Apple’s ecosystem is famously pretty locked down, however issues have improved so much over the previous few years. With the upcoming launch of iOS 16, Apple seems to be working in direction of higher help for Chromecast and different casting requirements in apps.
Apple makes it doable for Chromecast to get AirPlay-like remedy
In iOS 16, Apple is opening up the door for casting protocols comparable to Google Solid (Chromecast) to be higher supported within the system. Because it stands at this time, Chromecast is supported on iOS, however solely in choose apps, and often with an interface that isn’t native to the OS. Within the YouTube Music app on iOS, for instance, the Chromecast button within the app serves for each Chromecast targets and AirPlay targets.
However that will change in iOS 16, as Apple is introducing the “DeviceDiscoveryExtension,” a brand new instrument for apps to leverage native menus, comparable to those used for AirPlay. Apple explains:
Use DeviceDiscoveryExtension (DDE) to find third-party media receivers to which your app can stream AV content material.
As a result of DDE runs in a system sandbox, the extension doesn’t must ask the person for local-network or Bluetooth permissions. The picker view shows found third-party gadgets and protocols in the identical system menu as AirPlay, which gives a unified device-selection expertise.
By our learn, this ought to enable Chromecast to have higher, extra native integration with iOS beginning with iOS 16. To be clear, Chromecast wouldn’t change into a native a part of iOS. Relatively apps that help Chromecast would see casting targets in native menus, comparable to those that AirPlay makes use of.
This may not solely present a greater expertise for these wanting to make use of AirPlay in apps that have already got Chromecast, however has the potential to make it simpler for Chromecast to be supported in additional apps. Different firms with casting choices, comparable to Spotify or Sonos, may additionally doubtlessly undertake this. As results of this transformation could be a single button in apps for casting, fairly than having two or three, and even menus inside menus.
In the interim, we’ll have to attend and see precisely how that is applied in iOS 16. It’s our understanding that present apps might want to faucet into a brand new API, which Google must make accessible. It’ll be a number of months till we see how issues work out.
Max Weinbach contributed to this text.
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