Chromebooks Are Getting Volume Controls for Chromecast

Chromecast is getting an upgrade- volume controls!

Yup, that’s right.

If you use Chromecast or Chromecast Audio, you’ll be getting a volume control panel on your Chromebook.

If you’ve used Chromecast or Chromecast Audio on Android, you may be wondering why your Chromebook doesn’t have the same feature. (That’s right, Chromebooks don’t have volume controls like Android does.)

But now, the playing field is leveled.

Chromecast volume controls…

When you cast a video or music track from your Android smartphone or tablet, you get volume controls in the system settings. When you pull down the notifications bar, you get a slider all by itself to control your video or music’s output along with your notifications, alarms, and other goodies.

But on a Chromebook, you don’t get this slider. If you cast from one, all you’ll is…nothing. You don’t get any additional controls for your…castables.

You can’t really change the volume of many apps on your phone when casting, so that’s why there’s a dedicated volume slider built-in.

Now, Chromebook owners will get the same thing.

If you try casting something like YouTube onto your TV, the only way to control the volume is to change the volume of the video itself using the slider in the video.

This works, but it’s kind of primitive compared to Android devices.

…now on Chromebooks

But what if you’re trying to play some music from Google Play? How do you change the volume?

You can’t.

A new commit in the Chrome repo was discovered by the awesome folks (Robby and Gabriel) over at Chrome Unboxed, which basically stated that you’ll be able to control Chromecast volume on a Chromebook. Props for finding it!

You’d have thought that this would be something implemented from the start. But the additional Android apps on Chromebooks is still relatively new. Only the newest models (2017) have the Play Store installed by default. Others still need to wait for the update to roll out to their specific model.

(Wondering when you’ll get the update? Check here.)

With the volume control coming, users will now be able to simply use a slider or some other means to control volume on their Chromecast using a Chromebook. Better late than never.

I’ll post another article when it rolls out. Sit tight for updates.

• About the Author

About Andy Z.

Andy is a casual-hardcore Chrome OS fan and contributes to the site regularly. He likes computers, tech, sports cars, videogames, and of course, Chromebooks. Thinker. Introvert. Geek. You can find him on Twitter (@platytech), or send him an email (check the "Contact Us" page).