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The goal is to start casting a content (video or other), from chrome mobile. Just like it is possible on standard Chrome for youtube or netflix videos, through the dedicated extension. I'm not talking about displaying the content of the mobile tab on the TV but just launching a cloud or LAN video on the big screen.

I know extensions are not available on chrome mobile (yet) but I was just wondering if there were any plans on making that possible in Chrome Mobile (with or without extensions).

It would be cool to be able to write a webapp that could launch videos on the big screen. The same webapp could be used on a smartphone, on a tablet or a on desktop computer.

Update: I was thinking it could be easy to write a simple standalone js library for Google Cast device discovery. This could also be used to control the playback of cloud/LAN files within a webapp.

By looking at the chrome extension code, it looks like the discovery of Google Cast devices is done through the chrome.dial.* API. This API is not public yet. The extension asks for the following permissions:

  "permissions": [
    "tabs",
    "tabCapture",
    "dial",
    "storage",
    "networkingPrivate",
    "https://*/*",
    "http://*/*"
  ],

At this point, there is probably no hope of writing a standalone js library that would do the device discovery through chrome.dial.* as its access is restricted to extensions having asked for the specific permission.

Conclusion: To leverage the chrome.dial.* API, an extension is needed. And there are no public plans for extensions in Chrome Mobile.

Interesting links:

http://www.dial-multiscreen.org/dial-protocol-specification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Service_Discovery_Protocol

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It is a little unclear what you're asking, but it seems like you're asking if there is any hope of getting a native extension on the mobile version of Chrome.

From https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/faq

Does Chrome for Android support apps and extensions?
Chrome apps and extensions are currently not supported on Chrome for Android. We have no plans to announce at this time.

I wouldn't plan on having extensions anytime soon. You could always write a native application to the operating system and broadcast from there.

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  • I know extensions are not available on chrome mobile. And probably won't be before a long time. But is there any plans by the chrome team or the google cast team to bake cast capabilities right into chrome (no need for extensions)
    – geeklain
    Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 17:03
  • @geeklain I think the statement in my answer applies. "We have no plans to announce at this time." Even if someone on here did know the answer, they probably wouldn't be able to publicly discuss it.
    – Steven V
    Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 17:27
  • I suspect cast funationality gets added to chrome mobile eventually. Many "native" cast apps are likely to do much of their UI in a WebView anyway, so this would be a sensible move. We'll see.
    – NobodyMan
    Commented Aug 11, 2013 at 7:34

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