When you’re not using Chromecast to cast videos, you’ll see a slideshow of high-quality images on your TV screen. If you like, you can change the Chromecast’s background so that it shows your family pictures instead of random pictures.
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Change background on Chromecast
While the idea of displaying your favorite photos as Chromecast wallpapers is appealing, another good reason for changing the background on Chromecast is to reduce the amount of data Chromecast wallpapers consume.
By default, Chromecast is set to use your internet connection to download high-quality wallpapers from a variety of sources and display those images on your TV.
However, these images are of such high quality that users have reported Chromecast using up to 40GB/month of data even when it is idle. This can be an issue if you have a data cap.
Luckily, changing the background on Chromecast is easy, and it can be done by first creating an album in Google Photos and assigning photos in that album as Chromecast wallpapers.
Create an album in Google Photos
Follow the steps below to create an album in Google Photos to share pictures with Google Chromecast.
1. On your Android phone or iPhone, open the google photos apartment
Note: iPhone users can download the Google Photos app from the App Store.
2. Once in the Google Photos app, tap Albums tab. located at the bottom right of your screen (see image below)
3. If you haven’t already created an album, you’ll see a “Create Album” link on the next screen. Tap the create an album Link (see image below)
4. If you have previously created an album, you must tap 3 dot menu iconis near the top-right corner of your screen, and then tap album in the slide-up menu. (See image below)
5. Next, the Google Photos app will open the camera roll on your phone for you to select pictures you want to add to the new album.
6. When you have selected the pictures, tap Create option in the top right corner of your screen (see image below).
Note: You must add at least one photo to create an album in Google Photos
7. On the next screen, enter an appropriate one Surname for your album, and then tap checkmark located in the top left corner of your screen.
After your album with selected photos is ready, you can proceed to the next step.
Change background on Chromecast
After creating an album in Google Photos, follow the steps below to assign that album to your Chromecast.
1. open that Google Home app on your iPhone or Android phone
2. Next, tap the Devices Icon located in the top right corner of your screen (see image below)
3. On the next screen, tap 3 point icon located next to the name of your Chromecast (see image below)
4. In the resulting pop-up menu, tap on background settings option (see picture below)
5. On the Background Settings screen, tap google photos Option that is usually at the top
6. On the next screen, enable the option for Selected Albums by moving the switch to ON Position (see picture below)
7. On the same screen you will immediately see your album displayed. Tap the checkmark next to your album name (see image above)
From now on, Chromecast will only display the images from the album on your TV screen instead of showing random images from other sources.
Change Chromecast slideshow speed
If you feel that the images on your Chromecast are moving too fast or too slowly, you can change the slideshow speed by following the steps below.
1. open that Google home App on your iPhone or Android phone.
2. Next, tap the Devices icon in the top right corner of your screen (see image below)
3. Next, tap the 3 dot icon is in the top-right corner of your screen, and then tap background settings in the appearing menu (see picture below)
4. On the next screen, tap Custom speed option (see picture below)
5. On the Custom Speed screen, enable the option for Custom speed by moving the switch to ON position (see image below).
6. On the same screen, tap either Slow, Normal, or Fast to change the slideshow speed (see image above).
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