Google shook up the home theatre market with its Chromecast device. Ever since it enabled developer access, the app market has been flooded with Google Cast support. Here are the most useful Chromecast apps.
Stream Videos, Music and Photos From Your Phone: Allcast (Android, iOS)
Allcast began as a way to stream your photos, videos and music from your Android device directly to Chromecast. Since then, it has gained the ability to stream media from cloud storage services such as Dropbox. It can also send to nearly any receiver, including Apple TV, Xbox, many smart TVs and most DLNA-capable receivers. Even if you don’t have a Chromecast, this app is useful for streaming your media. Allcast is free with limitations on streaming length, and costs $6.49 for unlimited streaming.
Mirror Your Phone’s Display: Chromecast (Android, free)
Back in July, Google added screen mirroring to the Chromecast app. This is the same app you used to initially set up your Chromecast. In the slide-out navigation menu, you now have the option to cast your device’s screen to any available receiver. Casting requires KitKat or above, but the list of devices that can support are constantly growing. If you’re using Lollipop already, you can also mirror your display without any apps at all.
Share Videos And Tabs From Your Browser: Firefox (Android)
Firefox 34 added the ability to cast individual tabs to your Chromecast. This is particularly handy as it allows you to share a tab without forcing you to show everything that comes across your screen. That is, if you get notifications, change apps, or need to do something else, everyone watching the TV can still see the tab, while you can use your phone.
Stream Networked Media: Plex (Android, iOS)
We love Plex around these parts. Even without Chromecast support, it’s one of the best ways to stream your media from a computer to your phone. When it added Chromecast support, it also became the easiest way to get it to your TV. You can stream directly from your desktop to your TV with just a couple of taps. The iOS app costs $6.49, though you can use the Android version for free.
Play Podcasts: Pocket Casts (Android, $3.99)
It was only a matter of time before podcast apps joined the fray and started streaming to the Chromecast. So far, Pocket Casts seems to do the nicest job of it. While the app costs $3.99, which might be a turn off for the casual podcast listener, it’s pretty robust. However, we’re still waiting for our favourite Android podcast app DoggCatcher to get Chromecast support.
Stream Music From the Cloud: Play Music (Android, iOS)
Google’s Play Music app is one of the few music services that serves as both a subscription and a music locker. Google allows you to upload a huge number of songs to its cloud storage locker, which can all be streamed to your Chromecast on either Android or iOS. Anything in your collection can be streamed to your TV, regardless of whether or not you have it downloaded locally.
The Essentials
On top of all of these sweet apps that can do clever things, there are also the obvious, major apps with Chromecast support that are worth checking out:
- iView: Android, iOS
- Presto: Android, iOS
- Stan: Android, iOS
- Quickflix: Android
- Crackle: Android, iOS
- Pandora: Android, iOS
- Rdio: Android, iOS
- YouTube: Android, iOS
- Google Play TV & Movies: Android, iOS
- Twitch: Android, iOS
You can also check out Cast Store which keeps a directory of all the Chromecast-enabled apps that arrive on the Play Store. While we try to only feature the best apps here, Cast Store will let you know about everything that comes out so you can try them for yourself.
Comments
7 responses to “The Best Chromecast Apps (2015 Edition)”
Popcorn Time http://www.popcorntime.se also has Chromecast Support and is one of the best bitorrent streaming apps around .
You can now stream your photos from the Android Photo app. Really handy after a jaunt overseas. I suppose just sharing your screen would be quicker – but that wasn’t available at the time.
Youtube gets the most airtime at our place but I reckon Netflix will replace that. Come on NBN!
I’ve been developing “PlayTo for Chromecast” for almost a year, and improving how more than 37k people send internet vídeos from this Chrome Extension. With a valoration of 4.28/5 (1500+ reviews)
My friend bought a Chromecast for his olds and, somehow, the main board in their TV blew. A cursory google finds this isnt an isolated case. So be careful and hopefully someone figures out this flaw.
You missed videostream, by far the most useful chromecast app I’ve got. Lets me stream local video from my computer to the chromecast and has a handy little remote control app for android. The premium version is <$30 for life membership and it adds playlists and some other stuff. Also ES File Explorer for android does all the stuff that plex does, if you’re looking for an alternative (and it’s free).
Not exactly chromecast related but a handy tool that I use with my chromecast is google’s remote desktop app (which lets you control your pc/mac from your phone as long as you have the correct chrome app installed). That way if I haven’t made a particular folder available for sharing (so I can send it to chromecast via my phone) I can do that on my phone, or use my phone to launch a stream from my computer, without my phone actually pulling any of the weight. Saves battery as well.
ALSO some of the games for chromecast are hilarious. I’ve been playing a lot of “Big Web Quiz” against my friends. It has all the classic trivia questions, such as; “how many matthew mcconaughey’s tall is Mount Rushmore?” and “How many Great Danes tall is Justin Bieber?”. Classic.
The Spotify app isn’t chromecast compatible yet, but the built in cast screen function on my phone casts the audio as well – works pretty well.
The iView app is terrible at casting, if not the worst app I have come across that has Chromecasting abilities but refuses to load or remain stable. No other app behaves as though a 4 year old coded it.
Yep – the Videostream extension for Google Chrome browser is brilliant. As I type this I’m using the free version to stream a 4gb MKV file from a Chrome browser tab on my PC to the Chromecast dongle attached to my Samsung 55″. Using my Iphone 6 as the remote control to control the volume, pause, back, forward etc (running the free Videostream iphone app). Working seamlessly. Brilliant !