XeOS: External Display Browser LogoXeOS: External Display Browser
XeOS: Simply the best iPhone/iPad external screen experience

Desktop mode for iPhone*or iPad

Connect your iPhone or iPad to a monitor, TV, or projector. XeOS fills the entire external display, leaving no black bars.

Download on the App Store

iPhoneExternal Monitor

iPhone
iPhone
iMac
External Monitor

What XeOS puts on the external display

Compare standard mirroring with XeOS, then see how windows, files, media, and controls work on the connected screen.

YouTube & Video, Full Screen

iMac
  • YouTube fills the whole screen, no black bars
  • Any streaming site: Twitch, Vimeo, etc.
  • Video in-page and full-screen toggle both work

Black bars on a big external monitor or portable display are genuinely annoying. XeOS: External Display Browser fills the whole screen edge to edge, YouTube, Twitch, Vimeo, everything.

Real Windows, Real Multitasking

iMac
  • Drag, resize and stack real windows
  • Window switcher and an all-windows overview
  • Install any website as its own app

Open as many windows as you need and arrange them the way you would on a desktop: drag, resize, stack, full screen, and a Mission-Control style overview of everything that is open.

Cloud Gaming on the Big Screen

iMac
  • Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna, GeForce NOW, and more
  • Full external-screen gameplay with no black bars
  • Pair a compatible controller and start playing

Open supported cloud gaming services in XeOS and play across the whole external display with a paired controller.

Mouse & Keyboard Support

⌘
C
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iMac
  • Full mouse cursor on the external or portable display
  • Shortcuts, copy/paste, typing
  • Scroll wheel and extra mouse buttons work too

Pair a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard and it just works: cursor, scrolling, shortcuts. It's the closest thing to Samsung DeX that iPhone has ever had.

Your Files, Your Drives, Your iCloud

iMac
  • Mount iCloud Drive, external SSDs and local folders
  • Copy, move, rename, compress and unzip
  • Open any file in the built-in viewers

Files is a proper file manager: mount your iCloud Drive, a USB-C SSD or a folder on the iPhone itself, and copy, move, compress and open anything across all of them on the big screen.

Downloads, PDFs & Office Files

iMac
  • Real downloads with progress, straight into the file system
  • Annotate and sign PDFs, present them full screen
  • Preview Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents

Download anything the web gives you and open it right there: the PDF viewer annotates and signs, and Word, Excel and PowerPoint files preview at full desktop size.

Photos, Slideshows & Built-in Apps

iMac
  • Your whole photo library, full screen slideshows
  • Image, video and audio players built in
  • Notes, Calculator and a full Settings app

Your photo library opens on the external display, plays as a full-screen slideshow on a TV, and the built-in image, video and audio players, Notes and Calculator are all there when you need them.

Apps Drawer & Instant Search

iMac
  • Apps drawer with your installed sites
  • Search files, apps and the web from one field
  • Pin anything you use to the dock

The apps drawer holds every built-in app and every site you installed as an app, and the search overlay finds apps, files and answers instantly, without lifting your hands off the keyboard.

NewExternal Display Video Player: drag, resize & play any video on your TV or monitorLearn more

Connect the display. Open XeOS.

Use a USB-C cable or adapter. Add a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard if you want them; the on-screen controls work too.

Step 1

Connect to Any External or Portable Display

Plug your iPhone or iPad into an external monitor, portable monitor, TV or projector using a USB-C to HDMI or USB-C to USB-C adapter. XeOS: External Display Browser detects the connection automatically and fills every pixel of the screen.

Step 2

Add a Bluetooth Mouse & Keyboard (Optional)

Pair a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard for a full browser experience on your external display, the best Samsung DeX alternative there is for iPhone. Works great with on-screen controls too.

Step 3

Enjoy a Desktop-Class Experience

Manage files, annotate PDFs, preview Office docs, play media, and browse the web full screen. Install your favorite sites as standalone apps. No black bars, ever.

Inside XeOS

Browser windows, files, media, documents, and input controls built for the connected screen.

Install Sites as Apps & Multitask

Install your favorite websites as standalone apps. Float multiple windows, drag and resize them to keep everything you need visible at once.

YouTube & Video, True Full Screen

Watch YouTube, Netflix, Twitch or any online video in complete full screen on your external monitor. No sidebars, no black bars, just pure full-screen video that fills the whole display.

Media Players & Productivity Apps

Built-in photo, video, and audio players for your media. Stay productive with integrated Notes and Calculator apps.

File System & Document Preview

A complete file system to manage your downloads. Open and annotate PDFs, and preview Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents directly on the big screen.

Mouse & Keyboard Support

Pair a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to your iPhone and get the full desktop browsing experience on your external monitor. Cursor, scroll, shortcuts, all fully supported.

Any External Monitor, Portable Display, TV or Projector

Connects via USB-C or HDMI to any external monitor, portable monitor, TV or projector. XeOS: External Display Browser automatically adapts to the screen’s native resolution for crisp, corner-to-corner display, whether it’s a permanent desk setup or a portable display on the go.

Cloud Gaming

Play supported cloud gaming services across the full external display with your controller, including Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna, GeForce NOW, and more.

How to

Guides

All guides
How to Connect Your iPhone or iPad to a Monitor, TV or Projector, and Fill the Screen
Start here5 min read

How to Connect Your iPhone or iPad to a Monitor, TV or Projector, and Fill the Screen

Plugging an iPhone into a TV is easy. Getting a usable screen out of it is the hard part. Stock iOS mirrors your phone, so a 16:9 monitor shows a tall phone-shaped picture floating between two black bars. XeOS replaces that mirror with a desktop that uses every pixel the panel has. Do the setup on this page once and the rest of the guides here will assume you've done it.

Read the full guide
How to Watch YouTube Full Screen on a TV or Monitor From Your iPhone or iPad
YouTube5 min read

How to Watch YouTube Full Screen on a TV or Monitor From Your iPhone or iPad

You have a TV, an iPhone and a cable, and you want the video to fill the screen rather than sit in a phone-shaped rectangle in the middle of it. With XeOS that takes about five minutes: sign in, go full screen, and leave the built-in ad blocker doing its job.

Read the full guide
How to Run a Photo Slideshow on a TV From Your iPhone or iPad, Two Ways
Photos4 min read

How to Run a Photo Slideshow on a TV From Your iPhone or iPad, Two Ways

Holiday photos on the living room TV, or a looping display in a shop window. Either way you don't need a computer, a media player or a smart TV app. An iPhone, a cable and XeOS will fill any screen with your photos. There are two routes, your own photo library or a Google Photos album in the browser, and they suit different jobs.

Read the full guide

From the blog

Articles

Everything you need to know about using your iPhone with an external display.

All articles
Did iOS 26 Add Desktop Mode to the iPhone? The Real Answer, and What to Use Instead
Desktop Mode4 min read

Did iOS 26 Add Desktop Mode to the iPhone? The Real Answer, and What to Use Instead

Short version: no. There is still no desktop mode on the iPhone in 2026. Plug your phone into a monitor with stock iOS and you get a mirror, phone-shaped, floating between two black bars. Below is what happened with the rumours, what iOS does and doesn't give you today, and how to get a desktop on a big screen without waiting for Apple.

Read the article
Turn Your iPhone Into a Desktop: What's Possible in 2026
iPhone Desktop4 min read

Turn Your iPhone Into a Desktop: What's Possible in 2026

Modern iPhones have more processing power than the laptops most people were perfectly happy with a few years ago, a port that can drive a 4K display, and no desktop mode. This is a straight audit of what you can and can't do today: what works, what doesn't, what it costs, and who it's for.

Read the article
How to Watch YouTube on a TV From Your iPhone, Full Screen, No Black Bars, No Ads
YouTube on TV3 min read

How to Watch YouTube on a TV From Your iPhone, Full Screen, No Black Bars, No Ads

There's a cable in the drawer, a TV on the wall, and YouTube on your phone. Getting the video to fill the whole TV rather than a phone-shaped rectangle in the middle of it, without an ad every four minutes, takes one app and about five minutes.

Read the article

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything about getting a desktop experience from your iPhone

Absolutely, XeOS: External Display Browser is simply the best way to use your iPhone/iPad on an external display. Nothing else even comes close. It's a fully immersive experience, with custom apps and a File System, and the web browser is the most advanced and feature-rich of any similar app. It's true that iOS/iPadOS restrictions bring a few minor limitations that no app can bypass, but XeOS offers unique workarounds for those cases too. You can read more in the answers below.
No, the app has to adhere to Apple App Store rules and iOS system limitations, so no app can currently show native iOS apps on the external display. If this is ever allowed by Apple, we will be the first to implement it for you.
You can preview Office documents like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, text, and other files, but they are not editable except in a few cases (e.g., you can annotate/highlight PDF files). iOS makes this technically difficult, and licensing editable Office support would add fees that just don't fit an app this affordable. You can, however, upload your files to Google Drive, which has excellent support, and edit your files there.
Yes. You can mount your iPhone/iPad local folders, iCloud folder or any connected external drive, from the Files app left sidebar (Under iPhone/iPad locations) and browse their contents. You can, also import any iPhone/iPad file into the app's own file system, or you can download files directly from the web, which will also be stored in the app's internal file system. Once your folders are mounted, expect a mini file explorer similar to any operating system you're used to. It has ZIP support, folders, a trash for deleted files, and many more features.
Due to how iOS currently works, what you see on the external screen is not a native environment, but a carefully constructed "simulation" of what a desktop OS and browser would be. The app implements all OS functions from scratch, making it seem almost like a real environment. However, there are cases where limitations start to show up. This is due to security limitations, how browsers work, and decisions made by certain sites to block simulated behavior. These sites categorize this simulated behavior as bot activity (which, in this case, it clearly is not) to protect themselves and their revenue. There are also cases where limitations arise from sites using older technologies (e.g., iframes) that make simulated behavior almost impossible. For all these cases, the app offers a solution so you can get unstuck: "Switch to iPhone layout" (the gray button next to the green fullscreen button). This temporarily switches you to native iPhone mirroring so you can perform your desired action, and then return to the fully immersive experience once you're done.
The app’s internal browser is one of the safest browsers out there. All browsing activity is completely local, and there is absolutely zero telemetry. All your data is also encrypted according to Apple’s highest security standards, and the app uses the Secure Enclave for sensitive data (like imported passwords) so nobody, including Apple or even other apps on your phone, can read it. All claims can be verified with the App Privacy Report, and the app is also verified and signed by Apple. So you’re completely safe using the browser; actually, you’re safer than using Chrome or Firefox, which constantly send telemetry and other data to their servers. If you enable the AdBlock, that will also make your browsing experience safer as it blocks many known site-tracking scripts.
Yes, the app includes guides to help you through this process, with instructions for popular browsers. You can do this by navigating to Settings > Browser > Import.
Imported passwords are stored in the Secure Enclave, following Apple's highest security standards. Once stored, they cannot be read by anyone, not even Apple, third parties, or other apps. The only way to retrieve a password is by navigating to the specific site yourself and having your username/email and password autofilled automatically.
Yes, hold the Command key for a few seconds to see all the supported shortcuts. Some of the coolest ones are: CMD + Up Arrow to show an overview of open apps, Control + Space to open the smart search, Control + Tab to cycle through open apps, and of course, many other shortcuts you're used to. If you feel a common shortcut is not implemented, just let us know at support.
Yes, this is supported by the app, though the process is not quite as fast as using imported passwords due to how iOS works. To autofill a password using a password manager (like 1Password, Chrome, or Apple Passwords), simply tap inside a password field, and the browser will suggest autofilling from a password manager. Tap the suggestion, then switch over to your iPhone/iPad, where you'll be able to select your password manager of choice and find the password. Once selected, it will be autofilled onto your login page.
YouTube has incredible support on XeOS: External Display Browser. You can even skip ads, which is now fully possible! It's genuinely the best YouTube experience you'll get on an iPhone external display.
Most iPhone apps, including Safari, are designed for the iPhone’s portrait aspect ratio. When displayed on a widescreen external monitor, they are scaled up with black bars on the sides or top/bottom to fill the unused space. XeOS: External Display Browser is built specifically to fill the entire external screen at full resolution, corner to corner, with no black bars.
Use a Lightning to HDMI adapter (for older iPhones) or a USB-C to HDMI adapter (for iPhone 15 and later) to connect your iPhone to any monitor, TV or projector with an HDMI input. Once connected, launch XeOS: External Display Browser and it fills the screen at full resolution.
Yes! XeOS: External Display Browser lets you watch YouTube and any other video platform, Netflix, Twitch, Vimeo, Dailymotion, in true full screen on your external monitor. No black bars, no letterboxing, the video fills the entire display at native resolution.
Absolutely. Pair any Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with your iPhone and XeOS: External Display Browser gives you full cursor support, keyboard shortcuts, scroll wheel and multi-button mouse functionality, delivering a real desktop-class browsing experience on your external monitor.
Yes. XeOS: External Display Browser includes full microphone and camera support, so you can attend Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and any other web-based meeting service from your iPhone’s external display. Your face appears at full quality and your microphone works just like on a desktop browser.
XeOS is a full desktop environment. It includes a complete File System, Document Preview (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), PDF Viewer with annotation tools, Photo/Video/Audio Players, Notes, Calculator, and a Settings app. You can also install websites as standalone apps!
XeOS: External Display Browser works with all iPhones supporting video output: iPhone 5 and later via Lightning-to-HDMI adapter, and iPhone 15 and later via USB-C to HDMI or USB-C to USB-C cable or hub. Works with any HDMI monitor, TV or projector regardless of resolution.
Yes. XeOS: External Display Browser works with any display that accepts HDMI input, desktop monitors, televisions, portable monitors, projectors, conference room displays and more. The browser automatically adapts to the connected screen’s native resolution for a perfect full-screen, no-black-bars experience, whether you’re at a desk or using a portable display on the go.
Screen mirroring shows a portrait iPhone screen on a landscape monitor, resulting in black bars on both sides. XeOS: External Display Browser outputs directly to the external display in landscape orientation and fills every pixel. The iPhone acts purely as the controller while the full browser experience appears on the external screen.
Yes, it is the ultimate Samsung DeX alternative for iPhone. Connect to any display and get a full desktop experience with file management, native apps, windowed multitasking, and full mouse/keyboard support.
The best way to extend your iPhone to a TV or external monitor is XeOS: External Display Browser with a USB-C to HDMI adapter. Connect the cable, launch the app, and it immediately fills the entire screen at native resolution, no black bars, no letterboxing. Add a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard and you have a complete full-screen setup from just your iPhone and any display.
Contact us at contact@qod.ee with any questions or feedback. We personally read and respond to every message.

About External Display Browser

The best Samsung DeX alternative for iPhone and iPad, bringing a desktop experience that actually works!

How XeOS: External Display Browser Removes Black Bars

When you connect an iPhone to an external monitor or portable display, standard apps fill the unused space with black bars because they are designed for iPhone’s portrait screen. XeOS: External Display Browser renders the browser UI to fill the full landscape resolution of the connected display, no black bars on top, bottom or sides. Every pixel of your external monitor, portable display, TV or projector is used.

Full-Screen iPhone External Monitor Browser Features

XeOS: External Display Browser is packed with everything you need for a full-screen browser experience on your iPhone external display, everything a Samsung DeX alternative for iPhone should have:

  • •Full-screen, no-black-bars browsing on any external monitor, TV or projector at native resolution
  • •YouTube, Netflix, Twitch and all online video platforms in true full screen on external display
  • •Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and web meetings with full camera and microphone support
  • •Download any file from the browser and open PDFs, Word/Excel/PowerPoint docs and images/videos/audio
  • •Full Bluetooth mouse and keyboard support for desktop-class control of the iPhone external display browser
  • •Automatic resolution detection, adapts to any HDMI monitor, TV or projector resolution
  • •Works with all iPhone models supporting video output, via Lightning-to-HDMI or USB-C-to-HDMI or USB-C-to-USB-C adapters
  • •iPhone XeOS: External Display Browser corner-to-corner, zero pillarboxing, letterboxing or black bars
  • •Clean, native iOS browser engine, fast, standards-compliant, private

Ready to Unlock Your iPhone's Desktop Experience?

Download XeOS and instantly transform any monitor, TV, or projector into a powerful workstation. The best Samsung DeX alternative for iOS.

Download on the App Store

File System • Document & Media Apps • Installable Web Apps • Full Screen

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