Features marked 
YouTube only work only on YouTube. Everything else works on any platform you add.
Getting Started
Mira is a calmer, distraction-free way to watch YouTube and other video sites. The same app runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Install Mira
- Open the App Store on your device.
- Search for Mira, or tap Download.
- Mira requires iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or macOS 14 or later.
- New to Mira? You get 5 days of full access when you install — after that, subscribe with a 7-day free trial (monthly or annual) or buy Lifetime outright.
First launch
The first time you open Mira, a quick four-step setup introduces the app and lets you choose your starting preferences. Recommended options are pre-selected, and everything here can be changed later in Settings — so you can breeze through it or fine-tune as you go.
- Homepage — the site Mira opens to (YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, or a platform you add).
- Hide Shorts & Hide Playables — declutter YouTube by removing Shorts and mini-games.
- Disable Video Previews — stop home-feed thumbnails from silently autoplaying.
- Always use Best Quality & Always use Theater Mode — auto-pick the highest resolution and the wide player.
- Show YouTube Dislikes — bring back public dislike counts.
- Auto-login — stay signed into YouTube (turn off to browse as a guest).
- SponsorBlock — skip in-video sponsors and more; choose which segment types to skip.
- AI key (optional) — add a Claude, OpenAI, or Grok key to unlock AI summaries. Transcripts work without it.
Finding your way around
Your controls live in the toolbar — home, back and forward, playback speed, Focus Mode, transcript, Watch Together, Settings, and more are all one click away.
- Move the toolbar: on iPad you can place it on the left, top, or right edge in Settings → General.
Finding your way around
Tap the floating eye button in the bottom-right corner to open the tool menu — every control lives there: search, playback speed, Focus Mode, transcript, Watch Together, Settings, and more. It fades as you scroll down and reappears when you scroll up.
Browsing & Platforms
Mira works with YouTube and many streaming services, and you can add your own sites too.
Switching between platforms
YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Twitch, and more are built in and one tap away.
- Open the Platforms menu in the toolbarfrom the tool menu.
- Pick a service to jump straight to it.
- The Platforms menu also lists any custom platforms you've added — see Adding your own platforms below.
Searching or pasting a link
Type a search, enter a web address, or paste a video link to go straight to it.
- Click the search bar in the toolbar, or press ⌘L.
- Or drag a link straight into Mira from another app — iMessage, Safari, Notes, Mail, and more — and it opens instantly.
- Tap the Search button in the toolbar — there's a one-tap button to paste a link from your clipboard.
- Open the tool menu and tap Search or paste link — there's a one-tap button to paste from your clipboard.
Tabs
On Mac, Mira is a full tabbed browser. Open several videos or sites side by side and switch between them.
- New tab: ⌘T · Close tab: ⌘W
- Next / previous tab: ⌃Tab / ⌃⇧Tab
Adding your own platforms
Beyond the built-in services, you can add any public video site as a custom platform. It then appears in your Platforms menu and can be set as your homepage — with popup blocking included.
- Go to Settings → Platforms.
- Under Unofficial Platforms, tap the + button.
- Enter a name and the site's address, then save. (Mira adds
https://for you if you leave it off.)
- Tap the pencil to edit a custom platform, or the trash icon to remove it.
- Tap a custom platform to edit it, or swipe left on it to delete.
Drag and drop links
On Mac, drop any video link into Mira to open it instantly, or drag a link out of Mira to share it elsewhere.
Watching Videos
Playback controls that work across YouTube and your other platforms.
Playback speed
Watch at your own pace — anywhere from 0.25× to 10×3.0×. Your chosen speed is remembered.
- Open the Playback Speed control in the toolbarfrom the tool menu.
- Pick a speed. The control highlights when you're not at normal speed.
- Speed is locked to 1× during a Watch Together session, so everyone stays in sync.
Best quality, automatically YouTube only
Mira can automatically select the highest available resolution — up to 4K — so every video looks its best.
- Turn it on in Settings → General → YouTube → Always use Best Quality.
Picture-in-Picture YouTube only
Pop a video into a small floating window so you can keep watching while you do other things.
- Tap the Picture-in-Picture button in the toolbar while a video is playing.
- Tap the Picture-in-Picture button at the top-left of the player while a video is playing.
- Tap the Picture-in-Picture button in the toolbar while a YouTube video is playing — on other sites, use the Picture-in-Picture control in the video's playback controls.
Background play YouTube only
Keep audio playing when you lock your screen or switch apps — perfect for podcasts, lectures, interviews, and music.
Fullscreen
Tap the player's fullscreen button — or swipe up on the video — to fill the screen, and swipe down to return to the normal player. While fullscreen, pinch out to crop a wide video edge-to-edge, and pinch in to restore it.
AirPlay to Apple TV & speakers
Send any video to your Apple TV or an AirPlay-compatible speaker.
- Start playing a video.
- Tap the AirPlay button in the toolbarin the tool menuin the video's playback controls.
- Choose your Apple TV or speaker. The button turns blue while connected.
- The in-app AirPlay button isn't available on every site, so for the most reliable casting use Screen Mirroring from Control Center.
Customize YouTube
Tune YouTube to your taste — hide the clutter and keep what matters.
Focus Mode YouTube only
Focus Mode strips YouTube down to just what you came for. On the homepage, it hides the recommended videos, sidebars, and feed — leaving a clean page with only the search bar, so you can search for something specific instead of falling into the feed. On a video, the video keeps playing, but the comments and the recommended videos beside and below it are hidden. (Shorts have their own Hide Shorts toggle.)
- Tap the moon icon in the toolbar. It glows blue while on.
- Open the tool menu and tap Focus Mode.
- You can also toggle it in Settings → General → YouTube Focus Mode.
YouTube UI tweaks YouTube only
Set YouTube up the way you like once, and Mira keeps it that way. Each of these is a simple toggle in Settings → General → YouTube:
- Hide Shorts — removes Shorts from the home feed, sidebar, search, and channels.
- Hide Playables — hides YouTube's mini-games.
- Disable Video Previews — stops thumbnails on the home feed from silently autoplaying preview clips.
- Always use Theater Mode — opens videos in the wide theater layout.
Show dislike counts YouTube only
While a YouTube video is playing, see public dislike counts again, so you can judge a video before spending time on it. Mira also shows an at-a-glance like-to-dislike rating: a color-coded ratio bar with the percentage of likes appears in the toolbar, so you can gauge a video's overall reception in a glance.a floating ratio circle sits in the bottom-left corner of the screen, so you can gauge a video's overall reception in a glance — tap it for the full like/dislike breakdown.
- Enable YouTube Dislikes in Settings → General → YouTube.
Auto-dismiss "Continue watching?" YouTube only
Mira can automatically dismiss YouTube's "Are you still watching?" prompt so long playlists, lectures, podcasts, and live streams keep going.
- Turn on Auto-dismiss 'Are You Still Watching?' in Settings → General → YouTube.
YouTube sign-in YouTube only
Mira keeps you signed into YouTube so your subscriptions and history are there. Prefer to browse signed out? Turn off Auto-login in Settings → General → YouTube.
Skip Ads & Sponsors
Fewer ads, and a way to skip past the parts of a video you didn't come for.
SponsorBlock YouTube only
SponsorBlock skips the in-video parts you don't want — sponsors, intros, outros, self-promos, recaps, and more — using timestamps shared by the community.
- Go to Settings → General → SponsorBlock and switch it on.
- Choose which categories to skip (see below).
- Optionally enable Color-Code by Category to see each segment type in its own color on the timeline.
Categories you can skip: Sponsor, Intro, Outro, Self-promotion, Interaction reminders ("like & subscribe"), Preview / recap, Non-music sections in music videos, and Filler / tangents.
Submitting your own segments YouTube only
Found a sponsor that isn't marked yet? You can contribute it back to the community.
- While watching, open the SponsorBlock control in the toolbarfrom the tool menu.
- Mark the start and end of the segment.
- Choose its category and submit. You can preview it before sending.
Transcripts & AI
Read along, search a video like a document, and get AI summaries and answers.
Transcripts with timestamps YouTube only
Open a YouTube video's full transcript, search it, and tap any line to jump straight to that moment.
- Open a YouTube video.
- Tap the Transcript control in the toolbarfrom the tool menu.
- Use the search box to find a word, or tap a timestamp to seek there.
- Turn on Follow Playback to auto-scroll the transcript as the video plays.
- The transcript can sit beside the video or pop out into its own floating window.
- The transcript docks beside the video (landscape) or below it (portrait), and you can drag to resize it.
- The transcript opens as a sheet you can pull up to half or full height.
AI summaries & Q&A YouTube only
Get the gist of a long video in seconds, then ask follow-up questions about it.
- Open the transcript, then switch to the AI Summary tab.
- Tap a quick action: Key takeaways, Key quotes, Key terms, Outline, 15-second summary, Summarize each section, Explain like I'm 12, or Fact-check claims.
- Ask your own follow-up questions in the chat box below.
Setting up AI
The AI features use your own account with an AI provider, so you stay in control of usage and cost. You'll add an API key once.
- Go to Settings → API Integration.
- Choose a provider: OpenAI, Claude, or Grok.
- Paste your API key from that provider, then tap Test API Connection to confirm it works.
Watch Together
Watch in perfect sync with friends, wherever they are — with built-in chat.
Host or join a room
One person hosts and shares a short room code; everyone else joins with it. Up to 10 people can watch together.
- Open Watch Together in the toolbarfrom the tool menu.
- Enter your display name.
- Tap Host Session to create a room — then share the 4-letter code — or enter a friend's code and tap Join.
Staying in sync & chatting
Once you're in a room, everything stays in step. Play, pause, and seeking are kept in sync for everyone in real time, so the whole party always sees the same moment.
- Synced playback: when anyone plays, pauses, or scrubs the timeline, everyone follows along instantly.
- Share a video: tap Share Link to send the current video to the room. Everyone gets a Follow prompt that drops them in at your exact spot — or they can ignore it and keep watching.
- Fix Sync: drifted apart? The host can tap Fix Sync to snap everyone back to the same moment.
- Host controls: the host decides whether guests can control playback and whether they can change the video for the group — both are on by default.
- Pass the remote: the host can hand off hosting to anyone else in the room.
- Display name: pick the name others see in the Watch Together panel before you host or join.
- See who's here: the panel lists everyone in the room and marks who's watching the same video as you.
- Chat: message the group during the video, with typing indicators and unread badges. On Mac and iPad you can switch chat to a translucent overlay that floats over the video.
Comfort & Appearance
Easier on the eyes, day or night.
Eye Comfort Mode
Dim harsh, overly bright videos during long or late-night sessions, with an adjustable intensity slider.
- Tap the sun icon in the toolbar, then adjust the intensity slider.
- Open the tool menu and tap Eye Comfort Mode.
- You can also set it in Settings → General → Eye Comfort Mode.
Automatic dark mode
Mira follows your device's appearance automatically, so videos and pages feel natural in both light and dark. There's nothing to set — it just matches your system.
Watchlist
Save videos for later and pick up right where you left off.
Save and track videos
Build a list of videos to watch, keep track of what you've finished, and resume partially-watched videos at your saved spot.
- Open the Watchlist in the toolbarfrom the tool menu.
- Add the current video, or paste a link to add it.
- Pin videos to keep them on top, mark them watched, or edit a saved timestamp to resume from a specific point.
- Your Watchlist is organized into In progress, To watch, and Watched.
Settings Reference
A quick map of Mira's settings. Open Settings with the gear icon in the toolbarTo open Settings, tap the eye button, then scroll down and tap Settings (or press ⌘,).
| Tab | What you'll find |
|---|---|
| General | Default homepage, Eye Comfort Mode, Focus Mode, YouTube tweaks (Hide Shorts/Playables, disable video previews, theater mode, best quality, dislikes, auto-dismiss prompt, auto-login), and SponsorBlock options. |
| Toolbar position | Place the toolbar on the left, top, or right edge (under General). |
| Platforms | Add, edit, and remove your own custom (unofficial) platforms. |
| API Integration | Connect an AI provider (Claude, OpenAI, or Grok) and test your key for AI summaries. |
| Data | Clear browsing data (cookies, cache, sign-ins) or clear your watchlist. |
| Subscription | Purchase a subscription or lifetime plan, view your plan status, and restore purchases. |
| About | App version and links to privacy, terms, and this documentation. |
Keyboard Shortcuts
Handy shortcuts on Mac.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘T | New tab |
| ⌘W | Close tab |
| ⌘R | Reload the page |
| ⌘L | Focus the search bar |
| ⌘, | Open Settings |
| ⌃Tab | Next tab |
| ⌃⇧Tab | Previous tab |
Help & FAQ
Quick answers to common questions.
The transcript or AI summary won't load
Transcripts come from YouTube's own captions, so a video without captions won't have one. Make sure you're on a YouTube video page and connected to the internet, then reopen the transcript. If you use a VPN, try turning it off — YouTube blocks transcript requests that come through VPNs, while Mira fetches them over your normal connection, which YouTube allows. For AI summaries, you'll also need an AI key connected under Settings → API Integration — and a payment method enabled on that provider, since an API key alone won't make calls (see Setting up AI above).
AI features ask for an API key — why?
Mira's AI summaries run on your own account with Claude, OpenAI, or Grok, so you control usage and cost directly. Add a key once in Settings → API Integration and tap Test API Connection. Your key stays on your device and requests go straight to the provider.
How do I add a streaming service that isn't listed?
Open Settings → Platforms, and under Unofficial Platforms tap + to add any public video site by name and address. It'll then appear in your Platforms menu and can be set as your homepage. Some subscription services require signing in, just like in a browser.
Casting to an Apple TV
Make sure your device and Apple TV are on the same Wi-Fi network and a video is currently playing, then tap the AirPlay button and pick your device.
For casting to an Apple TV, we recommend Screen Mirroring on every device — iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It's the most reliable way to get Mira onto the big screen and works with every streaming service.
- Open Control Center — swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen (on an iPhone with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom edge instead).
- Open Control Center — swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap Screen Mirroring, then choose your Apple TV.
- Don't see Screen Mirroring? Add it: in Control Center, tap the + in the top-left corner (or touch and hold an empty area) to enter edit mode, tap Add a Control, then pick Screen Mirroring and tap done.
- Click Control Center in the menu bar (the two-toggles icon near the clock), then click Screen Mirroring and choose your Apple TV.
- Don't see Screen Mirroring (or want it as its own menu-bar icon)? Open System Settings → Control Center, find Screen Mirroring, and set it to Show in Menu Bar.
I bought Mira on another device — how do I restore it?
Sign in with the same Apple ID, open Settings → Subscription, and tap Restore Purchases. One purchase covers your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
How does the free trial and billing work?
When you first install Mira, you get 5 days of full, unlimited access — no paywall and nothing to sign up for. After that, a paywall appears and you pick a plan: a monthly or annual subscription (each starting with a 7-day free trial), or a one-time Lifetime purchase (no trial). Billing is handled by Apple through your App Store account, where you can change or cancel a subscription at any time. See the refund policy for details.
Still need help?
Email us at support@watchwithmira.com — we're happy to help.