Chromcast Shutting Off While Inactive

[MintChoco484]

I leave my TV on so my dog has background noise when I leave the house. Recently when I come home, the TV is off and I suspect it's because the Chromcast has been "inactive" for 2-3+ hours. My settings haven't changed and it's still set to be on for at least 8 hours before shutting off. So far each time it's been while playing YouTube TV, so I'm not sure if it would happen on Spotify, YouTube. I've done a restart as well and it still happens.

[kelanfromgoogle · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your patience. Our team is aware of this issue and is actively investigating to find a fix. In the meantime, if you wish to prevent your Chromecast from powering off due to inactivity you can navigate to Settings > Developer options > Stay awake and toggle that option.

To enable developer options on your Chromecast with Google TV navigate to your device settings > System >  About > Android TV OS build, and then press the Select button on the remote about 7 times. This process will enable the developer options on your device.

Please stay tuned to the community forum, we will communicate as soon as a fix is identified and on the way.

Thank you,
Kelan

[RXShorty]

Hi @anthonyct 

Does this happen with all applications?
I have noticed my Chromecast Google TV turns off only when using Tidal.

[smity911]

I've had it happen on any application I've left open for longer than 4hrs and it also does it if the device is just on ambient mode.

[Kimy]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the details. Our team is already aware of this and is currently investigating this issue. Since this is the same discussion, we'll move this conversation to the main thread, and we'll continue to update it as soon as we have some news to share.

Please note that once moved, this original thread will be locked.

Thanks,

Kimy

[FLmickey90]

I had been trying to figure out how it was done with reading other posts here (and elsewhere) and with your explanation on what to do, I was able to get it set.  Now let's see if it works as I leave my TV's on for my cat for noise when I'm gone to work or out running errands!  I just got two of them and (one for living room and one for bedroom) and felt bad for my cat when it would be off when I got home.  Plus, I the reason I got these was to NOT have that happen as that would happen before I got them set up over the weekend.  It's pretty bad that it's still happening for all these months!

[printmaster5000]

While I read the responses to the Chromecast board, it becomes clear to me that Google has had a lot of time to work on what seems to be a software patch, so that our Chromecast with Google TV's don't time out every 4 hours unless we happen to be interacting with them.

When I upgraded from my 2nd Gen Chromecast to Chromecast with Google TV (HD) I was surprised to see how many more commercials I was being shown in Youtube, which has me wondering why Google would bother fixing this at all?

I bought the device - they have my money - and now they have my eye-balls watching their ads.

Is this just a case of giving us somewhere to rant so that we are given the impression something is being done?

Dear Google, please fix your products so that they work as advertised. I'm not going to make any absolute declarations about abandoning you or your products.

Are you listening?

[Kimy]

Hi printmaster5000,

We hear you! Thanks for posting here in the Google Nest Community. About the ads on the YouTube app, it is expected if the account logged in is not a Premium account. A one-time purchase of a device won't cover something that is recurring (a subscription). But if you’re still getting ads despite having a Premium account logged in, then it’s a different story. Is this the concern you have? Let us know.

Thanks,

Kimy

[Kimy]

Hi there,

I'm just checking in to make sure that you saw our responses. Please let us know if you still need our help, as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Regards,
Kimy

[printmaster5000]

Thank you for the responses! What happens next?

[Kimy]

Hello printmaster5000,

Thanks for the reply. You must be talking about this thread. We are still waiting too. Kindly stay tuned, as updates will be posted in this community.

Thanks,

Kimy

[Kimy]

Hi printmaster5000,

Since this is the same discussion, we'll move this conversation to the main thread, and we'll continue to update it as soon as we have some news to share.

Please note that once moved, this original thread will be locked.

Cheers,

Kimy

[jatphd]

Yes, Google, are you listening?  55 million Chromecasts sold at $30 each?  that's $1.65B.  even if only 10% still in use, that's $165M.  Wonder if interesting class action lawsuit...  Google, are you listening?

[mad-delicious]

Thank god I'm not the only one facing this problem!

[kylebeagle]

How is the progress on this? Super annoying. I would imagine one of the Googlers genius 🤓 software engineers would be able to solve this sometime soon. Thanks for addressing this bug. 🙂

[Ens0mniac]

Also happening to me, incredibly annoying behavior 

[Slaelkhunter]

Same problem happened after update.  Solution.  Get rid of the piece of junk. Like I did.  Went back to my Apple 4K. Problem fixed

[maynyrd81]

WHEN I HAVE DISCOVERY+ ON IT DOES NOT DO THIS, LIKE IF I PUT MAINE CABIN MASTERS ON SEASON 1 EPISODE 1 IT WILL KEEP ON GOING, oops sorry about the caps. Otherwise it shuts down after about 4 hrs. 

[GreenMile]

I had Discover+ on as well the other night and noticed that it stayed on.

[GreenMile]

The same thing is happing to me. I like my Tv on at night while I sleep for background noise and it shuts off after a while. Checked the power setting and it is set to never shut off. I have two Chromecast devices and they both do the same thing. Very frustrating. Thinking of buying a different brand!

[smity911]

Any update on this? For what I am using them for these devices are essentially useless now.

[bottoms-up]

Found this thread while searching as to why my chromecast keeps turning off the TV

when set to NEVER turn off.

Definitely a new issue. Be fine for several months.  Now will turn off while watching.

It just tried to do it now while watching TV, lower right hand corner of tv android message popped

up to "press any key or going into standby mode"  what the heck.

Oh.... it's not the TV either, it's not the power supply, it's not a factory reset to fix,

it's chromecast's latested firmware upgrade.

If there was a way to roll back I would.  i guess I'll try the developer mode hack see if that 

will work.

[r3dDaWn]

To those that inquire about this issue. Until Google releases an update to fix the problem, the only "fix", which is temporary but does work, is the option of enabling Developer Options, then selecting, "Stay Awake - screen will never sleep while charging".... This will stop the issue of the power mode turning the TV off bug, but you will lose "ambient mode", which is basically the screen saver that kicks on. You can manually go to ambient mode by clicking the back button on your remote from the main screen of the chromecast device. I know the moderator stated not to use Developer Options, and it's a good point never to mess with things that could cause you problems, but doing just this one thing, wont' hurt your device, just remember to not disable or enable any other options. Once an update is issued to your device, I would disable the option to see if that fixes it, if not, re-enable and mess with no other options until that fix is issued out by Google. If you don't know how to enable the Developer Options, google it, or via this link. Hope this helps until the issue is fixed! To the Mods, this 1 single option won't hurt anyone, and does make the problem go away, and since it's a widespread issue, I feel people should have the knowledge and choice to help them until the fix is issued by Google.

Developer Options 

[smity911]

I did manage to find a dodgy workaround that will let you keep the ambient mode, I used Tasker to detect when the device is idle and automatically press the back button if it is. Not a perfect solution though. 

Wish google would get there finger out and fix this.

[bottoms-up]

Tested and works for me. Developer option to not to sleep while charging works for me. I Don't care about the ambient mode as long as my tv doesn't turn off when not asked to.

[TeeElleAr]

This has been happening to BOTH of my TVs for the past couple of so weeks! I, too, leave my TVs on for my pets (cats) during the day for background noise. AND I live alone, so I prefer to have SOME noise going on in my house while I'm not there! It's been SO irritating trying to figure out why...now I know. Thanks for asking the question.

[johndanko]

I confirm all of the above symptoms.  I have multiple Google TV displays, with numerous Google Nest products in the home.  The fact that the Google TV displays shut off without constant attention is certainly a flaw from the last product update received.  I can confirm that even using the Google TV remotes to change the volume, mute, or only interact with the display, but not the back of the Google TV, will also result in the Google TV turning off.  So the functions must automatically interact with only the Google TV constantly, which is unrealistic.  The warning for the Google TV display shut off is literally a couple seconds, which is impossibly to grab the remote and prevent the system from turning off, which then takes minutes of time to turn it back on again.

[ToxicSnowMan]

Did they say when it will be fixed?

[Ongaku]

Glad to see this hear, I have been losing my mind.. This is why when I can I disable updates.. no new features or anything just broke what was working perfectly fine.. Waiting for the fix like everyone else... It even goes off if youtube is playing videos. .I used to put on 11hr peaceful music videos I could hear when I got home from work, but now the tv has just been off.. I was confused for a while thinking it was a youtube issue or sometrhing.. but even then the screensaver should have been going.. but nope, just off...

Also, for me it goes off in about 2 hours

[anthonyct]

This has been an ongoing issue for me as well for over a month now.  My video player logs show the playback being stopped exactly 4 hours from when I start them.  All other timeouts for the TV and other software to include the chromecast are set to never.  Issue does not occur on the same TV / same software using a Fire TV.  Changing stay awake in developer tools for chromecast does resolve the issue.  This is 100% a chromecast issue introduced in one of the last several updates.

Support, how about confirming the engineers have at least identified the issue?

[kookatron]

I have the same problem. Is this just being ignored?

[TeacherMac]

It's now June 21,2023 - This issue still hasn't been resolved... Explains why the half-baked Bard fails at simple tasks.

[Ongaku]

Still waiting for an update to fix this. Chiming in again so this thread does not get closed until it's fixed.

[TeeElleAr]

In the meantime, earlier this week, I just resorted to using the antennas I bought for my tv's 3 years ago when I was waiting to get my google fiber installed!! 😒 BUT, at least my TVs stay on ALL DAY again now! Sure wish google would FIX that issue though! This has been going on WAY too long!

[Dalesmith]

It's been over a month, I've just replaced 2 of my devices and will be replacing the other 3 next week and will continue removing google products from my life as I'm no longer going to support a company that doesn't support it's customers.

[Boyd147]

I find it hard to believe Google engineers/developers haven't resolved this issue yet. It's clear this has been given a low priority, extremely disappointing 

[Deedz]

Is there any way that we can receive an update as to when this issue will be resolved or what they are doing besides investigating? When is the next update scheduled for release? Will it fix the issue during that update? Will they be releasing a hotfix update for this issue? When might a possible date for that be achieved? 

[Chook71]

Sadly, I agree with a lot of other people. I don't believe Google is even looking at this issue as they no longer reply to these posts or my original support case. 

I am now going to start posting reviews on every reseller site I can find advising people NOT to buy these devices and letting them know that there is a well-known and documented issue with these devices caused by an update from Google that they are refusing to rectify. 

I would recommend everyone else do the same with any other Google product that has issues Google are refusing to fix. If we can't get them to provide support to their existing customers at least we can stop others from becoming customers and suffering the same pain we are. 

[Deedz]

Google has a well known history of releasing products without having good support. It's kind of their thing. Everything gets sent out in beta until they break it. Then it's like oh well. I don't see myself being petty and posting a bunch of stuff on sites. But you do you bby. I just put my ccgtv into developer mode earlier and ticked 1 setting and it did the trick. I will leave it this way until they release an update that fixes it. I am certain it's an easy fix and will just come with whatever update they scheduled next.

[Chook71]

There has already been one software update that did not resolve the issue and I'll be honest I hold very little hope this issue will be resolved any time soon. I'll be happy if I'm wrong but given I and others have had similar software update related issues with other Google products which have been outstanding for 1-2 years. 

Given one of these devices was being used as a digital photo frame putting it in developer mode doesn't help. 

I'm not being petty I'm simply advising people that if they purchase this product they should be aware that it has significant faults that the manufacturer is aware of but doesn't want to resolve.  If I had of been aware then I never would have purchased any of the Google products I current have. Sadly I'm now over $2K out of pocket between Cameras and Wifi devices plus these devices and none of them actually work correctly. 

[anthonyct]

Starting another thread to raise awareness if anyone is bored. 🙂

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Chromecast/Chromecast-powers-off-after-4-hours-despite-config...

[NatalieJ]

Chiming in because I had a thought. Has anyone thought to try setting it to go to sleep in less than 4 hours (like 2 hours, for example) and seen if it still cuts off at 4? I'm going to try this on mine, and if that's the case for myself and others, then it means the 4 hour thing got hard-coded somewhere and it might actually spur the developers to find and it deploy a fix for this soon. I know this sounds stupid but it's worth a shot. I'll reply with results tomorrow.