Soon, the Google TV app on your phone will be able to cast content directly to your Android TV without the need for third-party apps. This should be a major step in streamlining the viewing experience at home, since you can easily find the content you want to watch in one place and then start casting directly from there.
The Google TV app already brings together content from different services so you can more easily find a specific movie or show, but in order to watch it, you still need to have the respective app installed on your phone, and then you can cast it from there to your TV if the app is also installed there. Based on the demo Google showed off during its Android TV session, it looks like the Google TV app on your phone will simply open the corresponding service’s app on your TV.
As you can see above, when attempting to cast a TV show available on Peacock, the Peacock app opens on the TV, but on the phone, the user stays in the Google TV app. Even playback controls are available there, so you still get the full experience without needing the Peacock app on your phone.
Of course, the companies behind these streaming services still want you to use their apps, so the Google TV app itself probably won’t provide a viewing experience. If you want to watch a show on your phone, you’ll still need the respective app, just like how you need it on your TV. Still, if you only ever watch shows on your TV, this will allow you to free up some space on your phone if you want to delete all the individual apps.
During the session, Google only said that this feature will be available soon, and 9to5Google reports that it’s coming at some point in 2022. It’s unclear if this is a feature that will require Android 13 TV, which was also announced at I/O 2022. We also don’t know what streaming services will support casting from Google TV, or if it will have to be enabled by each service individually in the first place.
Source: Google
Via: 9to5Google