Guide: How to play Xbox games on Apple TV and Google TV

The Xbox app is missing on Apple TV and Google TV, but there are alternatives that let you play Xbox games on other TVs in your home over local network. FlatpanelsHD explores the options.

We recently explored how to play PlayStation games on Apple TV and Google TV. Back then, we found a single well-functioning app for everything (PXPlay). In this Xbox guide, we tested 3 apps.

We started with the OneCast app for Apple TV and XBPlay for Google TV, but the latter has just been discontinued. For Google TV, there is an alternative with a nearly identical name: XBXPlay.


Xbox games on Apple TV
The OneCast app is free to try for 7 days after which it costs $15 dollars as a one-time universal purchase that works across Apple TV, iPad and iPhone. In addition to streaming games from a physical Xbox console in your home, the app can stream from Xbox Cloud. In this guide, we focus on streaming from your own console over home network.


Setting up OneCast is a bit cumbersome but only needs to be done once. You can connect to either an Xbox One or Xbox Series console.

The tricky part is that you must log in with your Xbox account through a browser – not on Apple TV. According to the developer, this is a requirement from Microsoft to use Xbox' remote play functionality.


We fired up racing game Dirt and later Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Both worked as intended, with low latency – perceivably slightly lower than what we saw with PXPlay for PlayStation. I won my first race in Dirt without issue. You can tell that the video signal is compressed, but with the optional '1080p HQ' setting, it looks decent.

Xbox streams games over your home network in 1080p HD and SDR, and as always the optimal configuration is to have all devices connected via Ethernet. Wi-Fi works but adds more latency and potential dropouts. Also, remember to set your TV to Game picture mode – OneCast will not do it automatically.


The OneCast app does not support 4K, HDR or Dolby Atmos sound. It also lacks AI upscaling to 4K like PXPlay for PlayStation. The absence of 4K is acceptable, but in a game like Ori and the Will of the Wisps I missed HDR and Dolby Atmos.

We encountered a few technical quirks, such as the Xbox console waking up the TV connected via HDMI when we started using remote play on another TV screen. That is not ideal. You can "fix it" by changing the HDMI CEC settings on the Xbox but then the console will not wake your primary TV either. We did not encounter this HDMI CEC issue when testing PXPlay for PlayStation.

  Also read: Guide: How to pair PlayStation & Xbox controllers with Apple TV

On the plus side controller rumble works and AirPods can connect wirelessly to Apple TV and 'spatialize stereo' sound for a more immersive surround-like audio experience. Head-tracking also works with AirPods. Ideally, we would like Dolby Atmos sound but Xbox Remote Play apparently does not support it. You can also use, for example, Sony's DualSense controller from PS5 to play Xbox games through the OneCast app.

Is OneCast worth $15 dollars? That is up to each user to decide but personally I ended up the app for my kids so they can play Xbox games in their rooms. It is a much cheaper solution than buying extra consoles.

The XBXPlay app is not available for Apple TV.


Xbox games on Google TV
For Google TV (and Android TV), we initially settled on the XBPlay app, which could also stream Xbox games to the Steam Deck, but it was discontinued on September 30, shortly after our tests commenced. OneCast can only be sideloaded onto Android TV and Google TV, but it didn't work for us after sideloading. We therefore ended up using the XBXPlay app, which costs $7 dollars for Android.

Setting up the XBXPlay app on Google TV is even more cumbersome than OneCast for Apple TV because you must sign in online with your Xbox profile using Google's clunky on-screen keyboard on the TV. Thankfully, setup is only required once.

Unfortunately, XBXPlay would not wake our Xbox Series X from standby – we had to power on the console manually first. After that, the app connects without issue via Xbox Remote Play. We also experienced the same problem as with OneCast: the Xbox wakes the HDMI-connected TV when starting remote play. Again, this can only be fixed by changing the Xbox' HDMI CEC settings since it is a limitation of the console itself.


On Chromecast with Google TV connected via Wi-Fi, latency was too high for a usable gaming experience, so you will need the Ethernet adapter. On Google TV Streamer, Wi-Fi performance was better but we still recommend using Ethernet. With a wired connection, we got a smooth gaming experience with minimal latency and once again enjoyed playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Games are streamed in 1080p HD and SDR. XBXPlay does not offer upscaling to 4K or HDR, nor does it support Dolby Atmos sound. However, it provides many settings you can tweak.


We had no issues connecting and using either Xbox or Sony DualSense controllers with the XBXPlay app. Both controllers paired wirelessly with Google TV boxes and TVs via Bluetooth. However, we did notice that controllers did not power off automatically when the Google TV device went into standby, which appears to be a Google TV software bug. Controllers do power off after inactivity when connected to Apple TV.

 Also read: Sony's DualSense can now be paired with four devices at once

Overall, the experience with XBXPlay on Google TV is acceptable for playing Xbox games but it does not feel quite as polished as OneCast for Apple TV. Is it worth $7 dollars? Yes, that is a fair price.