Chromecast

The arrival of the Chromecast with Google TV two years ago made it clear that older Chromecast devices are on their way out. But now – as if to put the final nail in the coffin – older Chromecasts no longer support watching YouTube videos while signed in.

Apple’s ecosystem is famously fairly locked down, but things have improved a lot over the past few years. With the upcoming release of iOS 16, Apple appears to be working towards better support for Chromecast and other casting standards in apps.

Back in January, Google had to make changes to Speaker Groups because of the US ITC ruling in favor of Sonos. Another “interruption caused by Sonos” is now responsible for some Pixel phones in the United States and Canada being unable to to set-up Google Home devices.

Back in December, Google made official a YouTube app on the Cast-powered Chromecast that can be controlled by a remote on your phone, but a bug is causing desktop Chrome users to also see the new UI.

As we reported at the start of this year, a tentatively named “Chromecast HD with Google TV” is in the works. It will presumably be cheaper than the existing $49.99 dongle and be closer in price to the $29.99 Chromecast. Once that new device launches, one interesting question is whether Google will still sell a streamer that is powered by its original Cast operating system?

Following yesterday’s announcement of changes to Speaker Groups and Assistant device set-up, Google has started to update its devices and applications. The latest version of the Google Home app no longer lets you use a phone’s physical volume button on the Media screen/player. 

Since the start of this year, Google has been testing a new YouTube app/experience for the regular Chromecast. The new YouTube Cast app looks to be widely rolled out for the 3rd-gen Chromecast and Ultra this week.

Google’s updated Nest Cam products come with several advantages such as offline storage, battery power, and lower prices. However, they also come with some frustrating problems including the current lack of support for streaming Nest Cam video to Chromecast or Android TV.

Since March of this year, we’ve been tracking a brand new Cast experience for YouTube on regular, non-Google TV-powered Chromecast dongles. It looks like the YouTube app on Android TV with better remote control options and is now rolling out to more users.

Spotify has a lot of great features, but one of its best and most unique is Connect, a method of keeping the same listening session synced across all of your devices. Unfortunately, what seems like a bug is breaking Spotify Connect in multiple ways when using Google Assistant or Chromecast devices.

At the start of the year, the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max started playing a new sound following a successful Casting connection, and that updated chime is now appearing on Google Home and Nest speakers.

If you are looking to improve your home media setup and want a streaming stick or dongle, then you’ll no doubt be aware of the Chromecast series of devices, but which is right for you? Let’s simplify with our easy-to-follow Chromecast Buyer’s Guide for 2021.

In general, there are two ways to Cast content on desktop Chrome. The browser can send your current window, or some services feature a native capability that just transfers the video stream to a bigger screen. YouTube TV’s web app used to have the latter Cast functionality, but it’s now gone due to a bug.

When you Cast to a Smart Display or speaker, Google plays a tone to confirm the transfer. Google is now changing that beep to be softer on the latest Nest Hub preview firmware.

Rounded corners are a common part of mobile devices, but they’re definitely not something you want on a TV. Recently, though, a bizarre bug on Chromecast devices caused rounded corners to appear.

With the launch of iOS 14 yesterday, Apple introduced a number of privacy changes. One of them relates to how Chromecast works, with Google advising users to grant apps the iOS 14 Local Network permission and developers to upgrade.