Last year, Chromecast joined the Google Graveyard as the company ended production of the streaming dongles. The streaming devices themselves are still usable (for now), but this week, thousands of Chromecast second-gen and Chromecast Audio owners discovered that their TV streaming dongles had suddenly stopped working. Thankfully, they haven’t been turned off for good, as Google acknowledged the issue and began working on a fix.
Anyone who tried to connect their phone to the 10-year-old Chromecast models this week saw an error message indicating that it was an untrusted device or couldn’t be authenticated. While some users suspected that Google was quietly bricking the aging dongles, it turns out that it’s actually a technical problem involving the firmware.
As explained by a Reddit user in a busy thread (via Ars Technica), Google built a certificate into the 2015 Chromecast models that expired on March 9, 2025. That just so happens to be exactly when all of these Chromecast users started running into trouble.
In a post on the Google Nest Community forums, Google confirmed finding “an emerging issue impacting Chromecast 2nd gen and Chromecast Audio devices” and said that a fix is coming. In the meantime, the company tells users not to factory reset their devices.
“Do not factory reset your device – we will keep you all updated when the fix rolls out,” warns Google in a message. “If you have already factory reset your device, we will provide instructions to set your device back up as soon as possible.”
Whether Google will continue to support these older streaming media players for the long haul remains to be seen, but at the very least, the company is committed to solving this problem. Be sure to check the Google Nest Community thread for updates.
