Google Cast
Casting is not remote control: what Google Cast can and can't do
Nefarius Apps6 min read
Updated : Tivi now controls devices running Google TV, Chromecast with Google TV included. Plain Cast devices are still found but not controlled.
Casting and remote control are different things. Casting tells a TV or Chromecast to fetch and play a stream itself; the phone then controls that playback session — play, pause, skip, volume. A remote control drives the TV's own interface: menus, navigation, inputs, and apps you didn't launch from your phone. A Cast connection cannot do the second.
What casting actually does
Casting is a hand-off, not a control session. The phone finds a receiver — a Chromecast, or a TV with Cast built in — and sends it a link: the video or audio to play, and where to get it. From that point the receiver fetches the stream itself, directly, and plays it. The phone isn't relaying anything through itself; once a cast starts, the phone could be switched off entirely and the stream would keep playing.
That hand-off happens over the same local network the phone and the receiver are both on. Cast devices announce themselves over Bonjour as _googlecast._tcp., which is how a phone finds them in the first place — the same kind of discovery a remote app uses to find a Samsung or an LG, just a different sort of device answering.
What the phone controls once a cast is running
Once a stream is playing, the phone keeps a connection open to the session it started, and that's the part that actually earns the word "control". Play, pause, seek, skip to the next item, and volume are all part of the Cast protocol's playback session, so an app can send them and the receiver acts on them.
This is why casting a video and then adjusting it from the lock screen feels exactly like using a remote. It is one, in a narrow sense — for that one session. It is not a remote for the television.
What casting cannot do
| Aspect | A casting session | A remote |
|---|---|---|
| Starts | A stream the phone told the receiver to fetch | Whatever's already on the TV |
| Play / pause / skip / volume | Yes, for that session | Yes |
| The TV's own home screen and menus | No — not part of the Cast protocol | Yes |
| Switching the input or source | No | Yes, on a plastic remote |
| Opening an app you didn't cast to | No | Yes, on the TV's own remote |
| Works with nothing currently playing | No — there's no session to control | Yes |
The gap in that table is the whole point of this article. A Cast session has no channel for the TV's home screen, its settings, or any app it isn't currently streaming to. It was never designed to have one — casting is a playback protocol, not a general-purpose remote-control protocol, and the two solve different problems even though they arrive on the same screen.
Why volume sometimes works and navigation never does
Volume feels like an exception because, in a sense, it is one — Cast's playback session includes a volume control as a first-class part of the protocol, the same way play and pause are, so an app that started a cast can turn it up or down. Navigation was never given an equivalent. There's no "open home screen" or "switch app" message in the Cast session's vocabulary, because a Cast session doesn't model the TV's interface at all — only the one stream it's playing.
When you need a real remote instead
Anything that isn't "control this one stream" needs a real remote: switching inputs, browsing an app you haven't opened yet, changing a setting, or driving the TV when nothing is casting at all. A Cast connection has no answer for any of those, by design.
Tivi, a universal TV remote app for iPhone from Nefarius Apps, finds Cast devices on the network the same way it finds everything else — a Chromecast or a Cast-enabled TV shows up in the list because it announces itself. For a plain Chromecast dongle, or a TV whose only link to the phone is Cast, that is as far as Tivi goes today: it lists the device and doesn't send it remote commands.
If the television in question is a Samsung, an LG, or anything running Google TV, that's a different story — Tivi drives all three directly, menus and all, over their own remote protocols rather than through a cast session. That includes a Chromecast with Google TV and a TV with Google TV built in, both of which expose the Android TV Remote service alongside Cast. How to control a Samsung TV with your iPhone and how to control an LG TV with your iPhone cover those flows, and Android TV vs Google TV explains why one integration covers both of Google's names.
Common questions
Does Tivi control my Chromecast or a TV with Cast built in?
It depends on what the device runs. A Chromecast with Google TV, or a TV with Cast built in because it runs Google TV or Android TV, also exposes the Android TV Remote service, and Tivi controls it through that — pairing once with a six-character code shown on the TV, as the Android TV and Google TV walkthrough describes. A plain Chromecast dongle, or a TV whose only connection to the phone is Cast, shows up in Tivi's scan but isn't sent remote commands: Tivi has no Cast integration today, and one couldn't reach the TV's menus anyway.
Why does my TV's volume respond when I'm just casting to it?
Because volume is part of the Cast session itself, not a separate remote-control channel. The app that started the cast can turn that session's volume up or down the same way it can pause it.
Can casting turn off my TV, or switch its input?
Not as a command from the phone — neither is part of the Cast protocol, which only ever controls the one playback session it started. A Chromecast plugged into the TV can use HDMI-CEC to wake the set and switch it to the Chromecast's own input when a cast begins, but that is the dongle acting over HDMI, not the phone gaining a remote, and it can't send the TV to any other input.
Is casting the same as screen mirroring?
No, even though the two look similar to use. Casting sends a link and lets the receiver fetch and play the content itself, so quality doesn't depend on the phone's own connection once playback starts. Screen mirroring sends a live copy of whatever is on the phone's screen. They solve different problems and use different protocols underneath.
The short version
Casting and remote control share a phone and a TV, and not much else. Casting hands off one stream and lets the phone adjust that stream while it plays — pause, skip, volume. A remote drives the television itself: its menus, its inputs, and any app on it, whether or not the phone started anything. A Cast connection was never built to do the second job, on any app, from any phone.
Tivi, a universal TV remote app for iPhone from Nefarius Apps, finds Cast devices in its scan, and for actual menu and volume control drives Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, and Android TV and Google TV sets end to end — a Chromecast with Google TV included. How to use your iPhone as a TV remote covers what has to be true before any of this works, and the rest of the Google Cast guides are here.