If you’re the kind of traveler who checks into a hotel, tosses your bag on the bed, and immediately plans to unwind with an episode (or six) of Stranger Things or Dark Winds, Netflix has some bad news for you. Relaxing in front of the TV away from home just became… annoyingly complicated.
Travelers have recently noticed that Netflix quietly removed the Cast button from its mobile app. So you can no longer fling your show from your phone to the TV like a civilized human being. Instead, Netflix would now very much like you to grab the hotel remote, squint at the screen, and manually sign in to your account, like it’s 2012.
Netflix confirmed the change on its help page, stating that it no longer supports casting shows from a mobile device to most TVs and TV-streaming devices.
Translation: if the TV has a remote, you’re using it. Period.
So yeah—whether you’re in a hotel, an Airbnb, or your cousin’s guest room, you’ll now need to log into Netflix directly on the TV to watch anything.
The company does offer single sign-on using a TV code, which is slightly less painful than typing your 18-character password with a directional pad—but still wildly less convenient than casting.
Not just convenience
For a lot of travelers, casting wasn’t just convenient—it felt safer. Logging into your personal Netflix account on a random hotel TV has always felt a little… sketchy. Netflix insists that hotels automatically sign guests out at checkout, and reminds users they can manually remove devices from their account afterward. Which is reassuring, sure—but also something many people won’t remember to do after a red-eye.
Unsurprisingly, the change has not gone over well.
In a Reddit thread, one user said they filed a complaint, hoping Netflix would reverse course.
“I’m annoyed, as chromecasting is the main way that I watch streaming,” wrote user techie1980. “It gives me all of the control to use my phone as a remote control and searching for stuff is so much easier. And I’m not sure WHY the change was made.”
Netflix says there are reasons, of course. Casting apparently caused glitches, logging in directly unlocks all features, and—surprise, surprise—it also helps close loopholes around password sharing. Funny how that keeps coming up.
Not 100% dead
Casting isn’t entirely dead, though. It’ll still work on devices that don’t have a physical remote, including older Chromecast models, Google Nest Hub displays, and select cast-enabled TVs. That said, some users report it still doesn’t work—even on devices Netflix claims are supported.
One Reddit user summed it up nicely after contacting customer support:
“I told them I did not have a remote for my gen 3 Chromecast. And they said that was too bad and I should go buy a different device.”
Nice. Very helpful.
Oh—and just in case you were hoping to avoid all this with Netflix’s cheaper ad-supported plan: casting isn’t available there at all. Standard Netflix plans currently start at $17.99, in case you wanted to pay more and do more work.
Happy streaming! 🍿
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2 comments
Netflix quality has been awful for years.
Get a Google TV device and plug it into the TV. Gives you all your content services.
Plus use Kanopy with access from your local public library for some really good content. It is free.
“Netflix insists that hotels automatically sign guests out at checkout”
Are there any companies in equally unrelated industries who can confirm this?