Your Chromecast may have just reached the end of the road

If you own and actively use a Chromecast device, we have some bad news for you. Several Chromecast models have suddenly reached end of life and will no longer receive security updates.

It appears that the tech giant has updated the support page for Google Nest devices. Along with a list of Nest hardware, Chromecasts are also included on this page. In this list, the status of almost every Chromecast model is showing as no longer receiving security updates. This includes:

• Chromecast (1st gen)
• Chromecast (2nd Gen)
• Chromecast Audio
• Chromecast Ultra
• Chromecast (3rd Gen)
• Chromecast with Google TV (4K)

The lone exception is the Chromecast with Google TV (HD). This model was released in 2022, which means it was likely protected by Google’s minimum of five years of support. All of the other models are from 2020 and later.

According to 9to5Google, an archived page shows that these models — Chromecast (1st gen) not included — were supported as of March 13. However, a Reddit user points out that the page was changed recently.

To soften the blow of this update, there is at least some good Chromecast-related news. Earlier this week, original Chromecast users were reporting that their devices were failing. But it looks like that problem may have been resolved. Multiple first-generation Chromecast owners are reporting (1, 2) that their dongles are now working normally again.