Is it possible to make a Chromecast device discoverable to devices that are not whitelisted?

Question

For example, if I have a friend over and he wants to show me a video using a given app that runs both on my device and his device. Could that app display a QR code on the screen or something that he could scan and instantly be granted access to my Chromecast device?

Answer 1

Based on your questions, you are saying that both you and your friend have the same app. If so, and if your friend connects to your wifi network, then he will see your chromecast (you do not whitelist a device for a phone, you whitelist a device for an app id and as long as your friend has the same app (hence the same app id I resume), your whitelisted device will be discoverable by his phone. On the other hand, if you do not want to give him credentials to get on your network, then you need a cloud backend and a lot of work, since although your chromecast device can send a message to cloud and your cloud service can notify the other user's phone (using, say notification or some other mechanism that you employ in your app), the reverse (i.e. sending a message from your friend's phone to your chromecast (through your cloud service)) is much harder. Your friend's phone can send your phone a message (again via a back end service, a bluetooth communication, NFC, etc and then your phone using your app can send that to the chromecast receiver but I am sure you are getting the idea that it is a lot of work. Signing up on your wifi network can be made easier with a QR code or something so at this pint, that would be the easiest solution.

Answer 2

As Ali mentioned, Chromecast devices are discovered and apps launched via local network applications. One an app is started, it could easily connect with a cloud service that allows other (non-local) devices to talk w/ your Chromecast via the cloud service. A Chromecast Receiver application is just a HTML5 application (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript). You can really do what ever you want once your application gets launched.

If displaying a QR code that allows some kind of rendezvous with your cloud application is what you want to do, you can certainly do that.

Answer 3

I presume your friend's mobile device is on the same wifi network, right? Currently, a chromecast device has no identity outside of its local wifi network, so if the sender is not on the same network as the receiver, there is no way they can exchange messages. Back to your question, if your friend is on your network, then he could see your device except from those applications for which your device is not whitelisted for. Is that the case you want to handle through, say, a QR code? If so, that is currently not doable either since whitelisting is not just a local setup. Maybe I misunderstood your question?