AirPlay issues after iPadOS/iOS update 26

After installing iPadOS or iOS 26, issues may occur when using AirPlay for screen mirroring on Prowise touchscreens and other AirPlay receivers. Apple introduced changes to the AirPlay pairing process in this update, which can cause the connection to fail on the first attempt.

Since this update, we have observed two main types of issues:

• The AirPlay PIN code does not appear on the iPad/iPhone, preventing the connection from being completed.
• The screen name needs to be tapped twice in the AirPlay list before the connection is established.

Temporary workaround for the AirPlay issue (iOS/iPadOS 26 → 26.1)

The following steps significantly reduce the issue and, in many cases, resolve it completely:

• Temporarily disable the AirPlay PIN code on the Prowise screen.
• Update all iPads and iPhones to iOS/iPadOS 26.1 or later. Apple has already improved AirPlay behaviour in this version.
  • Restart the devices once after installing the update.
    This ensures that all AirPlay-related processes are fully reloaded.

In practice, these steps have proven to resolve most connection problems that appeared after the release of iOS/iPadOS 26.

Cause of the issue

The problem started immediately after the release of iOS/iPadOS 26.

In this update, Apple made changes to the AirPlay protocol itself. These adjustments affect how AirPlay receivers are discovered and paired, including:

• Prowise touchscreens
• Other third-party AirPlay receivers
• Even Apple TVs, confirming that this behaviour is more widespread and not specific to Prowise

Because these changes occur at the protocol level, this is not something we can modify or compensate for within our implementation.

The issues are therefore not caused by changes on our side, but by the new behaviour of AirPlay introduced in iOS/iPadOS 26.

Expected timeline for a permanent fix

At this moment, we are unable to provide a reliable timeline for a full resolution.
Since the root cause lies in Apple’s AirPlay changes, a permanent fix will depend largely on future updates from Apple.

Our engineering teams continue to monitor and analyse the situation to confirm that no additional workarounds are possible on our side. So far, there is no indication that the issue originates from our implementation.

We will update this article as soon as Apple provides further improvements or if new information becomes available.