Chromecast with Google TV will finally be useful for the whole family with profile support

In a new APK Insights teardown of the latest Google TV app for Android (v 1.0.370), 9to5Google has discovered what looks to be the multi-user profile support the new Chromecast should have been shipped with. While their Insights are not a guarantee of features to come, they’re usually pretty spot-on as this code is buried in the code of the latest public-facing releases, which indicates that Google is committing to something pretty heavily before deciding to roll it out to all users.

Add another account to this device to have their own personalized Google TV experience.

You can manage existing accounts in Settings and then Accounts & Sign in

9to5Google APK Insights

Currently, you can add more than one user to a Chromecast with Google TV, but the home screen recommendations do not change whatsoever. Instead, they only show the content that resides in the primary account’s library. Google did recently add Kids Profiles to the device, but it was odd to see them prioritize this over a feature that users expected at launch.

If this does roll out soon, then my girlfriend and I won’t have to own a specific TV in a specific room if we want to get personalized recommendations on each Chromecast. Jumping back and forth at our leisure will be a few clicks of a button, and each of us could enjoy whatever room we wish.

Additionally, Google is rolling out some updates to the aforementioned Kids Profiles! In my 5 Ways that the Chromecast with Google TV can improve Kids Profiles article, which I posted at the end of April, I mentioned how you couldn’t press and hold the remote’s primary button on a piece of content to pull up options for it and hide content that wasn’t suitable for your kids. Well, it seems as though Google had either been working on this or has seen my cries, and is now implementing just that! The GIF below was pulled from the app’s code and shows a tutorial for this feature.

My other recommendations from the above Kids Profiles article remain, and I hope to see Google do something about the content filtering concerns I’ve documented, but for now, this is huge. Essentially, giving parents control over what shows and movies appear for our kids is yet another feature I wish the device had from the onset for children. I hate to say it, but as impressive as the Chromecast with Google TV is for all, I feel as though the experience is a little undercooked, so to speak. Not quite half-baked, but certainly undercooked.

As with all things, the company’s hardware and software are more iterative and evolve based on user feedback, but I do so wish it would think through the basic implementation before launching something. Multiple user profiles and hiding content for kids seem like no-brainers at the drawing board, and I don’t think I’m being too harsh here. Are you excited about these features, or are you perfectly content with using your Chromecast with one user’s library and recommendations? I’m of the mind that my family has much different taste than me in shows and movies, and when they mix with my own, my recommendations are all screwed up, so I’m setting this up immediately when and if it releases!