This Sunday saw many users taking to the r/googlehome subreddit to complain that their 2nd generation Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices weren't working.
The issue, which has been encountered by redditors across the world, states that the Chromecast cannot be authenticated when trying to connect.
It's also been made clear that the issue isn't Google TV, but with the actual device. Affected users are instructed to head to support.google.com/chromecast for help troubleshooting the issue.
However, the support page likely won't be much help as users have reportedly attempted the more common suggested fixes with no success.
These include restarting the device, factory resetting it, reinstalling the Google Home app, clearing cache/data and trying different networks.
Troubling Chromecast error messages
There doesn't appear to be only one issue appearing either, as 9to5 Google has reported getting a variant of the fault message. In its report it shows a screenshot of an error that reads: “Untrusted device: [name] couldn’t be verified. This could be caused by outdated device firmware.”
So far Google hasn't commented on what caused the fault. However, it seems to only affect older devices, with the newer Chromecast 3rd Gen and Chromecast Ultra working as intended.
This has led to a certain amount of speculation that Google is trying to quietly drop support for the older models.
However, it's worth noting that Google hasn't made any support deprecation announcements, something that the company did when it ended support for the original Google Chromecast.
Not only that, the original device still works at time of writing, even with no software support, something that isn't the case for models affected by the current fault.
The current consensus is that this is more likely an issue with the verification firmware. In that case, it will require a server-side fix. That unfortunately means that there's little users can do at this point other than wait.
We'll keep our eyes peeled for any word from Google about a possible solution in the works. However, if this event has made you decide to change/upgrade device then we have a breakdown of the best streaming devices in 2025 to help you pick.
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
