# Home network sharing on iOS 4.3--How to



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Last night I upgraded my iPod Touch and iPad to iOS 4.3 (wild Friday night, huh?).  One of the new features in iOS 4.3 that held some interest to me was the ability to share video from your iTunes library on your desktop computer to iThings connected to the local wifi network, and I wanted to try this out (supposedly it works for any media, but I was most interested in video--My music library is barely over 1000 songs, and fits in its entirety on my iPad, iPod Touch, and even my old-generation iPod Nano).  Enabling sharing was fairly easy to do on the iPad, but I had a bit of trouble with my Touch, so I thought I'd write a few notes here in case they helped somebody.  Here they are in semi-logical and chronological order:

After upgrading your devices to iOS 4.3, you need to do the latest iTunes update on your desktop if you haven't already done so.

Then open up iTunes, go to Edit --->Preferences--->Sharing, and enable sharing, either for all libraries, or for selected playlists as described on the menu.  You'll have to enter your iTunes ID and password, also.

Choose an iThing with iOS 4.3 installed.  If it is an iPad, the process is fairly obvious, go to Settings-->iPod, and under "home sharing" enter your iTunes ID and password.

Now go to the media you want to share.  The only type of media I've shared is video.  On my iPad, when I open video, across the top where it lists movies, tv shows, podcasts, etc., it has a new choice at far right called "shared".  Click on "shared" and you'll see just one choice (for me it is called "Mike's Library").  Click on that and you'll see all the videos in your iTunes library.  Click on 'em and enjoy!

As far as how well it works, I'm quite pleased with it.  It is decently fast, it takes literally two seconds to start a movie after you select it.  There is a slight delay if you "scrub" and drag the slider to a different point in the video, but no more than a second.  You can use this to view remotely any video that is in your iTunes library, so you can view ripped DVDs, home video, etc..  It isn't limited to videos bought from the iTunes store.

One minor disadvantage is that iTunes has to be open on your computer for all this to work.  It isn't enough merely for your computer to be turned on (which is what I was expecting).  This only works on your home wifi network, and it only works for devices that are using the same iTunes library.  If you have separate libraries for different people in the house, you're going to have to settle on one library to share!

The process is different on the iPod Touch, and baffled me at first.  There is no 'iPod" app on the Touch, and despite exhaustively exploring every menu under settings-->General, which is where I thought it logically belonged, I couldn't find anywhere to enter my iTunes ID and password!  It ends up that what you must do is go to settings-->Music on the iPod Touch.  Then the "sharing" subheader where you can enter your iTunes ID and password are obvious.  This will supposedly open up sharing for everything.  I've only tested it under video, but it definitely works for video as long as your computer is on and iTunes is open.

If Apple will make this function work over the internet (so it could be done on wifi at least, and maybe over 4G wireless), this would be a great convenience for everyone, and for those who travel and want to have their personal entertainment with them, it would make it easier to get along with a device with less than the maximum amount of storage.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure Apple would really want that!     I'll find it a minor convenience to let me whip out my iPad and watch a particular Looney Tune on a whim, though I don't have any illusions that it is going to transform my life!  Nice little feature, anyway.  I eschew fruit on my phone in favor of green robots, so I can't vouch for how you enter your iTunes ID for sharing on the iPhone, though I suspect one of the above approaches will work.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks for sharing that. You were very informative. Your info. will definitely help someone that will be using that function.


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## meljackson (Nov 19, 2008)

Yes, thank you. That helped me a lot! Watched toy story 3 this way and it worked perfectly. 

Melissa


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I can't seem to get this to work.  

I've updated iTunes to the latest version, I've updated my iPad and iPod to OS 4.3. I've enabled sharing in iTunes and on both devices as per your instructions and all went as you described. But when I go into, for example, videos on my iPad, the 'shared' option doesn't come up. In iTunes under preferences -- sharing, it says "Status: On, no users connected". I know I'm connected to my network, as I'm able to download mail and surf the 'net etc. I tried rebooting the iPad but no luck - or on the iPod.  

Am I overlooking something simple?


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Lin, I briefly had the same situation you describe last night on my Touch.  I couldnt access shared stuff on myTouch, and iTunes insisted sharing was enabled but nothing was connected even though everything showed sharing and passwords enabled and i could surf on my Touch.  I completely powered down my Touch and restarted it, so that it showed the little silver apple for awhile as it rebooted.  Then I was able to share video and watch a Looney Tune on my Touch in bed before falling asleep!  My iPad allegedly wasn't connected at the time, but shows connected this morning with no other steps by me.

Other than restarting everything, I have no suggestions!


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## meljackson (Nov 19, 2008)

Lol glad I'm not the only cartoon watcher here.


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