Add Chromecast Support

[anthonylavado]

AirPlay is natively supported, we just need to add the button in the controls in Web.

To make it a more complete client, Chromecast should be added, to finally give iOS users the option of using it.

A quick search shows that we might have to eject and use ExpoKit, so I'm unsure how to proceed.

[brianclinkenbeard]

Maybe this would help: https://github.com/react-native-google-cast/react-native-google-cast/

[anthonylavado]

For reference:

https://forums.expo.io/t/chromecast-support/4699/2

https://expo.canny.io/feature-requests/p/support-for-chromecast

Apparently it’s been requested since 2017 with no movement, so we’d have to detach ☹️

[krutburken]

Old issue, but are there any current discussions on how to move forward on this? Not having Chromecast support on iOS is probably the only thing keeping me from migrating my users from plex/emby to Jellyfin.

If not, what workarounds are available?

[Coo-ops]

BUMP.

This is an important feature, and the only thing keeping me on Plex in absence of a dedicated client app for Raspberry Pi.

[anthonylavado]

This doesn't need to be bumped. That just adds extra noise and notifications that we have to deal with. Normally you could leave a thumbs up reaction on the top comment, or even upvote the feature request on our dedicated site:
https://features.jellyfin.org/posts/466/chromecast-support-on-ios

We know it is in demand. Thornbill even pinned this just a few hours ago to show that we're aware of it.

It's still not possible yet for a variety of reasons that I've shared before on Reddit. I'll find those and post them here some time.

[jaredreich]

Hey folks! Really interested in getting this feature figured out.

Just a quick note to add to the discussion - it appears when chromecasting from Plex for iOS, it actually initiates a cast via the Plex server's address (127.0.0.1:32400) to the device. Shouldn't Jellyfin be doing the same? The Jellyfin iOS app would ping the Jellyfin server for Chromecast devices, return the list to the iOS device, present them to the user, user chooses one to start the connection, then when content is played it's actually the server that is doing the Chromecasting.

I may be completely wrong here, just spitballing, so feel free to disregard. Thoughts?

[anthonylavado]

@jaredreich Almost, not quite. Say you are in a remote location, away from home. In that case, the server can't necessarily reach those devices on that network to cast ;-)

The way casting works (very, very simplified):

• Client scans local network + Bluetooth for cast enabled devices
• Client presents list of destinations to user
• If user selects cast destination, start Cast session with App ID sent to Cast device
• Cast devices gets App ID, checks with Google for application page (this is a website that we operate)
• Cast page is loaded on device and session is connected to client (for media playback, etc).
• User selects media, client sends URL and ID to Cast page
• Page/Cast device sends request to server and starts playing back from there

[jaredreich]

@anthonylavado thank you very much for the breakdown. Though I must still ask, shall we not implement this feature only because it won't work on an external network? I'd imagine a lot of users are casting at home while on the same network as the Jellyfin server right? Are there other reasons it can't be implemented other than not working from external networks?

[anthonylavado]

@jaredreich My apologies if that was the impression - there's other technical reasons why it's not there yet. I was just describing how the process works, and why just sending a session from the server isn't enough.

I realize I never fully explained the reasons here.

This app for iOS is written using a Javascript framework known as Expo. It's a special set of packages and a workflow based around React Native. The good part about Expo is they they make building apps very easy for both iOS and Android. They even take care of the build/compile process for you, so you can create an iOS app without owning a Mac (but you still have to have an Apple Developer Program membership). This is known as the "Managed" process.

The downside to Expo is that in most cases, you're limited to using packages and frameworks that they directly support. It's not possible to simply pull in whatever React Native package you'd want.

In order to add Chromecast playback, we need to add the Cast SDK in a supported way. One of those packages for React Native is linked towards the top, and I'm sure there's many others.

To have Expo include a package, you have to make a feature request, hope it gets their attention/enough votes, and then hopefully they include it. People have been asking for years now (see above again), and it hasn't happened yet.

Now you might be thinking - surely there's a way around this, right? Well, there is. The process is known as "ejecting to ExpoKit". This takes everything you've done as an Expo managed project, and converts it to a React Native project that happens to include some Expo modules. This adds a bit more complexity - builds must now be done on the correct platform. For example, the bundle for iOS would have to be compiled on a Mac, instead of just using Expo's servers. Though I have a Mac, I'm not the primary developer. Heck, I'm not really much a developer at all (my expertise is in other areas for Jellyfin, including "management"). My dear friend @thornbill has mostly been working on this from a Linux machine.

As it turns out, this year there are some things falling in to place that will make this transition easier, and we are getting closer to a solution, including ejecting and then adding on the modules we need.

Hopefully this helped explain it better 😄

Edit: Here's a link from Expo on the different "workflows" - https://docs.expo.io/introduction/managed-vs-bare/