Your discontinued Chromecast just got a massive feature update

Google shook up its TV devices with the launch of the Google TV Streamer, leaving its predecessor – the Chromecast – to quietly retire. But that’s not what’s happening, with the streaming device getting itself an update.

The Chromecast with Google TV will now get the Home Panel, according to Android Authority, a feature that was previously reserved for the newer Google TV Streamer.

Home Panel gives you direct access to your smart home devices that you have connected to Google Home, so it’s really easy to tweak the brightness of your lights or get a preview from your security cameras, for example.

The feature has been appearing in other Google TV devices and Smart TVs, with Google originally pushing it out to a wider set of devices in September 2024.

Now you’ll find that you can get access to the Home Panel on your Chromecast with Google TV, so it’s a little more convenient than it was previously, and a little more connected.

Chromecast has retired, the future is in smart home

Google has officially retired the Chromecast line of devices, as well as retiring the Chromecast name (although you will soon be able to buy something similar from TV brand Thomson).

The first Chromecast was launched in 2013, allowing a method for users to “cast” content from other devices to their TV (or speakers, in the case of Chromecast Audio).

Casting offered two great features: it allowed remote control of devices, so casting a video stream for example would see the controlling phone tell the content where to play, at which point the stream was managed from that device, rather than from the phone itself.

This worked really well for Netflix, YouTube and Google’s own Play Movies service (before it became Google TV) and it’s the same principle as used by systems like Spotify Connect.

Casting also enabled simple point-to-point mirroring, where content on your phone could easily be shown on your phone, for example photos or local video.

The launch of the Chromecast with Google TV in 2020 saw a shift in priorities, introducing a proper remote control, so that the Chromecast behaves more like a streaming device, offering direct access to streaming apps and services.

This was followed by Android TV being replaced by Google TV, before the 2024 launch of the Google TV Streamer, the current device.

Google TV Streamer takes the form of a set-top box rather than an invisible dongle and the interesting change that it brought was support for Matter and the ability to work as a Thread border router, so it can play a part in your smart home too.