And makes it easier to manage in the future
It’s been a little more than a year since the Chromecast with Google TV hit store shelves, complete with a new UI and — for the first time ever — an actual remote. Although we were over the moon with it at launch, a few quirks have had us hoping for a follow-up sooner rather than later. One of the most significant issues with Google’s latest Chromecast is its limited storage, but a new software update is helping to mitigate some of those problems.
Unfortunately, this patch doesn’t bring Android TV 12 to devices just yet — even though that version officially launched just a few days ago. Don’t let yourself be disappointed just yet, however. For its first official update since Google added Stadia support in June, the company is improving how the Chromecast’s limited quantity of storage is managed — and automatically giving users a bit of extra space as a result.
As we discovered over the summer, Google’s latest streaming device was only capable of accessing about half of its already-paltry 8GB of storage, with many users finding themselves unable to install or even update their apps. While some workarounds existed for this issue — especially with the help of a trusty USB-C hub — it was about as frustrating an issue as you can run into on a streaming gadget, especially when many of us subscribe to more services than ever.
For its first update in six months, Google is finally doing something about this ongoing storage issue. Once you’re running the latest software version, you’ll find a new “Uninstall apps” menu under the “Free up storage” section in settings, allowing you to quickly delete applications you’re no longer using. It’s a much faster process than having to visit each app page manually.
Left: Before the update. Right: After the update.
Even better is Google’s work behind the scenes to clean up its file system. While the folks at 9to5Google noted many users saw an increase of 200 to 300MB in free storage space, I was even luckier. My available storage was sitting at 700MB pre-update, but after my Chromecast restarted, it shot up to 1.1GB.
In addition to these improvements, Google fixed a handful of issues with HDR playback, along with some miscellaneous bug-squashing and a bump up to October’s security patch. To update your Chromecast, just dive into your device’s settings menu.
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