Here’s another sign for how closely Google Home, the company’s answer to Amazon Echo, and its Chromecast streaming adapter are connected: Google will soon rename its Cast app to “Google Home.” The company started to inform users of the upcoming changes this week.
The change is bound to be confusing for some users: When Google first introduced its Chromecast streaming adapter in 2013, it also released a Chromecast-branded companion app for iOS and Android that could be used to install and configure the device. Earlier this year, the company changed the app’s name to “Google Cast” in a nod to the fact that there are now numerous other devices that support Google’s cast technology, including TVs from Vizio and Wifi-connected speakers from LG, Sony and other companies.
Now, the company is rebranding the app again, and simply calling it Google Home. Consumers will be able to use the app to “discover new content and manage (their) Google Home assistant and Cast devices,” according to Google.
Google officially launched Google Home as its answer to Amazon’s Echo smart speaker earlier this week. During a press event in San Francisco, a Google employee showed that Google Home owners will be able to use the new app to select sources for their daily news briefing, connect to other devices around the home and more.
Google Home and Chromecast aren’t just using the same smart phone app. Google Home is also based on Cast technology, which will allow owners of the device to send media to their TV or Wifi-connected stereo systems around the home with simple voice commands.
