Google begs owners of crippled Chromecasts not to hit factory reset

Updated Google's second-generation Chromecast and its Chromecast Audio are suffering a major ongoing outage, with devices failing to cast due to an expired security certificate authority. The web giant is aware of the breakdown and says a fix is in the works.

On Sunday, many users of these gadgets encountered an "untrusted device" error, preventing them from casting content to TVs and other displays. Tech-savvy netizens traced the issue to an expired Google-owned intermediate certificate authority, which lapsed on March 9, 2025, at 1644 UTC after 10 years of validity.

Models relying on this expired certificate authority no longer work as expected with official Google apps, at least; the widgets can't authenticate themselves as legit Chromecast products, leading to that brick-wall of an untrusted error message. Unofficial apps, such as VLC, will continue to work, provided they ignore the certificate expiry.

"We're aware of an emerging issue impacting Chromecast 2nd gen and Chromecast Audio devices, and we are working on a fix," Google told The Register on Monday.

In an update on the Google Nest community site, where Chromecast support seems to live these days, the internet titan added, "Do not factory reset your device - we will keep you all updated when the fix rolls out. If you have already factory reset your device, we will provide instructions to set your device back up as soon as possible."

This came nearly a day into the outage and no further details have emerged. We've asked the Chocolate Factory for more information and will update you as we learn more. A factory reset won't fix the issue, basically, as it's a certificate issue baked into the devices.

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For those who have already tried a factory reset, and even for those who haven't, there's still hope for getting your gear functional again. Polish security researcher Maciej Mensfeld shared a guide for users on how to remedy this.

His workaround involves setting your phone's date to before March 9, 2025, and then attempting to reauthorize the Chromecast. However, this method doesn't work for everyone and may require multiple attempts. Additionally, streaming services such as Spotify might still face issues after applying this fix.

The Chocolate Factory discontinued the Chromecast product line last year, replacing it with the Google TV Streamer, and quietly winding down support and updates for the line from 2023. Many users still rely on these devices, as evidenced by ongoing online discussions. While some speculate that issues like the recent certificate authority expiration are deliberate attempts by Google to encourage upgrades, there is no evidence to support such claims.

It's not the first time this kind of thing has happened to tech firms and it won't be the last. Microsoft had problems in this area in 2023 when an expired security certificate rendered cameras on Surface Pro X devices unusable. The same year, Cisco found itself in the firing line after an expired certificate caused outages in its SD-WAN appliances. And in 2021, Let's Encrypt let a root certificate lapse, disrupting major websites and services for devices that hadn't been updated. ®

Updated to add on March 13

Good news: Google says it's ready to gradually roll out an update for Chromecasts to get them working again as usual.