How to Watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on Apple TV or Chromecast
Everyone is watching Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on Netflix, thanks to its quirky concept of a fully interactive story that lets you choose how it unfolds.
Well, almost everything. While you can watch Netflix as much as you want on streaming devices like Apple TV, Bandersnatch won’t work. Be that as it may, the movie also doesn’t work when you run Netflix on a Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick – try it and you’ll get an apology letter from Netflix .
Please delete that email and keep reading because you can watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on streaming devices like Apple TV or Google Chromecast. You just need to get a little creative.
Try to stream from your computer or laptop
I have an Apple TV and one method that worked great for me was to open the Netflix website on my MacBook, mirror the display on my Apple TV, and launch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch full screen. It also means that I had to select interactive movie clips on my laptop rather than the Apple TV remote, but this is not a big inconvenience.
I don’t have a Chromecast or Fire TV, so I can’t say this works perfect, but mirroring the full screen of your desktop or laptop to a Chromecast or Fire TV should allow you to watch an interactive Netflix movie. Try this before trying to stream content directly from any Netflix app (or open a browser tab).
If you’re stuck with your smartphone or tablet …
Apple TV users are out of luck. I’ve tried duplicating iPhone and iPad screen to my Apple TV, but Netflix (or Apple) is tricky. I went through the initial introduction “This is how the movie works: tap the screen to make a selection” without any problems. When the actual movie started playing, I only had an image on my iPhone or iPad. I couldn’t get the video to appear on my Apple TV, no matter how much I fiddled with Screen Mirroring. So, back to the portable method.
I also assume that you also cannot watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch by streaming from Netflix to your Chromecast or by opening the Netflix app on your Fire TV Stick. One workaround for Chromecast users is worth exploring – mirroring your smartphone screen via the Google Home app . I have read reports of people who have achieved success in this way. (And I’m guessing sharing your device’s entire display on a Fire TV Stick would work as well.)
Don’t waste time browsing Netflix-dot-com on iOS hoping that bypassing the internet app will let you watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. I tried this on my iPhone and Netflix just wanted me to install its app. And when I switched to the desktop version of the site in my mobile browser, I needed to install Microsoft’s Silverlight in order to watch the interactive movie. I took it a step further when I tried the same trick on Android, but the movie still wouldn’t load.