GoKawiilEdgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR First-generation Chromecast devices are suddenly failing for many users, with apps like YouTube and HBO Max no longer detecting the 2013 dongle.
The issue appears inconsistent, as some services like Spotify and Disney+ still work on affected devices.
Users suspect a backend change may have broken the aging hardware, though there’s no evidence Google intentionally disabled the devices.
Google’s original Chromecast may finally be running out of road. More than a decade after the little HDMI dongle helped make casting a mainstream feature, a growing number of first-generation Chromecast owners are suddenly finding that their devices are failing to work.
Reports started piling up across Reddit this week, with users saying their 2013 Chromecast models are no longer appearing as cast targets in apps like YouTube and HBO Max (via 9to5Google). The failures, curiously enough, are inconsistent. Some owners say Spotify and Disney+ still work as normal.
This inconsistency is what has people wondering if Google quietly pulled the plug or if something else is breaking behind the scenes.
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The original Chromecast launched in 2013 with a pretty basic premise: tap a button on your phone and instantly throw content onto your TV. It cost just $35 and became one of Google’s biggest hardware success stories and helped push streaming into the mainstream long before smart TVs became standard. As time went on, Google added newer Chromecasts, Chromecast Audio, and, eventually, Google TV-powered devices to the lineup. More than 100 million Chromecast units were sold globally before Google retired the branding in favor of the newer Google TV Streamer.
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