Cast any web video to your TV.

Open the page with the video in CastAway and press play. When the “Video found · Cast to TV” button pops up, tap it, then tap Cast to TV and pick your Chromecast. Your iPhone needs iOS 17 or later and has to be on the same wifi as the Chromecast.

Same steps: open the page in CastAway, press play, tap the Video found button, then Cast to TV. Already watching in Chrome? Tap Share, then “Cast with CastAway”. You need Android 8.0 or later with Google Play services, and your phone and TV on the same wifi.

Yes. You can cast to Google TV from iPhone or Android, and to TVs with Chromecast built in and Chromecast itself. Your phone and TV just need to be on the same wifi. Guest networks that keep devices apart won’t work.

Not to a Chromecast. Chromecast, including Chromecast with Google TV, doesn’t support AirPlay, so AirPlay and Screen Mirroring on your iPhone won’t find it. Some TVs with Google TV built in, like many recent Sony models, do have AirPlay, so check your TV’s settings. Every Chromecast and Google TV uses Google Cast, and so does CastAway: open the page in CastAway, press play, tap Cast to TV and pick your TV. From the next update, that works for music, podcasts and radio too.

Yes. CastAway is free to download and free to use, with no ads of its own, no subscription and no account. The next update adds CastAway Plus, an optional one-off purchase (A$9.99 in Australia) through the App Store or Google Play that unlocks ad blocking in the browser, subtitles, Resume and Up next, and a sleep timer. Everything CastAway does today stays free. Plus stays with your Apple Account or Google account: on a new phone signed in to the same account, it comes back through the store, or tap Restore purchases. It can’t move between iPhone and Android.

Most web video: HLS (M3U8), MP4, DASH, and MOV files holding H.264. CastAway can’t cast DRM-protected video, which covers most paid streaming services; it tells you when that happens so you can use the service’s own app. YouTube and Vimeo aren’t supported either, because they already have their own Cast button.

From the next update, yes: CastAway casts audio too. Music, podcasts and live radio from the sites you browse, like an MP3 or a radio stream playing on the page, go to your Chromecast or Google TV with the title, artist and cover art on the screen when the site has them. It works when a site plays its audio openly in the page. Until then, CastAway casts video only.

Some sites lock or scramble their audio so it only plays inside their own page. Suno, for one, scrambles its song files and unscrambles them in the page as they play, so there’s no file your TV can play. CastAway casts audio from the next update, but only audio a site serves openly, so it can’t cast those. With the update, it tells you so plainly instead of saying no video was found. Try the site’s own app instead.

No. Mirroring copies your whole screen, which costs quality and battery. CastAway sends the video stream itself to your TV, so the TV plays it at full quality and your phone is free for other things. With a direct cast, you can even lock your phone.

Lots of sites now send AV1 or HEVC video, which most Chromecasts can’t decode. CastAway’s browser tells sites it prefers H.264, the format every Chromecast plays, so you get the stream that works. If a stream still won’t play, it switches to another one on the same page. You can turn this off under Home, Advanced.

Not for a direct cast: the TV fetches the video itself, so you can lock your phone or use other apps. When a site needs your phone’s cookies or headers, your phone relays the video to the TV over your wifi (CastAway shows “Casts via CastAway”), and some of those sites need CastAway open while the video plays. On iPhone, the Now Playing screen keeps your phone awake so it won’t lock.

CastAway Plus adds one in the next update. It stops casting after 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or at the end of the video when Up next has more queued, which suits podcasts and music at bedtime. It stops the cast, not the TV, so your TV stays on unless it’s set to turn itself off. Leave CastAway open, with your phone on the charger, while it counts down.

Yes. Paste the link into CastAway, whether it’s a web page or an M3U8 (HLS) stream, or open the page that plays it and press play. Either way, CastAway finds the stream and sends it to your TV. Already on the page in Safari or Chrome? Tap Share, then “Cast with CastAway”. From the next update, you can also open a link you copied from Siri or Shortcuts on iPhone, or the app icon on Android. Want to try one first? There’s a sample HLS stream on our test videos page.

Web Video Caster and iWebTV are well-known apps for casting web video, and if one already works for you, good on you. CastAway is free to download, with no ads of its own and no account. Its extras, coming in the next update, are a one-off CastAway Plus purchase, not a subscription. It also asks sites for H.264 so you get a stream your Chromecast can play, and when a video won’t cast, its cast report shows you exactly why.

Check your phone and TV are on the same wifi, and that it isn’t a guest network, which keeps devices apart. Turn off any VPN while you cast. On iPhone, make sure CastAway is switched on under Settings, Privacy & Security, Local Network. The support page has the full checklist.