- Original Chromecasts are starting to fail en masse
- Support for the devices officially ended back in 2023
- The technology lives on with the Google TV Streamer box
Some 13 years after debuting – and earning a 5-out-of-5-star review from us, by the way – it looks like it’s finally the end of the road for the original, first-generation Chromecast, with many users now reporting that their devices have stopped working.
As discovered by 9to5Google, there has been an increase in the number of these reports on Reddit, with a significant number of people saying that their dongles are no longer able to cast anything. The change seems to have happened over the past few days.
For context, Google stopped updating the device back in 2023, and certain apps (including Peacock) have pulled support since then. There are also some contributors to the Reddit thread who say they are still able to cast video in certain apps, such as Prime Video and Disney+, and from a web browser.
However, it is clear that a large number of devices have now stopped working. It’s possible that certain security certificates (required for wireless hardware connections) have expired, or an update to the Google Home app has broken compatibility with the original Chromecast forever.
Nothing like that
It looks like Google just killed all Gen 1 Chromecasts in existence. How much more time before they start killing Gen 2? from r/Chromecast
Those who were still using their 1st generation Chromecasts are understandably disappointed to see them stop working. “Rest in peace my friend” says one commenter, while many users clearly rely on their original Chromecasts regularly.
Others in the thread suggest that 13 years is a good run, by tech gadget standards, and that Google should get credit for making it work that long. So far, it looks like the 2nd generation (2015) and 3rd generation (2018) models are still working as normal.
Chromecasts have been retired as a category now, though the casting technology lives on in Google TVs and in the Google TV Streamer that Google sells — essentially a Chromecast with a remote and a few extras. You can also pick up third-party gadgets, including streaming boxes from Walmart, with Google TV smarts inside.
While the eventual end of the first Chromecast was inevitable, it’s worth taking a moment to remember how innovative it was when it launched and how it locked down access to streaming apps on pretty much any TV set. As we put it at the time: “There’s simply nothing out there quite like Google Chromecast.”
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