Chromecast keeps disconnecting on YouTube app (again!)

[rafaeln]

When casting videos from the YouTube app on Chromecast, videos will simply stop playing after a few (random number of) minutes and go back to the Chromecast background screen. This started happening on Thursday, October 28th, 2021.

When the issue started I was running the then-latest version of Android 11; now I am on Android 12 (but note the issue started before I upgraded the phone's OS).  The firmware version of my Chromecast is 1.49.250946 and the YouTube app version is the latest.

I opened a similar thread a few weeks ago, and at the time it seemed that uninstalling and reinstalling the Home app fixed the issue, but two days ago it started happening again in full force (i.e. it disconnected like 4 or 5 times when casting a 8-9 minute video). I uninstalled and reinstalled the Home app and that did NOT fix the issue this time.

What else can I try? What can be causing this? These frequent interruptions makes playback of YouTube videos on Chromecast almost impossible.

[mamorubox]

I don't know about you, but I'm watching a 30 min of video without being disconnected with screen off.

Maybe google has fixed the problem?

[petersonsilva]

OMG you know what it totally worked today!!

Thanks for letting me know! I do hope it's fixed for good now!

[mamorubox]

I have bad news.

This sunday night I got disconnected a couple of times, after a random time with cellphone screen off. 

The problem is back.

[petersonsilva]

Sh*t. I haven't experienced it again yet, but I've been kind of away from Youtube last week  

[udoy]

Hi!, Like I said, from my top post. Try to change google account and use it on your Youtube while casting.

It solved mine. And it's over a week now without issues. 

The issue lies on some bug affecting some Google account. I just hope Google fixes those bugged account. 

[petersonsilva]

Coming back to say the bug has not affected me again. I chromecasted video today from my phone and the screen was off.

[Renanqueiros]

I got this solution in other forum. Worked for me.

Go to setting > applications > (the 3 dot in the right corner) > special setting > optimise battery usage > select the tab : all applications > uncheck youtube and Home app.

Done !! You will not have this problem anymore. I had the same problem with youtube, netflix and twitch. I unchecked them and now they work perfecly.

[petersonsilva]

I don't know about that; Netflix was optimised for me and I never had that issue. Plus, Chromecast is not supposed to work like that; the TV should pull content from the internet (well, at least when you're casting something like youtube / netflix, not your phone's screen) regardless of whether there is a connection with the phone.

Still, good it worked for you!!

[mamorubox]

Correct.

You can start a 1 hour video and turn off your cellphone and chromecast should keep playing the video til the end. The issue was not related to power saving features but with youtube app deliberately stopping the chromecast connection like sending a "reset" to it.

[nafnist]

Hey guys,

I encountered this problem, and my solution was in Settings - Apps - YouTube and select Uninstall all Updates.

Then in Google Play, I unticked automatic updates for YouTube.

Haven't had the issue since. 

[Mann0]

Same problem here. It has started last Friday. It's really not promising that this thread was created more than a month ago and that the developers haven't found a solution yet.

[Jog]

You have to close the limiter of your battery on your Phone during the use of the YouTube app.

[Mann0]

It worked. Thanks!

[petersonsilva]

It really does seem like we're conflating two bugs here, cause for some people this does not work at all (and in fact it makes no sense that this would be the culprit).

[rafaeln]

Since a couple of weeks ago the YouTube app on my Android phone no longer disconnects from the Chromecast on my TV—but it has happened maybe 2 or 3 times that the current video stops playing, and my TV shows the YouTube app being cast to my TV. So, it's as though someone hit "stop" on my playback: the Chromecast is still casting the YouTube app, but my video stopped playing.

So, I am still experiencing an annoying bug, but it's less frequent than before, and it's manifesting slightly differently (since before the Chromecast disconnected from the TV completely).

[iptoux]

I had the same issue since today.

OnePlus8Pro, android 11, YouTube premium. Had this problem never bevor. If problem got not solved within few days will quite premium and mention media.

[butler464]

I fixed it! At least temporarily on my phone. Based on your comments I went into the YouTube app settings and set its battery usage to unrestricted so it could run in the background. It works now. Seeks like it is some battery optimization problem where the app gets shut off after the screen times out?

[iptoux]

The key question here is, why it worked before and now not anymore. All the user changed nothing. From now to now it don't worked correctly anymore.

I don't know why this problem is not inspected by Google because there are now enough users with that problem.

Maybe I will start an petition or so, so that google must react. The problem must only made public, wish customer will pay for an premium feature whats not working right.

[butler464]

Yes this is a good question. Changing the battery settings allows it to keep playing, but it does frequently pause and "load" during the video once the screen is turned off. I'm guessing something changed in how Android optimizes its battery usage in the background. 

[butler464]

Sorry for the multiple posts just want to add I don't have premium. This just started recently for me, although I haven't been casting from my phone for a while until this week so not sure exactly when it started. I have a Samsung phone.

[Armand]

Pixel 5,

I noticed this issue started for me this week. I thought someone in my home was stopping playback but after a few days discovered this thread. While this issue is new for me, One thing I wanted to note is that I have adguard on my phone and a Raspberry Pi on my network. Now that's never interfered before this issue began happening recently but worth mentioning in case anyone else has those in common. Hope this is resolved because it's quite annoying especially given how the Nest Hub seems to intentionally cripple the YouTube experience by limiting its 3 suggestions. 😔 

[mamorubox]

Looks like the issue is becoming more popular... how long Google will take to fix this?

[Armand]

UPDATE: not sure if anyone else has noticed this or can confirm, but my guess is that this is entirely isolated to the YouTube App. I can cast from YouTube Music to my Nest Hub & Nest Hub Max without any disconnect. In fact, I can search within YouTube Music app and specifically cast videos without any disconnect. This should definitively point to the YouTube app as the culprit since YouTube Music videos are sourced from YouTube.

(Currently using Android YouTube version 17.05.35) which was updated yesterday but problem persists.

[mamorubox]

Yes, its the same for me. YT Music works fine, as all the other CCast apps, except youtube.

[logic]

I've been having this problem. I downgraded the YouTube app on my phone (it doesn't let me uninstall it, but it does let me roll it back to the factory version, uninstalling all updates). It stopped happening. Upgraded it again, it started happening again. So, I started a "Help & Support" chat with Google through the YouTube app, and after asking a few questions, the representative I was speaking to asked me to power cycle the Chromecast. I rolled my eyes at this -- how would that have any effect if the problem isn't happening with Netflix, isn't even happening with the older YouTube app version, is only happening with the latest YouTube app version? But you've got to follow the support script if you want to get to the next tier, so I gave it a go. And to my immense surprise, it resolved the problem. I was flabbergasted, and as a software developer I still don't really have any hypothesis about why it worked. But, if you're having these same symptoms, try power cycling the Chromecast, as illogical as it seems. If it doesn't work, well, it's only taken a minute or two to try, but it did actually work for me!

[petersonsilva]

This only ever worked temporarily for me. The problem used to come back after a while.

[logic]

Well that's a pain 😞 A coworker just told me about an app called Pure Tuber. I haven't tried it yet, but I wonder if it would avoid the problem.

[Procol666]

I'm experiencing the same exact issues. Started after I updated my OnePlus 9 Pro to Android 12, rarely had any issues before that. I feel like uninstalling and/or clearing data/cache of YouTube and Home apps helped for some time, but now it's back to disconnecting all the time.

[georgejames123]

Temp FIX

The problem is not linked to account or premium. It is not resolved by reinstalling YouTube or Home app. I tried them all. 

The problem is only with YouTube app on some Android phones.  

Temporary Fix: After casting videos(and adding more videos to the list), just close the YouTube app(NOT just minimise or switch to another app), you won't face the problem again until you open YouTube app again (for adding more videos or something else)

It seems YT app is connected to Chromecast in the background and this connection breaks and issue occurs. Just my guess.

[mamorubox]

Hello!
I´m not experiencing the issue for a couple of days. Yesterday I watched a lot of videos without disconnection. 

[logic]

Update: Following the advice of Google Help & Support (see above, about 3 weeks ago), I power cycled the Chromecast. The problem went away for about 3 days then came back. I power cycled it again and haven't had a problem since. I don't understand why the software on the Chromecast would affect this, given that it only happened with one casting app (YouTube), but I have often observed the Chromecast installing updates in the middle of the night. Maybe YouTube is sending it a signal saying, "I'm not in the foreground", and the Chromecast had a bug in its implementation that caused it to interpret this as "I'm not casting any more", and a Chromecast update has fixed that misinterpretation? That still doesn't explain why at first it came back after 3 days, but whatever the case, I haven't seen the problem in weeks. 🙂

[Natirou]

Worked for me:

Disable app. Restart phone. Enable app.

No more disconnections

[mamorubox]

Hello!

I am not experiencing disconnection anymore.

Tks!

[Sammyrob]

I'm having the same problem. YouTube is owned by Google right yet they have this problem when all my other apps work just fine. Only way I fix it is by disconnecting my phone from WiFi

[logic]

Did you try power cycling the Chromecast? That ultimately fixed it for me. My guess is they introduced a new protocol for the phone to tell the device that the app no longer has focus, and the Chromecast needs an update to process it correctly. Doesn't happen with other apps because they haven't been updated to send that kind of notification. Google did a major revamp of how YouTube works with the Chromecast, it now stays connected over time even when Android suspends the YouTube app and can receive playback requests from multiple sources at once.

[puasa22]

is your youtube app remains in factory version? (in case you downgraded twice after power cycling twice)

[CoolRaul]

FIXED for me! Settings > Apps > YouTube > Battery > Unrestricted.

This issue had been haunting me for weeks now, even after trying multiple suggestions mentioned here. The only solution that worked for me until today was to cast from my wife's phone, the problem seemed to be related to my phone only, after turning the screen off.

Now it's apparently solved!

I'm using a Samsung S10 on Android 12. YouTube 17.14.35, subscribed to Premium. Chromecast 1st generation.

[MrPenguin]

Hi. Time for me to shed some light on this problem. As it is seriously making me cranky and very frustrated. I can watch on the phone, and iPad, tablet, iPhone, android phone running IOS ver 9, 10, or 11. Same with an iPhone running the latest version of IOS. Also two separate iPads. Also in the mix is two smart tv's. One being a Samsung smart TV, and a TCL Smart TV. I also have tried 1 Mac Pro computer, a Dell Windows 10 pc, AND for fun a totally different network over at my brothers house. Casting. Forget about it. On the Samsung TV can't even bring up the YouTube app. I can't even log in, it just boots back to the airplay screen, or last channel I was on. On TCL it will load, but try to load a video, it dies and does the same thing. I tried Direct Cable HDMI connection from windows machine to the TCL plays for a few seconds video stops on the computer, and goes black. Tried hitting the cast from either the app for Youtube, or www.youtube.com and I hit the cast button plays for 2 seconds kicks out on the tv. Doesn't matter which tv or device I used. Following suggestions on here, I tried rolling back the YouTube App on one phone an Android 11, tried to stream same thing. plays for two seconds drops. On the Samsung TV you can't uninstall the app, but you can reinstall it. Works for maybe 15 seconds or worse. Took my loading it 4x to try and link it by code to phone. No difference. I tried turning off ad blockers on chrome browser, and tried on Edge, nope same thing. As far as power energy, on the Android phones on 9, 10, or 11, I couldn't find the power options you were speaking of. 

Here is what I know what works. I can play videos on any of the devices without issue. Quicktime, VLC, Youtube app. on all devices except the tv's.  I can play videos I have on a Plex, and again no problem. I can go off premises, and access my stuff and works no problem. But if I try to cast kapluie..

I have not tried any other apps like YouTube music, or anything. I am not a premium member, but I seen them folks have the same issues as well. If their is a work around, I'd love to hear it. I mean if there is a way to disable YouTube on the tv and stream to another app, that may work. 

I have tried to Airplay. Nope. Tried Chromecast stick. Nope. (Yes I reset it) nope. Tried two different Firesticks. Nope. This has been consuming to much time. When in the past it just worked. 

Thanks guys

Mr.Penguin

[sebaslyt]

Anyone still having this problem? I've been experiencing this annoying bug for at least a year now or more.

Also looks like it has to do whit the screen turning off. Same problem occurs on nest hub, Chromecast 4k and old Chromecast.

[MrPenguin]

Yes! And it is driving my wife and I mad. Now I was wondering if it happening with the new 4k chromecast. You say it does. So I wont waste my money on that on a wim.  So that's good info to know. If there is anyone on this thread that has found a fix please let us know!