Android TV can now play audio in background
2 min read
image credit xda developer
Android TV is a superb OS for smart TVs and set-top boxes. It’s supported Android (although Google might be rebranding the name, therefore, the average user won’t know that) and has access to a special catalog of apps optimized for TVs in Google Play. one of the simplest features of the platform, though, is integrated support for the Google Cast protocol. All Android TV certified devices can act as a Chromecast receiver because of the pre-installed “Chromecast Built-in” app. If you’ve ever owned a Chromecast device, you’ll skills convenient this feature is. Now, Android TV’s built-in Cast functionality is getting a replacement feature: Playing casted audio content within the background.
If you don’t have an Android TV immediately, this news may come as a touch of a shock. After all, why would Android TV not allow you to play casted audio within the background? you’ve got to stay in mind that we’re talking about TVs and set-top boxes connected to TVs, and intrinsically, you’re probably not doing tons of multitasking on them. But if you would like to try to to it, now you’ll. All you’ve got to try to is open an app like Spotify or YouTube Music then cast from your phone to your TV. (We should note that you simply can already play music within the background in some apps like Spotify for Android TV, but this new feature extends this functionality to other music apps you would possibly use.

9to5Google’s original coverage notes that backgrounding cast audio works with most music apps. It doesn’t work with casted video, though, as video content will cease once you press the house button. The notification itself provides you with basic controls: It shows the album art, the artist’s name, and in fact, the song title. you furthermore may get a few buttons: “Open” to travel back to the app that’s playing it and “Stop” to cease casting. If music is already playing from one app and you begin media in another app, music playback will either continue or halt counting on the app. 9to5Google notes that Google Play Movies and Disney+ keep music playing while Hulu won’t.
It’s not clear when this functionality went live. it’s going to have gone live at an equivalent time that Android TV devices might be added to speaker groups within the Google Home app, which was enabled during a recent beta update to the Chromecast Built-in app.
source: XDA developer