Google Chromecast App Now Available Outside of US

By Katherine McClosky :: 6:03 PM

Google’s popular Chromecast video streaming dongle is not yet available outside the United States, but reports are surfacing that the Chromecast app is now available in the Google Play store and on Apple’s App Store. iPhone and Android users in the U.K. and other European countries, as well as Australia, are seeing the app available in their device marketplaces.

Now, the Chromecast app won’t do much for you without the accompanying device, but this might signal that Google is getting ready to allow the sale of the gadget outside of the U.S. for the first time.

Chromecast hooks up to your HD television by plugging in to an HDMI port, and then synchs with your local wireless network. You can use the Chromecast app on your tablet or smartphone to control the Chromecast device and send content to it from supported applications. Right now, the only apps that are supported on the iPhone and iOS devices are YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix, and on Android devices, those three are supported, plus the Google Play Music and Movies apps.

In addition to apps, computers running the Chrome operating system can download an extension that will allow users to send a tab from the browser to appear on the television.

At this time, it is not possible to send content from your computer to Chromecast, such as a DVD or downloaded movie.

The following companies or apps are said to be developing versions that will work with the Chromecast device:

AOL On, Bitcasa, Blip, BubbleUPnP, Devour, HBO Go, Pandora Radio, PlayOn, Plex, Pocket Casts, PostTV, Qello, Redbox Instant, Revision3, Simple.TV, Songza, Tonido Home Cloud, Twitch.tv, VEVO, Vimeo, Zattoo.