More than 13 years after it first hit the shops, the original Google Chromecast appears to have come to the end of the road, with numerous reports from owners saying that the devices no longer work.
The spate of reports and complaints on forums like Reddit were first spotted by 9to5Google. It said that a “significant number” of Chromecast owners report that their dongles have suddenly lost the ability to cast content to their TVs. The problems seem to have emerged in the last couple of days.
The issue has saddened a lot of people, but it’s important to point out that these devices are exceptionally old in the context of the TV world. The original Chromecast was launched way back in 2013 and discontinued in 2015 with the arrival of a successor device. It continued to receive support via firmware updates from Google, but these finished nine years after the devices launch, with the final update coming in November 2022.
Despite no longer receiving updates, the original Chromecast devices have continued to function, albeit without any more guarantees from Google that they will. At the same time, a number of streaming services – including Netflix in December – have also come out and said they can no longer guarantee compatibility with the first-generation Chromecast.
However, the number of reports flooding into Reddit suggests that the Chromecast devices were still extremely popular, with many of them still being used. Which is why people are now upset that they’ve suddenly stopped working, or at best, experience major issues when trying to cast content from major streaming applications, including Google-owned YouTube.
Some commenters have speculated that an expired security certificate is likely to be at the core of these issues. Some users also report that screen and browser tab mirroring still functions as normal, with the problems restricted to direct casting from streaming apps. There do not appear to be any problems with newer Chromecast devices, nor TVs that have Google Cast functionality built in.
Although there’s disappointment, others on Reddit say that they’re lucky to have already enjoyed a 13-year run with the devices, which is actually a lot longer than most TV devices last for in this day and age. They say Google should get credit for enabling the devices to continue running for so long.
Because Google has long since discontinued support for the first-generation Chromecast, it’s not clear if there’s going to be any fix for these problems. However, Google did post a short statement that provides a glimmer of hope.
"We are investigating an issue impacting the ability to cast some services on Chromecast devices,” a spokesperson told 9to5Google. “We'll circle back with an update as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience.”
Still, we advise original Chromecast users not to get their hopes up. An investigation may well conclude that there’s little that can be done without updating the device’s firmware, which is highly unlikely to be something Google is willing to do for a no-longer-supported device.
Anyone who has been affected by the issue should probably consider looking for an upgrade after 13 years, and there are plenty of alternatives these days. Higher-end options include the Apple TV 4K and Google’s own Google TV Streamer device, then there’s the Nvidia Shield and also low cost streaming stick devices such as Amazon’s Fire TV Sticks and Roku’s streaming sticks. In the U.S., Walmart’s Onn devices are a solid alternative, and in Europe, you can probably still get your hands on one of Thomson’s streaming gadgets, or perhaps a Xiaomi or Mecool box.
