac?
The first thing to do is to make sure that your Mac and iPhone are running the latest beta versions of their respective OS. The screen mirroring functionality is in fact only available, for the moment, with iOS 18 beta 2 and macOS Sequoia beta 2. Next, MacGeneration explains that by simply switching the Mac App Store from a European account to an American account, the functionality is unlocked and it is possible to control your iPhone from your Mac with the mouse.
To do this, nothing too complicated. First create a US Apple ID account on the Apple website. Then open the Mac App Store on your machine, scroll down to the bottom of the window and click the flag in the lower right corner. Then choose the option “United States”. Enter your newly created account and that’s it!
Apple is playing with fire
No need to use a VPN or switch your iPhone to English. No need to even change the Apple account linked to the machine in the system settings. Switching between accounts on the Mac App Store is enough. All you have to do is launch the “iPhone Mirroring” application on macOS to take advantage of the functionality. Be careful though, switching back to a French account again prevents the tool from working properly.
As it stands, the limitations imposed by Apple on this functionality are therefore all the more incomprehensible. No verification is made beyond the origin of the Apple account, even though Apple has other means to ensure that an iPhone or a Mac is European or not. The theory of a completely artificial blockage on the part of Apple therefore gains weight here, which will not improve the image of the brand.
