Chromecast's New Network-Wide Notifications

How to Remove Chromecast’s New Network-Wide Android Notifications

In an effort to unify all devices on the same network, Google recently added a new feature to the Google Home app (formerly called “Chromecast”). Now, if someone is playing something on a Chromecast in your home, it’ll show a notification on all the Android devices on your network. That means if your daughter is watching My Little Pony all day, you’ll have to deal with notifications letting you know.

This can be useful, but it can also be really annoying. After all, this notification allows them to not only pause and mute the stream, but also close it altogether. Allowing other people to have control of my stream is annoying in the first place, but it can get even more annoying if they don’t understand what this notification is—a simple tap of the “X” to make it go away seems harmless, but it effectively kills someone else’s stream. Annoying.



Fortunately, there’s a way to turn this off. The downside, however, is that it has to be done on each Android phone or tablet—not the cast device itself. That means you’ll have to hijack everyone’s device at some point, ensuring all of your casts are your casts.

There are two ways to get rid of this notification: from the notification itself, or from the Settings menu. We’ll cover both, starting with the former.

How to Disable the Cast Notification from the Notification Shade

With an active cast going, pull down the notification shade to expose the “Casting to…” entry.



By default, there are three entries here: pause, mute, and close. But if you pull down on the notification with two fingers (or tap the header entry, which shows what service is being casted), a new option will appear: a settings cog. Click that little guy.



This menu is simple, and only has one option: Show remote control notifications. Toggle it off.



Poof. Like magic, the cast entry will disappear, never to be seen again (unless you want it to, of course).

How to Disable the Cast Notification from Settings

But what if you just want to turn the notification off without having an active cast? Fortunately, there’s a simple way to do this, too—but it’s not where you’d think it should be.

Instead of being in the Google Home app, the core setting is actually found in Android’s Settings menu. Go ahead and pull down the notification shade and tap the cog icon.



From here, scroll down to the Personal section and find the “Google” entry. Tap it.



In this menu, look for the “Google Cast” option, then tap it.



Again, this is the toggle you’re looking for—slide it to disable the cast notification.



If you ever want this feature back, this is where you’ll re-activate it.