While there are plenty of streaming services out there, such as Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, and my favorite, Apple TV, Netflix has always been the most feature-rich.
The company has debuted new ways to watch and enjoy content with interactive shows (like Bandersnatch), and it even offers games alongside your subscription through the Play Store.
Not only that, Netflix is one of the most interactive, easy-to-use, yet feature-rich streaming apps on Android.
More than a decade ago, Netflix was one of the first streaming services to support Chromecast, letting you cast shows from your phone or tablet directly to a big-screen TV.
However, with the feature now aging out, it seems like it’s on its way out as many new Google TV devices drop support for it.
Casting has been a legacy part of the streaming ecosystem for me, and I’m worried that with Netflix dropping support for it, other services might follow suit.
My go-to Android TV streaming apps after trying nearly all of them
Most Android TV apps are garbage, but these are worth keeping
Chromecast remains the easiest way to stream on big screens
It is still the most reliable one-tap method for moving content to TVs
I’ll die on this hill: Casting from your phone to big screens like smart TVs and projectors is still the easiest and simplest way to stream content.
Using remotes, dealing with complex apps (which arguably offer more features), and navigating endless menus only slows things down and makes everything unnecessarily complex.
And there’s a reason casting has always been my go-to option for streaming. Your phone already has the app where you find TV shows and movies, it’s already signed in, it already has all your profiles, and most importantly, your phone is always in your hands.
I agree that we have far more powerful streaming devices now, and these devices run Netflix perfectly fine on their own. And sure, everyone knows how to use a remote.
Still, the decision to remove a legacy streaming feature from specific devices is what’s bothering me.
Netflix has now confirmed that it’s dropping support for casting to newer Chromecast and Google TV devices in the Android app.
This means if you have any of the new devices, such as the Google TV Streamer or even the older-generation Chromecast with Google TV, you will no longer be able to cast from your phone to them.
The option in the app will disappear, and even if it does show up, using it will likely throw an error right away.
Not all devices are gone, though. Only those that come with a remote, mainly newer Google TV devices, have been removed from the supported list.
This means the old puck-style Chromecast models, the ones that rely on your phone to control everything, still support casting, but outside of those, the feature is gone.
Netflix says it’s for a better experience and security reasons, but I mainly have two problems with this.
First, not all TV hardware is good enough. If you force users to switch to using apps, it may lead to more frustration.
Aging hardware will open apps slowly and degrade the experience, while casting worked fine because the TV only had to handle playback rather than run a full app.
The second reason is that I now have to teach my grandparents how to use and navigate the Netflix app with a TV remote.
They’re comfortable streaming from YouTube — which thankfully still supports casting — and the same applied to Netflix until now, but now they’ll have to keep the remote nearby and use it every time they want to stream Netflix.
Netflix removing this option sets a worrying precedent
If a major platform drops simple casting, others might try the same
The reason I’m actually worried is that other streaming services may follow Netflix’s lead.
Other platforms, including YouTube, Disney+, and even Amazon Prime Video, still support casting, but with Netflix taking it away, I wonder whether others might decide that casting isn’t worth maintaining.
If that happens, users lose one of the most flexible features in streaming, and we’ll all be forced to adapt to a far more limited and arguably slower way of watching content.
Casting has always been the universal fallback when apps don’t work properly or when TV hardware ages out. Losing it across services would push everyone into relying on inconsistent apps or buying higher-end streaming devices.
I’m genuinely hoping Netflix doesn’t set a trend here, and users on Reddit feel the same.
I really hope other streaming services do not follow this path
With all that said, it doesn’t appear that other platforms are dropping support for casting anytime soon.
While you’re here, I’d also recommend checking out some other tips and tricks that make streaming on various devices much easier, including a trick that helps you stream foreign TV shows and movies effortlessly.
