Chromecasts are generally pretty reliable. Whilst older generations were plagued with issues, they’ve become better and better as time has gone on. For the most part, you shouldn’t have to worry about a Chromecast disconnecting from your phone or laptop.
Though the truth is that this can still happen, and it can be really, really annoying. It may happen after 5 or 10 minutes every time that you try to use it. Or, it may just happen randomly in intermittent spells. Either way, there’s usually a few steps that you can take to ensure your Chromecast stays connected.
What to do when your Chromecast keeps disconnecting
The two main things to try when you’re having this issue are usually related to your Wi-fi, your device settings, and potentially the Chromecast itself. So first we’ll look at a simple restart for the device, and then look a bit deeper at some of the internet connection problems that you may be facing.
Of course, it goes without saying that your Chromecast should be within range of your home wi-fi router. If it’s too far away or there’s any objects between them that could be causing interference, this may cause it to disconnect.
Restart your Chromecast
A simple way that you may be able to get your Chromecast working again is to restart the device. All this entails is taking it out for a few seconds and then plugging it back in again. There’s no way to turn your Chromecast off.
This is always the first thing to try with pretty much any streaming device. It could have just been an issue with the start-up of the Chromecast, and restarting the device should be a quick fix.
Factory Reset
If you want to take things a step further, then you can factory reset your Chromecast back to its default settings. If you’ve just got it, then this is a good idea.
You can do this bu holding down the button on the side of the device. This will take longer on older generations of Chromecast, and it can take up to 30 seconds for it to reset.
Alternatively, you can do it within the Home app on your iPhone or Android. All you need to do is go to System, then About, and then finally onto Factory Reset. When it works, the light on your Chromecast should start flashing.
I’d probably opt to do this as a last choice. So, run through the rest of the advice below to see if you can fix the issue. And if not, then a factory reset is in order.
Check your settings
The setting on your phone can also play a part in how smoothly your Chromecast runs. We can change these too to make sure that they’re not an issue.
Disable Battery optimizations
Okay, the next thing that we’ll want to double check are the settings in your phone when it comes to battery optimization. There’s a chance that your phone thinks that when you’re casting, your phone.
You can turn this off on your phone by going to Settings, then Battery, and then into Battery Optimization (this is how to do it for Android, it may be different for other operating systems). You should be able to see all of the apps that you’re currently using on your phone.
Make sure that it’s turned off for your Home app as well as any of the other apps you may be using whilst you’re casting. This means Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ and whatever you’re actually casting onto your television.
This will then stop your device from trying to optimize your phone’s battery. It’s the first thing to try if you’re having connection problems, and for many people, it works.
Enable Background activity
Another thing that you may want to check on your phone is whether you’re allowing apps to run in the background. If this isn’t enabled within your settings on some devices, then it may cause them to stop running, leading to your Chromecast disconnecting.
In most models though, this kind of goes hand in hand with battery optimizations. So if you disable, optimizations, it should therefore enable background activity. But there is the chance with some older operating systems that you may not have the option to do both.
Ensure your wi-fi is set up properly
Probably the most common cause of a Chromecast that keeps disconnecting is down to your home wi-fi. It may not actually be a problem with the wi-fi itself, but just that your Chromecast cannot connect to it properly.
You can tell if it’s an issue with the wi-fi connection by using an alternative internet source with your Chromecast temporarily. Setting up a hotspot on your phone and using that is a great way to know whether the problem’s with your internet, or with the Chromecast itself.
Check your bands
When it comes to wi-fi, most of us have a router that can deliver two different bands or frequency ranges – 2.4 and 5.0 GHz.
There are a lot of benefits to the 5.0 GHz band, as it tends to deliver a faster connection to our devices. But on the downside, it’s less reliable and can struggle to penetrate walls. For this reason you should ensure that all of your smart home devices are connected to the 2.4 GHz band.
Most people in the UK likely have a router or router/modem combo provided by their internet provider. They are usually dual band, and it should assign your devices to each different band appropriately.
But, it can be worth checking in your router settings to see if your Chromecast is connecting to the 5.0 GHz band, as this could be causing an issue. You can also try splitting the two bands out and renaming them if you can’t find a way at get your Chromecast on the 2.4 GHz band.
Edit your QoS settings
Your QoS, or Quality of Service, settings can help us ensure that your Chromecast is getting enough of your wi-fi bandwidth.
You can usually do this within the settings of your home router. You just need to visit the IP address of your home network in your URL browser to access the settings in most cases.
This might not apply if you have a Virgin Media hub or similar, as there’s no way to actually edit these router/modems. Other routers like Netgear models will give you the ability to change them. And if you can, it can ensure that your Chromecast is prioritized over the other devices in your home.
Make sure they’re on the same network
Something else you’ll want to ensure is that your Chromecast device and the phone or laptop you’re using with it are on the same network. Making sure they’re on the same wifi network can help to make sure that there’s no problems with your Google Home app when it connects up.
Often, people will try to connect to their Chromecast when they’re using the data on their phone. Whilst this may work, it isn’t reliable, and having both devices on the same network will ensure there’s no disconnection issues.
Conclusion
Whilst it can definitely be frustrating when your Chromecast disconnects from your phone or Wi-fi, there’s usually something you can do quickly to fix the problem.
This is usually easily done within the settings of your phone, as it’s likely that there’s something that’s stopping it from working with the streaming devices. Running through the above should help you work out exactly what the issue may be, and what you can do to get it to connect.
