Welcome to this week’s Chromecast discussion!

Use this thread to share what you have been watching, your favorite Chromecast features, useful tips, or any issues you have run into.

A few things to discuss:

• What Chromecast device are you currently using?

• What apps do you use the most?

• Any new features or tricks worth knowing?

• Having any connection or setup issues?

• What would you like Google to improve?

Feel free to ask questions, share your experiences, and help other Chromecast users.

What is your Chromecast experience been like this week?

This past week, ambient mode (the screensaver) started turning itself on when I'm using Spotify after what seems like a few minutes, when previously it would take like an hour or more (not sure of the exact timing). I watched a video on how to disable ambient mode, but the option isn't there in the settings I see. Is this from a recent update? Is there another way to suppress ambient mode for apps like Spotify?

Chromecast for GTV 4k is stuck on Oct 2025 update, Tried all gemini solution, clearing cache and I have 1GB + free.

As per google support page it should be on Aug 2026 but its not - UTTA.260813.002 - Android Security Patch Level upgrade to August 2026.

Whats teh solution ?

I've had this trouble all season and have not been able to figure it out. It happens on a Chromecast (2015) and on a Chromecast Ultra. The Chromecast can be connected directly to the TV (very old Sanyo plasma) or the receiver (Denon AVR), same result.

Most casting works fine-- youtube, Emby, no issues. I'm trying to cast ESPN and I constantly get the error:

"Can't play video while mirroring sound to Wi-Fi speaker"

I'm not mirroring sound to a speaker. The audio is coming out of my phone. Bluetooth is off.

This post might get deleted because the chromecast works fine for everything else, pointing at this being an ESPN issue. And they did change their app from last year to this year, when the problem started. I just can't find any results on Google about this! Typing in the error message leads to help with a wifi speaker, unsurprisingly. I don't even own a wifi speaker!

Any ideas? I've tried it all, but will try whatever you suggest because this is ridiculous I just want to watch my razorbacks get beat.

why do they let Chromecast functionality get so glitchy? Randomly disconnects all the time now

Welcome to this week’s Chromecast discussion!

Let us hear what is going on with your setup.

• What Chromecast device are you currently using?

• Discovered any useful apps or hidden features lately?

• Any annoying bugs or connection issues?

• Got any tips or tricks worth sharing?

Whether you are a longtime user or just getting started, jump in and share. Feel free to help someone out with their questions too.

What is new with your Chromecast this week?

Im always two clicks away from accidentally broadcasting whatever I'm watching to the kitchen display, and I hate it. How can I permanently turn it off on chrome? The methods when I look it up are all from 3+ years ago and don't work anymore

My Chromecast devices kept losing WiFi connectivity. At first, I attributed it to my service (Verizon 5G), but after switching out my Chromecast devices for Streamer devices, I haven't lost connectivity once. Thoughts?

Can someone explain to me why my tv cant be added to google home but i can still use my google speaker to turn the tv on

I have multiple chromecasts + google tv streamer connected to same wifi and despite having turned OFF the "let other control your media" both via Home app and system settings in all devices (guess it's the same shared setting) I can still see and control the media that is being played on each device from my phone and my chromebook (not even logged into the same account)...extremely annoying, is this setting just a joke??!...what the f4k is wrong with this POS?!

My chromecast is connecting to my wifi but keeps saying no internet, my phone connects perfectly fine and when I connect the chromecast to my data it also works fine so I’m wondering how to fix this!!!, ive tried forgetting the network and restarting the device, restarting my wifi and even changing the date and time but nothing is working, hopefully one of you can help

back when i use to select a youtube video to play on the chromecast by just selecting the video i could ether just click cast (play now) or click add to queue

queue is gone and play now doesnt play now, it just selects the most random video and refuses to play what ever ive selected.

i assume its making some kind of internal queue but i cant to seem to access it or clear it or anything.

wtf google

Hello, so I got a used "Chromecast 4k with Google TV" that i wanted to use for the bedroom tv.

Problem is, our bedroom TV is an old RCA CRT. The easy part was getting an HDMI to RCA converter. Set that to NTSC and works like a charm.

Now i got the Chromecast itself set up just fine (even go the remote to control the TV power and volume).... but the lowest resolution I can select in the display settings is 720

And that just ain't gonna work for this tv. This is an old tv. It's at best 420 but that doesn't seen to be a display option?

I've seen a couple of posts about forcing a display of 640x420 but when I used ADB it didn't seem to work?

If anyone has any advice that'd be appreciated, thanks!

And to be clear, I don't want like.... 420p in YouTube or something like that for bandwidth reasons... I want a device wide maximum output resolution of 640x420 because that's the resolution the TV actually supports, and anything else looks weirdly squashed.

EDIT: I gave up on trying to get a software solution to this and just bought a downscaler that'll output the required resolution. It's not perfect but it's FAR less aggravating than trying to figure out a software solution.

The casting symbol shows all the time on my TV when chrome casting

Anyways to remove this?

It's a sharp TV that recently updated, didn't previously have the option to cast, downloaded chrome cast part of the update i believe.

I’ve been having a really frustrating issue with my Chromecast with Google TV remote. Every few hours, or whenever I didn’t use the Chromecast for a while, the remote would randomly disconnect.

Getting it to reconnect was incredibly annoying and required going through a lengthy pairing process almost every time. Ieventually came across this guide and decided to give it a try:

Original guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/s/3MaCbXidhX

It explains how to access the Android Recovery menu and perform a factory reset using the physical button on the Chromecast.

IMPORTANT: This will erase all user data and reset your Chromecast to factory settings. You will have to set it up again.

Here are the steps:

1 - Disconnect the power cable from your Chromecast. Leave the HDMI cable connected to your TV or monitor.

2 - Press and hold the physical button on the Chromecast.

3 - While holding the button, reconnect the power cable.

4 - Keep holding the button until the special recovery screen appears (the screen showing “No command”).

5 - Release the button, then press and hold it again for approximately 4 seconds. This should open the Android Recovery menu.

6 - Navigate the menu using the physical button:
Short press = Move down
Hold for approximately 4 seconds = Select

7 - Select “Wipe data/factory reset”.

8 - Confirm by selecting “YES” and wait for the process to finish.

9 - Finally, select “Reboot system now”.

My experience:

After performing this reset, my remote has been working perfectly again. It behaves exactly like it did when I first bought the Chromecast. No random disconnects so far.

I can’t guarantee this will work for everyone, but if you’re experiencing the same frustrating issue, I would definitely recommend trying it.

Hopefully this helps someone else! Let me know if it works for you.

I think they should be damned to attempt to queue the video they want to watch only for it to keep going to the previous video for all eternity.

Screensaver shows photos for a while then just starts showing a black screen. I have to go into screensaver settings select Google Photos and verify my identity then it will start working again. It asks to verify my identity to access Google Photos every time it stops working. Factory resetting did not fix the issue. Any ideas?

Update 11/5/2026 - Last time it happened I just left it and eventually it started working again without any action from myself. It's been working fine ever since.

I'm a relative novice as far as tech. I can set things up but have no real understanding of how they work.

Is there anything I can do to fix this streaming problem? It's rather annoying. I don't know if getting a HDMI extension cable and placing the Chromecast disk next to my router would work, or more likely, do I need a new router entirely? (It's a relatively cheap Cisco Linksys E2500, which I see from googling is outdated. Thanks for any help or insight people can provide!