If you have an iOS device and Chromecast, the big players all cast just fine (like Netflix) but when it comes to streaming the local content on your device to your Chromecast it's a bit of a hassle. Tag along as we help a fellow reader throw their local iPad content onto the TV.
Dear How-To Geek,
I have an iPad and a Chromecast, and I'd like to watch videos stored on the iPad on my HDTV via the Chromecast system. I can't find any way to do it though. I can stream Netflix and other services, but I can't do the simplest thing imaginable: put video from the actual iPad up on the screen.
Am I missing something? I have the official Google Chromecast helper application installed, and I can obviously use the Chromecast with the iPad as the controlling device. What gives? Is there anyway to get the simple Chromecast button in the pictures/videos view on my iPad? I want it just like Netflix where when I want to see what's on my iPad on the screen I can just tap a button.
Sincerely,
iPad Puzzled
What gives, as the more cynical of readers might have already guessed, is that Apple doesn't offer any sort of native support for the Chromecast whatsoever. Given that the Chromecast is, in many ways, a direct competitor to the Apple TV we can certainly see why that would be the case. You're not going to find a Chromecast icon on your camera roll or in your videos section any time soon (or ever).
That said, Apple obviously doesn't bar apps that access the Chromecast from the App Store or else Netflix and the other apps you're using wouldn't be around; each app make can include or exclude the Chromecast code.
While there are dozens of applications that have taken advantage of this ranging from big names like Netflix, Pandora, and YouTube, to one-off apps from smaller companies, there's quite a shortage of good just-gets-the-job-done apps for shooting your native iOS photos and videos over to the Chromecast.
In fact, to accomplish exactly what you want: to add a Chromecast button right onto the menu bar of your iPad albums we were only able to find a single app that performed such a trick: CastNow. It's $0.99, works well enough, and, most importantly, you won't have hopelessly wait for Apple to provide the integration.
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