Getting started guide

Not sure where to start? You've come to the right place.

Build your menu

Everything starts in your Library, on the My Bar tab. That's where you build and keep your menu, and it's always editable: change a drink, a shelf, or the whole look any time, and any TV you've paired updates on its own.

Add your drinks

Tap the plus button. Name, ingredients, a short description, glassware and garnish, as much or as little as you like.

Group into shelves

Organize your drinks onto shelves. Sours & Citrus, Spirit-Forward, Zero-proof, whatever fits, the way a bar arranges its board.

Choose what goes on the TV

The TV icon on a shelf puts the whole shelf on the display. The one on a drink toggles just that drink, so a shelf can be on the board without every drink on it.

Tip: Shelves that are on the display group together at the top of your Library, so the whole board is visible at a glance.
The MixKings Library on an iPhone: a Sours & Citrus shelf open, each drink with a TV toggle, and the plus and sparkle buttons in the corner

Import a recipe

Found a drink you love in a book, on a bar menu, or in a screenshot? Use AI import to scan it and add it to your Library.

  1. In your Library, tap the sparkle button next to the plus button.
  2. Snap a photo of the recipe, pick a screenshot from your camera roll, or paste the text. Spread across a few shots? Select them all and they're stitched into one recipe.
  3. AI import pre-fills a new drink, ingredients, steps, the works. Review it, tweak anything, and save it to a shelf.
Everyone gets 3 free imports to try it out. Pro includes 500, and you can top up any time with import packs.
The MixKings Library with an arrow pointing to the sparkle button that opens the recipe importer

Set up your display

You choose exactly how the board looks, and none of it changes the menu in your Library. Tap your avatar in the top-right corner and, under Display, open Settings. The Display Configuration screen has three tabs:

Settings

Layout and behavior: how many columns the board uses, the text size, and whether it scrolls or holds each screen, so it fills your TV nicely.

Brand

Your menu's identity: its name & tagline, your logo, and the font it's set in, plus sliders to size the header and leave more room for drinks.

Styles

The look: pick a preloaded background or upload your own, shift its hue, and tune how the drink cards and the overlay are tinted over it.

Tip: A paired TV picks up every change as you make it, so tune the board with the TV in view.
The MixKings Library with an arrow pointing to the avatar in the top-right corner, where the Display settings live

Cast to Apple TV, Fire TV, or Chromecast

MixKings has a native app on Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, and a receiver for Chromecast. Tap your avatar, choose Pair a TV under Display, and take the route that matches your screen.

Apple TV or Fire TV

Install MixKings on the TV, from the App Store on Apple TV or the Amazon Appstore on Fire TV, and open it. It shows a 6-digit pairing code. On your phone, tap Pair with a TV, enter the code, and tap Pair. From then on the TV remembers your account and shows your live menu every time it opens. It only needs an internet connection, not the same Wi-Fi as your phone.

Which Fire TV devices. The app runs on the Fire TV Stick 4K, 4K Plus and 4K Max, and the Fire TV Cube. The Fire TV Stick 4K Select and the Fire TV Stick HD run Amazon's new Vega OS, which can't install it yet, so if you're buying a stick for MixKings, pick the 4K Max.

Chromecast or Google TV

Put your phone on the same Wi-Fi network as the Chromecast, tap Pair with a Chromecast device, and pick it from the list. No code needed. Your menu appears on the TV and updates live. Open the same row again to stop casting.

Codes expire after 10 minutes. If yours runs out before you enter it, the TV shows a fresh one on its own. Type the new digits.
Manage or remove TVs any time under Paired TVs on the same screen. You can pair more than one, and each shows your live menu. Roku and other streaming sticks aren't supported yet.
Handing the TV to a different phone. While the menu is on screen, press the center (select) button on the TV's own remote and choose Pair a different phone. The TV goes back to a fresh code so another phone can take it over. Handy at a shift change.
The MixKings Pair to a TV screen on an iPhone: Pair with a TV, Pair with a Chromecast device, Paired TVs, and a What you'll need checklist

Share & discover in Rooms

Rooms are shared feeds, one per style of drink, where people post what they're mixing. Show off one of your own, see what everyone else is pouring, and save any recipe you like straight into your Library.

  1. Open the Rooms tab and pick a room: Sours, Spirit-Forward, Tiki & Tropical, Mocktails and more. Tap any drink to read the full recipe.
  2. See one you like? Tap Save to keep a copy in your Library, pick a shelf, and it's yours to pour. Tap Riff to build your own take on it, with the original credited.
  3. To share your own, open one of your drinks, tap Share, and pick a Room. You can also tap the plus button inside any room.
  4. Right after you post, you can send it on to Reddit or X, or anywhere else through your phone's share sheet. The post links back to your recipe.
Trending is a special Room that fills itself with the drinks people are saving and reacting to most. You can't post to it directly. A popular drink earns its way in on its own.
Two iPhones: the MixKings Rooms list behind, and a Sidecar post open in a room with its save, riff, share and reaction counts in front

Send a drink in Messages

Want to send a recipe to one person instead of a whole Room? Share any drink straight into a chat, and they can save it to their own Library in a tap.

Share to a chat

Open a drink, tap Share, and pick a contact or group. It arrives as a card they can open and read in full.

Save what you're sent

Got a drink from a friend? Tap Save to library, choose a shelf, and it's added to your own menu, ready to pour, riff, or put on the TV.

Build your taste profile

The more you react to drinks in Rooms, the more MixKings learns what you like. Your Palate turns those reactions into a private read on the spirits, flavors, and aromatics you lean toward. Yours only, never shared.

  1. Open the Activity tab, the first one in the bar, and choose Palate. Tap Build my taste profile to switch it on. It's off until you do.
  2. Keep using MixKings as usual. Reacting to drinks in Rooms is what shapes it.
  3. Come back to Palate any time to see where you land. It sharpens from "low confidence" to a confident read as you go, and once it knows you, it suggests drinks to try.
Private by design. Your taste profile stays on your account and is never shared. Turn it off any time under your avatar, Settings, Your Palate, and we stop building it.
The MixKings Palate screen on the Activity tab, showing spirits and flavors with confidence bars

Troubleshooting

The quick fixes for the things that come up most.

The TV code expired before I could enter it
No problem. The TV shows a fresh code automatically. Read the new 6 digits and enter those. Codes roll over every 10 minutes for security.
The TV shows a code but never connects
Make sure both devices are online, then reopen Pair with a TV on your phone and enter the current code shown on the TV (not an older one). If it still won't connect, quit and reopen the MixKings app on the TV to get a fresh code.
My menu isn't updating on the TV
Menus sync over the internet, so the TV always shows your latest edits as long as your phone has a connection. Check that your phone is online, then make any small change to trigger a sync. On Apple TV or Fire TV, reopening the app forces a fresh load.
My Chromecast doesn't show up in the list
Your phone and the Chromecast must be on the same Wi-Fi network (guest networks and some work networks block casting). Confirm the Chromecast is powered on, then toggle your phone's Wi-Fi off and back on to refresh discovery.
The logo or title is too big (or too small) on the TV
Tap your avatar, open Settings under Display, and go to the Brand tab. The Logo and Title & tagline sliders scale the header up or down, handy for fitting a long menu on one screen.
My TV dims or goes to sleep after a while
The app keeps its own display awake, but most TVs have their own power-saving settings that dim or sleep a still picture on their own. Open your TV's settings and turn off (or extend the timer on) things like screen saver, auto-sleep, energy saver or eco mode, and any automatic brightness or ambient-light dimming. On some OLED TVs this dimming is called ASBL or "logo luminance." The exact names vary by brand, so it's worth a quick look through your TV's picture and energy menus.

More questions? Read the full FAQ →

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