If you lose your Chromecast remote, there’s another way to control your TV. Google announced today that it’s it’s bundling a host of remote control features directly into Android. Once the new version of Android 12 rolls out, it should be as easy as dragging and tapping around your phone’s interface to change the channel.
The new remote control features will also allow you to type in passwords and search for the content you’re looking for rather than clicking around letter-by-letter on the remote itself. It’s unclear how TVs and sound systems are supported with this new update, considering the Chromecast with Google TV uses infrared to interface with some of those devices.
With older Android TV set-top boxes, you could download the Android TV Remote Control app from the Play Store as a backup. The app has long had sub-par reviews, but it worked in a pinch. The app works with the current crop of Android TV and Google TV devices, though it only controls media playback.
The new built-in remote control feature on Android will start rolling out later this year. It will work immediately with any devices running the rebranded Android TV OS, including Google TV devices.
DISCUSSION
That remote is the single best UI improvement they’ve done to Chromecasts and the reason why I ditched my other streaming devices to go to the Chromecast with Google TV. Having a physical remote that you can just have in hand feels psychologically more direct and comfortable over controlling over the phone.
They just need to put a “lock” switch on that remote so that if it falls between the cushions, it doesn’t accidentally trigger a button and interrupt whatever you’re watching.
Finally, let me set the Chromecast to “app only mode” without losing access to Google Photos albums in Ambient mode. I hate the new Chromecast front page that’s just commercials for all the streaming media I don’t want. “App only mode” solves this and puts -just- my subscribed apps front and center, but then I lose my family photos in Ambient mode.