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YouTube’s Android app now steams video to Google TV from Android device

A new YouTube Android app update pairs Android devices and Google TV on the same Wi-Fi network and allows folks to stream videos from their mobile devices to the television.

“Just find a video on your YouTube app for Android — like the latest video from GoPro or H+ The Digital Series — click the TV icon that appears, and the video will play instantly on your Google TV,” wrote YouTube Product Manager Timbo Drayson on the official YouTube Blog, while further explaining the new feature is an idea Google toyed with for over two years.

Android users who update their YouTube app today, as it rolls out, will now see a new button that enables them to play videos from their devices to the television with just a tap. The new feature essentially streamlines the process of pairing the YouTube app with Google TV.

As the video streams, users can control actions, such as pause, scroll, or skip, with their mobile device, as if it were a remote control, and they can even connect multiple devices to create a playlist. Moreover, since the devices are cloud-connected, as Drayson noted, they can do things like “find the next video to watch from your tablet or browse around the web on your phone, all while the video plays on TV.”

The feature is akin to Apple’s AirPlay that allows videos to stream to an Apple TV from an iOS device, but Google’s offering is more of a remote control capability rather than push as it just dictates which YouTube videos to play.

Get more details at the YouTube blog.

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