If you own a Chromecast and are looking to stream your content, you’re probably not streaming this week. But don’t worry: Google is trying to fix it.
You may not be able to buy a Chromecast anymore, but that hasn’t stopped the owners of one of Google’s most successful gadgets from streaming with their hardware over the past decade or so.
Even though the latest Chromecast-of-sorts isn’t really one — the Google TV Streamer isn’t quite a Chromecast — and Google has stopped selling anything called a “Chromecast”, owners of these gadgets haven’t been able to make them work this week. That’s because of a bit of a server failure, as a Google-owned security certificate had expired this week, causing Chromecasts everywhere to stop working.
The bad news is it means anyone attempting to use a Chromecast right now won’t be able to, at least until Google fixes things. Attempting to stream requires this certificate connection, because all secured services require a security certificate, and the Chromecast needs access to its own certificate.
The good news is that a fix is coming, but you might need to sit tight and just wait. You probably shouldn’t reset your device, at least based on advice from Google on the matter.
While Google does have its fair share of bugs on other devices — such as how the Nest Hub devices don’t serve recipes the way they once did — it’s unlikely this is Google forcibly retiring the Chromecast, but just a mistake that went by unnoticed, at least initially.
We expect by the end of the week that Google’s Chromecast will be back up and running, likely in time for any Friday night streaming you had planned for.
