How to use your Android phone to remotely control Youtube

YouTube is one of the most popular video streaming services provided to users for free. The service can be accessed on the web or through its very own app on our Android mobile devices. Additionally with the introduction of Smart TVs, getting the full YouTube experience right in our living rooms was made possible. Google made it even easier to use the service, by launching Chromecast, which allows users to use their Android phones as the a remote control

Prerequisites:

• A relatively modern Android device, or one that supports Android 4.0 and above.
• A YouTube app installed on your Android device.
• Google Chromecast and a connected TV.
• Alternatively, if using Chromecast is not an option for you, you’ll still need an additional mobile device or a computer that can connect to your television or a smart TV that has web browser support.

How to use Chromecast to remotely control YouTube

• First make sure you have Chromecast connected to your smart TV, then turn it on. Check that everything has been configured for your network. You may have to make use of the Chromecast app installed on your Android device for this setup.
• Now, launch the YouTube app from your Android device.
• If the Chromecast was configured correctly, you should see a Cast option in the YouTube page opened. Tap on it and the next video that plays will be displayed on your TV.

You can now use your Android device to navigate and select the videos you want to instantly play or create a playlist to be played via your smart TV. Other Android devices may also be connected to the smart TV at the same time, to add or take over the screen to play their own YouTube playlists.

How to use your Android phone to remotely control YouTube

Note that even before the introduction of Chromecast, YouTube had its own built in functionality to cater to a home theater experience as well as connections from multiple devices. This feature is not only easy to use, but is also very accessible today.

• To explore it, open your preferred browser on a PC/ computer or an Android device connected to your TV.
• Go to youtube.com/tv and then press F11 to view on full screen.

There you have it, your home theatre experience is now set up. You’ll notice that the interface is a much more cleaner and friendlier compared to the default YouTube.To navigate the YouTube interface, you may choose to use your connected computer or mobile device as a remote control, similar to the way you would with a Chromecast.

• Go into your computer’s Settings.
• Find and click Pair Device.
• On your Android device, open up the YouTube app.
• Go to Settings and tap the Connected TVs option.
• Click on the Add a TV option.
• Type in the code that pops on your TV and hit Add to proceed.

With your Android device, you can go through your subscriptions or find and select new videos to watch, with the options of either playing them immediately or having them added to the queue.You can also use your Android device’s volume keys to control the volume of the YouTube video playback on your TV.Just like Chromecast, multiple Android devices may be connected to add and play videos on your TV. Thus make sure that you keep the connection code for your devices secret, as almost anyone that is connected to the internet and has access to your code can add videos and even play them on your device.Which is better for you, using YouTube TV or a streaming device such as Chromecast? Let us know in the comments.