AirServer Streams Content to Your iDevices

AirServer is a new jailbreak app available in Cydia that allows you to stream content from your computer to your iOS devices, and from one iOS device to another. To be able to use this app at its full potential you will need a Mac with iTunes 10.2 or newer and an iPhone or iPad with firmware 4.2.1 or newer. All the mentioned devices must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

Once you’ve purchased and installed your copy from Cydia (no respring required) on your iPhone and/or iPad you can start streaming content right away…

From Mac to iOS

For this to work, AirServer must be open on your device.

Open iTunes on your Mac and press the AirPlay icon at the bottom right corner. If your devices are connected to the same wifi network as your computer, they are going to appear in the list of available speakers. Select your iPhone/iPad and press play in iTunes.

After a couple of seconds music is going to play form your device instead of playing from your computer speakers. It works exactly like an Airport Express or an Apple TV. Once the streaming has started you can quit the AirServer and use other apps.

You can also stream videos from iTunes. Just open the video, press the Airplay icon in the control bar, and select the device you would like to stream to. Needless to say that if you exit AirServer while watching a video, the streaming is going to stop.

Between iOS Devices

Again, both your devices must be on the same wifi network. Open the iPod app on the device you would like to stream from and AirServer on the device you would like to stream to. In the iPod app press the airplay icon in the control bar and select the device to start streaming music or videos.

You can also stream photos between iOS devices. Just enter the Images app and press the Airplay button.

Thoughts

All in all it works quite well. I loved the fact that you can control the volume from both devices, not just from one. A great UI would be a plus, but this is not the case. The audio quality is very good even though the streaming is not instantaneous.

It is a great way to show your photo collection, especially if you take advantage of the iPad’s bigger screen, and it can be quite handy if you want to watch a movie in bed.

AirServer is developed by Pratik Kumar and is available at the BigBoss repo for the price of $4.99. Is it worth it to you?