Ready to cast: Chromecast now open to developers with the Google Cast SDK
By John Affaki, Engineering Manager
Updated Feb. 14 to say that the Google Cast SDK for Android is now
available.
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
apps for 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 is now available on Android devices worldwide as part of the
Google
Play services 4.2 update. 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 your
feedback 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
