Chromecast Outage Resolved: New Firmware Update Fixes 'Untrusted' Issue for Second-Gen and Audio Devices

Chromecast (2nd Gen) and Audio Devices Unusable Due to 'Untrusted' Outage

Over the past few days, owners of Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio have been unable to cast any audio or video content due to an ‘untrusted device’ error. The issue affects all users of these two models, preventing them from proceeding after selecting their devices as Cast targets in apps like YouTube.

Updates and Fixes:

• 3/19: Google Home version 3.30.x has rolled out on iOS and Android, which is required to set up Chromecasts that have been factory reset.
• 3/14: Firmware updates (version 1.56.467165 for Chromecast 2nd gen and 1.56.467166 for Chromecast Audio) are rolling out globally. Unplugging and plugging back in the device can force the update.
• 3/12: Google sent an email directly to affected users, apologizing and stating that a fix is being worked on and will be rolled out as soon as possible.
• 3/11: Google identified the cause of the issue and advised against factory resetting the devices. For those who have already reset their devices, the team is working on a fix.
• 3/10: Google acknowledged the issue and stated they are working on a solution.
• 3/9: The initial report surfaced with users seeing the 'untrusted device' message in apps, with no workaround available.

Impact:

• Firmware and Models: The Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio run on 1.56.x firmware. Newer models like the Chromecast (3rd gen) and Ultra are unaffected.
• User Reactions: Some users suspect that Google is phasing out these devices, but no official end-of-life announcements have been made for them.

Next Steps:

Google is expected to roll out a server-side fix soon, as the issue is more likely a bug rather than an intentional deprecation of support.