Ready to cast: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK

Posted: Monday, February 3, 2014

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By John Affaki, Engineering Manager

Back in July we announced the developer preview of the Google Cast Software Development Kit (SDK), the underlying Chromecast technology that enables multi-screen experiences across mobile devices (phones, tablet, laptops) and large-screen displays. Starting today, the Google Cast SDK is available for developing and publishing Google Cast-ready apps.

The Google Cast SDK is simple to integrate because there’s no need to write a new app. Just incorporate the SDK into your existing mobile and web apps to bring your content to the TV. You are in control of how and when you develop and publish your cast-ready apps through the Google Cast developer console. The SDK is available on Android and iOS as well as on Chrome through the Google Cast browser extension.

Receiver app support
You have many options for displaying content on Chromecast. For simple media applications, you can use the default media player that can play back HTML5 media content. You can also customize it with your own branding and style using CSS.

For non-media applications, or for more flexibility and design options, you can build your own custom receiver application using standard web technologies. With a custom receiver you can build virtually any application while including support for many streaming protocols, including MPEG-DASH, HLS, and Microsoft Smooth Streaming, all of which are available in the Media Player Library.

Sample apps
To make it easier for you to provide an optimized user experience on the TV screen, we have created sample appsfor Android, iOS and Chrome. For Android, you’ll find a Cast Companion library to make your integration of Google Cast even easier.

Availability
All Chromecast devices have already been updated to the latest software with support for the Google Cast SDK. The Google Cast extension for Chrome supporting the latest SDK will start rolling out today. The Google Cast SDK for Android will be available in a few days as part of the Google Play services 4.2 update, which is currently rolling out to Android devices. The Google Cast SDK for iOS is available starting today. You can find the details for each platform in our documentation.

Head over to the Google Cast Developers site to get started with the Google Cast SDK. We look forward to yourfeedback and seeing what you develop with the SDK.

Happy casting!


John Affaki manages the client software and services teams for Google Cast. He never grew out of childhood and spends his free time playing video games and reading comic books, but is glad to have some real kids now.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor