Google Chromecast is an excellent way to stream your favorite video from your mobile device to any Chromecast-enabled TV. When you are not using Chromecast for streaming, it displays a slideshow of images from the internet. But if you want this downtime to showcase your personal pictures, it can. You can do that by changing the background pictures of Chromecast. Follow along with our tutorial to learn how.
How to Edit the Chromecast Background
Chromecast technology is embedded into several televisions and monitors. Stream your favorite shows, movies, music, sports, games, and more on the big screen with your mobile device. The most crucial thing to understand about casting is that it isn’t just about transferring material from your phone to your Chromecast. Essentially, all you’re doing is pointing your phone towards the source to inform the Chromecast device what media to play. Chromecast then utilizes its connection to obtain the stream in the highest possible quality.
How Do I Include Images in My Chromecast Background?
When you aren’t streaming anything, Ambient Mode on Chromecast shows a slide of highlighted pictures from Google. The Ambient Mode backdrop pictures fall into numerous genres, including nature, landscapes, and art. This function serves as a screensaver because no image remains on display for an extended period of time.
If you don’t like the default background pictures displayed by your Chromecast, the Google Home app you used to configure the Chromecast. You may choose:
- specific categories of Google’s highlighted photographs;
- a slow internet option for when you wouldn’t want your Chromecast to download huge photos;
- to have your Chromecast show any images.
Here are the alternatives available to you:
Google Images: These are images you have on your smartphone or share with Google. You can examine photo highlights or pictures of certain people.
Experimental: This option is updated regularly and allows you to select alternative sources and materials, such as a slow internet mode.
Art Gallery: This option automatically handpicks photographs from various categories, but you may opt to see particular images, such as fine art, if you want.
How to Make Chromecast Display Your Pictures
Chromecast will display your photographs during Ambient Mode if you pick the Recent Highlights or Family & Friends settings. However, there is no method to make it display specific images. However, you may limit which photographs are shown by only allowing live albums in the Ambient Mode settings in the Google Home app.
If you want to show a specific image, you must cast images from your computer or smartphone to your Chromecast. To do so, open a picture on the Google Photos site on your PC or the Google Photos app on your smartphone and click or press the Cast logo. The chosen photo will then be displayed on the screen.
If you wish to show your own images, you need to configure how Google handles portrait photo settings. You can prohibit portrait photographs from being displayed, which appear a little strange on a TV with blurry lines. Or you can allow Google to pair portrait photos together. This does a better job of filling up the whole frame of the TV.
- Launch the Google Home app on your smartphone.
- Find and choose the Chromecast from the list of connected devices.
- Select the “Personalize Ambient” option.
- Tap “Google Photos.”
- Select “Recent highlights” to use a selection of your most outstanding photographs.
Family and Friends photos:
- Tap “Family & friends” to use photographs of someone special.
- Select the individuals you wish to include in your presentation by tapping their pictures.
- Tap the “Confirm” button.
Google-curated photos:
During Ambient Mode, your Chromecast will not display images of your chosen family and friends.
- Tap the back arrow to choose from Google-curated photos.
- Select the “Art Gallery” option. Scroll through the choices and choose the ones you wish to remove.
- When you’re finished with your selections, click the back arrow.
Ambient Mode will now show the photos you chose as the background for your Chromecast. Swipe up to scroll down to alter more Ambient Mode options.
Additional Settings:
To conceal private information in Ambient Mode, tap the “Hide under Personal Photo Data” option.
To use just your live albums, choose “Live Albums Only.”‘
To alter the speed of your slideshow, tap a display time.
Have Fun While Editing
Google Chromecast is a software and hardware solution that enables content transmission from one device to another. If changing your background for family and friends photos or personal photos is your target, you can quickly do that. With our tutorials, you will learn every step you need to take to display a slideshow of your favorite pictures.
How do you manage your Chromecast background? Let us know in the comment section below!
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