Google is expanding Fast Pair, casting to more devices

By Phil Nickinson January 9, 2024

Google Fast Pair. — Google

CES 2024

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One of the most underrated features of any platform is the ability to quickly (and easily) pair headphones and earbuds to whatever device you want. And to that end, Google announced a couple of improvements on that front at CES 2024.

First up is Fast Pair, which makes it simple to pair accessories like the Pixel Buds Pro to devices like an Android phone or Chromebook. Over the next month or so, Fast Pair support is expanding to Chromecast With Google TV. And it’ll expand even further later in the year to additional Google TV devices.

It works thusly: You put your accessory into pairing mode, and then just perform a quick tap to connect to anything that’s supported — headphones, speakers, whatever. And when you want to go back to just your phone, it’s just as easy to unpair the devices again.

Casting — the protocol born from the Chromecast era — also is getting a boost. Starting today, you’ll be able to cast TikTok content from your phone to any device that has Chromecast built in. And Google says that’s just the start, as you’ll eventually be able to cast live videos from TikTok.

Google also says it’s expanding the reach of Chromecast in 2024. The new LG series of televisions — which we’ve taken a pretty good look at already — will have Chromecast support, of course. But it’s also going to hit LG Hospitality and Healthcare, which should mean hotels and hospitals (and everything in-between).

Still need more Chromecast love? Google says that later this year you’ll be able to move what you’re playing on Spotify or YouTube Music from your phone to a docked Pixel Tablet. So that’s nice.

Look for it all in the coming weeks and months.

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