Google Adds Android Smartphone And Tablet Screen Mirroring To Chromecast

Google has released a feature for Chromecast announced at Google I/O this year – Android device screen mirroring. The update today brings the much-desired feature to all Chromecast-capable devices and makes Google Cast much more similar to Apple‘s competing AirPlay offering for iOS devices.

The “Cast Screen” option will now show up in the navigation drawer of the dedicated Chromecast app, which is available from the Google Play store. If you happen to own a Nexus device, you’ll also see the option right in the quick settings menu, so you don’t have to go to the Chromecast app itself.

Onstage at I/O, Google showed off the feature by browsing Google Earth on a projector connected to a Chromecast running on the presenter’s Android device. It should work with any apps that run on your Android phone or tablet, however, meaning that developers don’t have to have Chromecast compatibility built in to their software for it to have basic compatibility with Google’s streaming stick.

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The update is in beta and will come to select devices from Samsung, HTC, LG and others over the coming days, according to Google, with the 1.7 update to Chromecast. As usual, it may take a while to roll out everywhere, so be patient — even if it’s hard — as this should add a lot to the existing Chromecast experience.