Chromecast from iPhone to Android TV (say in hotels)

I booked into a mid-upper star rated hotel, the first such trip post Covid, and WiFi’s seem to have a new standard. The standard for Hotel Smart TVs is to have a Chromecast dongle connected to the TV HDMI port, and other TV Setting functions are disabled. Familiar features like Apple Screen Sharing are not available.

You sign on to the Hotel WiFi (which is straight forward, and may even be via a QR code), and the subsequent instructions include wording like, “… you can easily stream your favourite Apps from your mobile device to the TV”

These words and the other instructions appear to have been crafted by a non-Apple user, and the process from iPhones and MacBooks is a bit more complicated and possibly more restricted.

Firstly, from an iPhone, you can only “Cast” from apps that have a strong Google association, for example, on holidays you might like to review your photos on the big screen TV? You can, but only via Google Photos, so you need to have a Google ID and the Google Photo’s app installed on your iPhone, and “allow” Google Photos to access your iPhone Photos library, which many Apple users may find intrusive.

In general, you can share content from your iPhone via any app which has the Chromecast icon displayed. Apps which come to mind include Google Photos; YouTube, Netflix, and some TV Streaming services, which in Australia include 7+ and ABC iView.

From your MacBook, similar restrictions apply, but firstly you need to use Google Chrome as your browser. In most cases the Apple action icon will be displayed in the Chrome toolbar, but when you tap on this icon a sub menu appears which will include the Chromecast icon

I trust that this will help those travelling with iOS devices