A recent Chromecast update appeared to have bumped some users’ devices to the beta channel without their say-so.
Moving a Chromecast to the potentially unstable beta channel usually involves manually opting in — but seemingly not so with the Chromecast v1.14.32904 pushed out over the past week.
The update, whited affected “a small percentage” say Google, left users home screen littered with the following unsightly debug text, which includes the worry-inducing “channel=beta-channel” string:
"(clients3.google.com) Build=1.14.32904, IP=xxx.xxx.x.xx, Channel=beta-channel"
Oops.
Affected users quickly took to the Google Product Forums where they were (understandably) less than impressed by the foo-bar. Some claim to be experiencing problems with apps and content as a result of the mistake, with some notable issues arriving in YouTube playlists and subtitle quirks with the HBO Go app.
‘Users claim to be experiencing problems with apps like YouTube as a result of the rogue update’
Google’s official statement says the update “…should not have any material negative user impact” and that an update is rolling out to fix it.
It’s also difficult to know how many of the complaints attributed to the rogue update are actually a result of it. Many issues raised seem isolated and anecdotal, e.g., “I can’t connect to Wi-Fi” to “it now keeps crashing and freezing”.
How to tell if you’re affected
To find out if your Chromecast is among the flock wearing the debug message you just need turn it on and look. If you see a long string of text at the bottom of the screen, with the term ‘beta-channel’ amongst it, you’ll be getting an update that removes it shortly.
If you don’t, you won’t.
Accidents like this are never great but they do happen from time to time. Google has already pushed out an update to solve the screw-up.
In the mean time if you’re experiencing issues and don’t see the update waiting Google suggests force-updating your dongle using the official Chromecast app.
- Source: BetaNews