Chromecast with Google TV

Chromecast with Google TV remotes are failing for some users

Ben Schoon | Jun 10 2026 - 9:40 am PT

As the streamer ages, a growing number of Chromecast with Google TV owners are noticing that their remotes are failing to stay paired, presenting some serious usability problems.

Chromecast with Google TV was fairly groundbreaking for a number of reasons, but the remote was perhaps the biggest. As opposed to Google’s prior streaming dongles, the 2020 release moved controls primarily to the remote instead of relying on casting from a phone. Chromecast with Google TV featured a Bluetooth remote with a D-Pad, shortcut buttons, and customizable IR volume and power controls. While there have been fair complaints about the design, it’s overall been a good experience.

A good experience that’s suddenly breaking for some.

Over the past few weeks, there’s been a growing number of reports of Chromecast with Google TV owners who have found that their remotes are no longer working. Affected users state that their remotes are not staying connected to the Chromecast, with re-pairing or a reset needed to get things working again. That also means relying on a secondary means of control, like the virtual remote in the Google TV app on your phone, or hoping that HDMI CEC controls allow your TV’s remote to control the Chromecast.

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The issue has popped up off and on through Google’s forums, but there’s a fresh wave of reports on Reddit this week that show a clear trend. Something is causing Chromecast remotes to not stay connected.

The issue doesn’t leave the remote totally broken, with the disconnects being somewhat intermittent. Still, it’s a frustrating issue to deal with.

Google still actively supports the software on Chromecast with Google TV, as the company confirmed following an erroneous support page update last month, so it stands to reason that a fix could be made here. As far as we can tell, though, Google hasn’t acknowledged the situation, so it’s unclear if anything is in the works. We’ll update this article as more details become available.