Can I mount a TV on drywall anchors instead of studs?

Only for very small TVs (under about 15 kg / 33 lbs) with toggle-style anchors rated for the load. Anything larger — and certainly anything on a tilt or full-motion mount — must be lagged into at least two studs. Drywall alone cannot hold a TV long-term.

How many studs do I need to hit?

Most TV brackets are designed to span two studs, which on North American 16-inch centers means the bracket covers a 16-inch or 32-inch pattern. Hit both, and use the bracket holes that align with stud centers — not the ones in between.

What if the studs don't line up with my bracket's holes?

Use a mounting plate or 'TV mounting board' — a 3/4 inch plywood panel lagged into three or more studs, which then gives you a continuous surface to mount the bracket anywhere across its face. This is standard practice when the bracket footprint doesn't match the stud spacing.

How to mount a TV on drywall: find the studs first

Before you start, gather the basics

A stud finder (your iPhone with the Stud Finder app works for the initial scan)
A pencil and painter’s tape for marking
A level
A drill with a 1/16” bit for verification pilots and a larger bit matched to your lag bolts
The TV’s mounting bracket and the lag bolts it ships with — do not substitute shorter screws

Take the TV and its bracket out of the box. Read the bracket’s instructions once — it will tell you the required minimum pull-out strength and the recommended lag size. Most mid-size TV brackets use 5/16” lags at 2.5–3” length.

Step 1 — Pick the height and mark the bracket’s footprint

The top of most TVs sits about 110–125 cm (43–49”) off the floor for a comfortable eye line on a couch. Hold the bracket (or a paper template, if one is included) against the wall, level it, and mark the outline with painter’s tape. This gives you the zone you need to find studs within.

Step 2 — Scan for studs with your iPhone

Open the Stud Finder app and calibrate it about half a meter away from the wall, so it gets a clean baseline.

Then make a slow, continuous horizontal pass across the taped zone at the bracket’s horizontal midline. Watch for two things:

Spikes where a nail or screw sits close to the surface.
A vertical line of spikes when you repeat the pass a little higher and lower. Real studs give you multiple hits along a vertical line; spurious readings don’t.

Mark each stud’s centerline on the painter’s tape. In North American construction they should be 16 inches apart (some newer builds and many remodels use 24 inches). If you don’t see two studs in the bracket’s footprint, shift the bracket horizontally until you do.

Step 3 — Verify before you commit

Your app has given you a strong hypothesis. Do two quick checks before drilling the real holes:

Tap test. Knock with a knuckle across the marked stud and immediately to the left and right of it. The stud sounds noticeably duller. If it doesn’t, re-scan.
1/16” pilot. Drill a very small test hole right at your stud mark. If you hit wood within the first 1/4 inch of wall material, you’re on a stud. If the bit slips into empty cavity, re-scan.

This redundancy is cheap insurance. A 1/16” pilot is barely visible and easy to patch if you miss.

Step 4 — Drill and mount

Switch to the bit size your lag bolts need (usually 3/16” pilot for 5/16” lags, check your bracket).
Drill straight and level into each confirmed stud mark.
Offer the bracket up, thread the lags by hand for the first turn, then drive them with a socket or impact until they’re snug. Don’t over-tighten — you’re compressing the bracket against drywall, not stripping the wood.
Check level. Then hang the TV per the bracket’s instructions.

When to use a mounting plate instead

If your bracket’s two mounting holes don’t align with two studs (common with shorter brackets in a 24-inch-center wall), don’t fake it with drywall anchors. Instead:

Lag a piece of 3/4” plywood (roughly 16” tall, 32–48” wide) across three or more studs, painted to match the wall.
Mount the bracket to the plywood at whatever spacing it prefers.

This is how AV installers handle every TV they mount. It costs you half an hour and $15 in materials, and it makes the bracket footprint irrelevant.

A note on safety

Walls often contain copper water lines, electrical cables, and low-voltage wiring routed through or between studs. Your stud finder app cannot see a horizontally-run cable. When you drill the first real pilot, go slowly — if you feel sudden give or see unusual resistance, stop and investigate. For more on why the app finds what it finds (and what it misses), read how an iPhone stud finder actually works.

Mounted cleanly? Enjoy the TV.