Chromecast users are getting increasingly angry about a weird 'untrusted device' bug that blocks casting – but a fix is coming

The 2nd-gen Chromecast was launched in 2015 (Image credit: Future)

A serious bug has hit some older Chromecast devices
2nd-gen Chromecasts and Chromecast Audio dongles are affected
Google says it's now working on a fix for the problem

A strange bug has hit 2nd-gen Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices, preventing these devices from casting normally – and users are getting increasingly angry as they wait for a fix to roll out to affected gadgets.

As reported by 9to5Google and Android Authority, the bug surfaced over the last few days, throwing up a couple of error messages. All users are able to do is dismiss these messages and nothing else, meaning the devices are virtually unusable.

One error message reads: "Untrusted device: [name] couldn't be verified. This could be caused by outdated device firmware." The other one says: "We couldn't authenticate your Chromecast." There are links to Chromecast support, but there's nothing on those support pages to help with this specific issue.

Wait it out

Chromecast not working. from r/googlehome

Considering that newer 3rd-gen Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra models haven't been affected so far, there had been some speculation that Google was quietly retiring older devices without any warning for the people using them.

However, that doesn't seem to be the case. Some investigation into the issues on Reddit pointed the blame at a server-side problem (so out of the control of users), and specifically a security certificate that hadn't been properly renewed.

The good news is that an official Google account on Reddit has posted to say that Google is aware of the issue, and that engineers are working on a fix. In the meantime, the advice is to just wait it out, and not to factory reset devices – which is the logical first step to try when something like this happens.

If you have already done a full reset on your Chromecast, Google says it will give you recovery instructions in due course. In the meantime, we'll be keeping our eyes and ears open for the promised fix.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.