Google is ending support for the original 2013 Chromecast

Google has stopped supporting the first Chromecast, according to various company support pages. This means that this Chromecast will no longer receive updates. The Chromecast came onto the market in 2013.

The first Google Chromecast

Google has various support pages updated stating that support for the first Chromecast has ended, noted 9to5Google. This means that the dongle will no longer receive updates and Google will also no longer provide technical support for the device. Google also says users “may notice a performance degradation.” The Chromecast will continue to work, even now that it has been declared end-of-life.

Google already gave the device reduced support. The device received its latest and final firmware update in November last year. That in turn was the first update in three years. Google has now formally ended support for its first Chromecast, ten years after the release of that device.

The first generation Chromecast was announced in July 2013. It was a small dongle with an integrated HDMI connection. The device was powered with a micro-USB connection on the back. The Chromecast had 512MB of memory and 2GB of storage. The device did not have a full-fledged OS, but could instead play content from a connected smartphone. The Chromecast was succeeded two years later by a ‘puck-shaped’ second-generation Chromecast, followed by a Chromecast Ultra with 4k support in 2016. A third-generation Chromecast appeared in 2018. Models released later switched to a standalone OS in the form of Google TV.