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I have sent several video files to my mom, who has downloaded them onto her iPad. She has the video files saved on her iPad into a directory called "my files". She recently bought a chromecast so that she can play these files on her TV, however all the apps she has tried only allow her to select files from the camera roll, and not the video files she has downloaded.

  • Is there an app that will allow her to cast video files from locations other than the camera roll?
  • If not, is there a way to move the downloaded files into the camera roll?

She has tried an app that mirrors her screen to the TV but the quality is really bad, and the differences in aspect ratio make it so that you can't go fullscreen.

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – bmike ♦
    Oct 7, 2020 at 23:31

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She can use the Files app on the iPad to copy the files into Photos (what you call the camera roll). Simply open Files, navigate to the "my files" directory, tap on the video and press the Share icon (square with arrow pointing upwards). In the Share sheet she should select "Save video". This stores a copy of the video in Photos.

A different approach is to install a video player app such as "VLC" from the App Store. Now in the Files app, open the share sheet for the video and select to share it to VLC. Now it will play in VLC and you can tap the Chromecast icon to get it on the TV.

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  • Yes, Apple's Files app. My device was set to a different language than English at the time, so "Save video" might not be the exact wording in English. Having it in Photos makes it easy to cast to Chromecast because the question specifically said that these apps can cast things in the camera roll - which is what Photos is.
    – jksoegaard
    Oct 7, 2020 at 23:10
  • Huh? I haven't written anything about AirPlay, a screen mirroring app, low quality or anything of the like. Where did you get that from? - I'm not saying that you cast the video from Photos. That's not how this works. I'm answering the question as it is written "how to move downloaded files into the camera roll" - and then OP can use any of the casting apps he wants to.
    – jksoegaard
    Oct 7, 2020 at 23:58
  • @matthew_360, I'm curious: what app are you using to get the videos to cast from Photos? One of the apps that makes the Chromecast an AirPlay receiver? ... Oh I see you say that that you were (mom was) actually using a screen mirroring app, not a casting app ... and that the result is low quality, so this route won't work well anyway.
    – WHO'sNoToOldRx4Covid-CENSORED
    Oct 8, 2020 at 1:27
  • There are many apps in the App Store for casting videos - such as TV Cast for Chromecast. They do not work by using AirPlay Receivers nor by screen recording.
    – jksoegaard
    Oct 8, 2020 at 5:17
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This solves your problem: Upload the videos to YouTube; (mark them private if you wish.) Then send her the YouTube links, e.g. with Messages. Easy, foolproof.

In fact there are several easy ways to make it work once they're on YouTube - just use YouTube running directly on the Chromecast - as foolproof as it gets) or help her set up YouTube on the iPad so that it can cast to the Chromecast (fairly easy to do and super neat).

It doesn't solve it the way you asked, but it's a simpler solution, especially for her, to do what you want than doing what you asked for the way you asked for it could be.

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