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Google Cast guides
Chromecast and Cast-built-in TVs — playback, volume and what casting can and can't do.
Casting and remote control get treated as the same thing, and they aren't. Casting hands a stream to a Chromecast or a Cast-enabled TV and lets the phone control that one playback session — play, pause, volume. It was never built to open the TV's menus, switch its input, or drive an app the phone didn't start.
Tivi, a universal TV remote app for iPhone and Android from Nefarius Apps, finds Cast devices on the network the same way it finds everything else. On a plain Chromecast, a Nest speaker or a TV whose only link to the phone is Cast, Tivi does what Cast allows: volume, mute, play and pause, skipping, and 10 seconds back or forward when the playing app supports it — no arrow keys, menus or power, because Cast has none. Anything running Google TV is different — a Chromecast with Google TV, or a TV with Google TV built in, also exposes the Android TV Remote service, and Tivi drives the whole remote through that, alongside Samsung Tizen, LG webOS and Roku.
Start with casting is not remote control for the full distinction.