As a parent, there are some major issues with the parental controls within Chromecast.
I absolutely love paging through recommended viewing on the homescreen. (Discovering new content is one of the main things I love about the Chromecast.) But a few things that should be addressed:
The banner ads are ridiculous- I don't want my family's living room to have a billboard in it when the TV is in its resting state, especially with no control over what those ads are peddling. (I know you can delete the ad profile in Settings, but non-targeted ads would almost be worse?)
More than that, I want to be able to toggle off the seasonal / topical banners. For example, every pride month there are LGBT recommendations- no problem with the topic, and this is not a complaint about the queer community. But a lot of the Pride Month content is sexually explicit in nature, and I've got little kids who like to press buttons on the remote. Last June, my Chromecast kept putting "Blue is the Warmest Color" as the top recommendation in the Pride Month banner ad. Seriously? An NC-17 movie in the recs?
And lastly I hate that the parental controls are so weak. I don't want my kids installing new apps, but I don't want to downgrade my whole Chromecast to a kids account.
I'm a long-time Chromecast stan, but now that my Chromecast is slowing down I'm planning to purchase an Apple TV 4K or another brand, because the ads and the banner stuff that can't be toggled off is getting ridiculous. I know I can turn on "apps-only" 'mode, but I like the general watching recs. And it seems that with another brand I could have it both ways.
If anyone is listening, I have probably about 15 or so Chromecasts in regular use (throughout my home, small biz office, and some vacation rentals). Things that would keep me as a customer:
1. Toggle to turn off ads OR ability to bring back watch recommendations in app-only mode.
2. Better parental controls. Perhaps a PIN for content over a certain maturity rating, a PIN to block installation of new apps, etc.
3. Toggle to disable seasonal / themed banners.
