A Guide to iPad Home Sharing

Enjoy music and movies at home without loading media and taking up space on your iPad. Use iTunes to stream music and movies between devices using Home Sharing. Stream your music or movie collection to your iPad or import music from your desktop PC to your laptop. Combine Home Sharing with the Apple Digital AV Adapter to stream a movie from your PC to your HDTV. This feature has some of the benefits of Apple TV without the need for another device.

How to Set Up Home Sharing in iTunes

To share music between iTunes and the iPad, turn on iTunes Home Sharing.

1. On a PC or Mac computer, open iTunes.

2. Select File > Home Sharing > Turn on Home Sharing.

3. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.

4. It may take a moment to turn on Home Sharing.

   The feature is only available when iTunes is open on your computer.

5. iTunes has other settings that make Home Sharing more convenient. To access these settings, go to the iTunes menu and click Preferences.

6. Go to the General tab to change the name of your music library. The name you choose is the one you'll look for on your iPad.

7. Your iTunes library is ready for Home Sharing.

After Home Sharing is turned on, other computers with iTunes Home Sharing turned on are listed in the left panel of iTunes and display under your connected devices.

How to Set Up Home Sharing on the iPad

With iPad Home Sharing set up, you can share music, movies, podcasts, and audiobooks. This means you have access to your music and movie collection without taking up space on the iPad.

1. Open the iPad settings.

2. Tap ​Music.

3. In the Home Sharing section, the email associated with the Apple ID set for Home Sharing is listed. If it isn't the same one you used on iTunes, tap it to sign in to the correct account.

4. Along with using the same Apple ID, connect the iPad and computer to your Wi-Fi network.

Share Music on the iPad

To use Home Sharing to access your music and movies on your iPad:

1. Launch the Music app.

2. Tap the Library tab.

3. Tap the Library drop-down arrow.

4. Choose Home Sharing.

5. Tap the name of your iTunes library to access the music on the PC.

6. If you made playlists in iTunes, the playlists appear in the Music app on the iPad.

Share Movies on the iPad

Home Sharing adds a menu to the Apple TV app that accesses the movies stored in iTunes. Here's where to find it.

1. Open the Apple TV app.

2. Tap the Library tab.

3. Tap Home Sharing, then select your iTunes library.

Because the Apple TV app contains movies you purchased on your account, using Home Sharing with movies works best if you're using a friend or family member's Apple ID.