The Guest Mode in Chromecast allows any of your Guests to Cast Videos to the bigger screen of your Home Television, without even being connected to your Home WiFi Network. Let us take a look at How to Setup and use Guest Mode on Chromecast.
Guest Mode On Chromecast
Google Chromecast originally required Guests to be connected to your Home WiFi Network, in order to be able to Cast Videos from their mobile device to the bigger screen of your Home TV.
Now Google has made the Chromecast Guest Mode even better and secure by making it possible for anyone in the same room to Cast Photos and Videos to the screen of your Television, without actually being connect to your Home WiFi network.
This way your Guests will be able to share their favourite Videos with everyone in the room, using their mobile phones and without going through the process of logging into your Home WiFi Network.
Note: The Mobile device of your Guest needs to have an active cellular plan or connected to the internet using another WiFi network in order to make use of Guest Mode on your Chromecast device.
How Chromecast Guest Mode Works
When you turn on the Guest Mode on your Chromecast, it emits a special WiFi beacon. This WiFi beacon is then detected by the Guest Mobile Device whenever YouTube or any other Chromecast enabled App is playing on the Guest Mobile Device.
Hence, whenever your Guests launch a Chromecast Enabled App on their Mobile device, the WiFi beacon emitted by your Chromecast is detected by the Guest Mobile device and they see the Cast icon on their Mobile devices.
By Tapping on the Cast icon, your Guests will get to choose a Nearby Device (Your Television) to Cast the Video to.
Once your Chromecast detects a nearby device trying to connect to it, it generates a 4-digit PIN and tries to transfer this PIN to the nearby device using Inaudible Audio Tones.
In case this Audio-Tone pairing fails, your Guest will be required to manually enter the 4-digit PIN as displayed on the screen of your television.
Setup Guest Mode on Chromecast
Follow the steps below to Setup Guest Mode on your Chromecast.
1. Open the Google Home app on your iPhone or Android Phone
2. Next tap on the Devices icon located in the top right corner of your screen (See image below)
3. On the next screen, tap on the 3 dot-menu icon located beside the Name of your Chromecast (See image below)
4. Next, tap on Guest Mode in the drop-down menu that appears (See image below)
5. On the next screen, turn on Guest Mode by moving the toggle to ON position.
Now, you are all set to allow any of your Guests to Cast anything to the big screen of your Home TV using their smart phones.
Use Guest Mode On Chromecast
Using Guest Mode on an iPhone or Android Phone is simple. Ask your Guests to open YouTube (or any Chromecast Enabled App) on their mobile device and then tap on the Cast icon which will make its appearance at the top of the screen.
1. Open YouTube or any other Chromecast Enabled App on an iPhone or Android phone.
2. Next, tap on the Cast icon (See image below)
3. In the popup that appears, tap on the Nearby Device to Cast to.
4. Wait for Chromecast to connect to your device. As mentioned above, Chromecast will first try to use inaudible audio tones to connect to the Guests device. In case the audio pairing fails, your Guest will be required to enter a 4-digit PIN that will appear on the screen of your Television (See image below)
Once you enter the correct pin, your Chromecast will connect to the Guest’s Mobile Phone, allowing them to Cast videos from their iPhone or Android Phone to the screen of your Home Television.
Note: As mentioned above, the Guest Phone needs to have a cellular data plan or be connected to another WiFi network.