CastAway support: casting help and fixes

How to use it

1. Open CastAway. Paste a link, search, or tap Browse and head to the page with the video.
2. Press play on the video.
3. When the “Video found · Cast to TV” button appears, tap it.
4. Check the video in the list and tap Cast to TV. Pick your TV if asked.
5. Use your phone as the remote: play, pause, drag through the video, skip 10 seconds, change the volume or stop casting.

From Safari: tap Share, then “Cast with CastAway”. The page opens in CastAway. If the app doesn’t open by itself, the link is copied, so open CastAway and paste it. If the video needs a login, log in inside CastAway’s browser, because it keeps its own logins separate from Safari.

What you need

• An iPhone on iOS 17 or later.
• A Chromecast, Google TV, or a TV with Chromecast built in.
• Your iPhone and TV on the same wifi network.

Common problems

My TV doesn’t show up

• Make sure your iPhone and TV are on the same wifi. Phones sometimes hop onto a different network or a hotspot without telling you.
• Guest networks and some office, hotel or apartment wifi keep devices apart from each other (called client isolation). Casting can’t work on those. Use your main home network, or ask whoever runs the network to turn client isolation off.
• Check CastAway is allowed to use your local network: Settings, Privacy & Security, Local Network, and switch CastAway on.
• Turn off any VPN on your phone while casting.
• Still nothing? Restart the Chromecast (unplug it for ten seconds) and reopen CastAway.

The video won’t play, or says “Can’t cast”

• Protected video (DRM). Most paid streaming services protect their video so it only plays in their own apps. CastAway can’t cast these and will tell you so. Use the service’s own app to cast.
• YouTube and Vimeo. They have their own Cast button. Use their app.
• Sites that need a login. Log in to the site inside CastAway’s browser, press play, then cast. Some sites only allow playback on the device you logged in on, and those won’t play on a TV.
• “No video found on this page yet”. Press play on the video first. Some players only show their video once it starts. If the mobile page hides the player, try “Desktop site” from the menu.
• “The site’s video link expired”. Press play on the page again, then cast again.

Music, podcasts and radio

Casting audio arrives in the next update. Until then CastAway looks for video only, so a music or podcast page says “No video found on this page yet”. Once you have the update, this is what its messages mean:

• “This site scrambles its audio”. Some sites, Suno for one, scramble their song files and only unscramble them inside the page, so CastAway can’t send them to your TV. Try the site’s own app.
• “This page is playing audio, but not in a form CastAway can send to your TV”. The site only plays it inside its own page, so there’s no link CastAway can hand to your TV.
• No artist or cover art on the TV. CastAway shows what the site gives it. When the site names no artist, you’ll see the site’s address instead.
• “No video or audio found on this page yet”. Press play first. Some music players only show their audio once it starts.

The video stops when I leave the app

For some sites, keep CastAway open while you watch. The Now Playing screen keeps your phone awake so it won’t lock. If the video stops, reopen CastAway and tap Resume on TV.

On Android

The Android app works the same way as on iPhone: open a page, press play, tap “Video found · Cast to TV”, then Cast to TV.

What you need

• An Android phone on Android 8.0 or later, with Google Play services (casting uses Google’s Cast software, which comes with Play services).
• A Chromecast, Google TV, or a TV with Chromecast built in.
• Your phone and TV on the same wifi network.

From Chrome

On the page in Chrome, tap Share, then “Cast with CastAway”. The page opens in CastAway and the list of videos pops up once the page has found one. When there’s no earlier page in CastAway to go back to, Back returns you to Chrome. If the video needs a login, log in inside CastAway’s browser, because it keeps its own logins separate from Chrome.

Signing in with Google

Google doesn’t allow “Sign in with Google” inside in-app browsers like CastAway’s, so that button won’t work there. If the site offers another way in, such as signing in with your email address and a password, use that instead.

The “Casting through this phone” notification

Some sites don’t let the TV fetch their video directly. For those, CastAway relays the video from your phone to your TV over your wifi. While that happens, a “Casting through this phone” notification shows, with a Stop casting button. You can lock your phone; just leave CastAway running until you stop casting. The first time you cast, Android 13 and later asks whether CastAway can show notifications. Saying no doesn’t stop casting.

My TV doesn’t show up (Android)

• Make sure your phone and TV are on the same wifi, and not a guest network that keeps devices apart.
• Turn off any VPN on your phone while casting. Some VPNs also stop the TV reaching your phone when CastAway relays a video.
• Android has no Local Network setting for apps, so there’s nothing to switch on in Settings.
• If CastAway says casting needs Google Play services, your phone doesn’t have them. You can still browse, but not cast.
• Still nothing? Restart the Chromecast (unplug it for ten seconds) and reopen CastAway.

Contact

Want something to test with? The test videos page has an MP4 and an HLS sample to try it on, plus a short music track for the next update.