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Chromecast Disconnects When Phone Sleeps

As an owner of a Chromecast device, I have been growing increasingly frustrated with the issue of the Chromecast disconnecting when my phone goes to sleep. After doing some research and testing, I am here to share how I solved this issue and other solutions I discovered.

Chromecast disconnects when phone sleeps because of connectivity issues. For one, your phone’s Wi-Fi could be set to switch off during sleep mode. Additionally, your Google Home app itself may not be allowed to connect when the phone sleeps.

A quick fix, is to simply prevent your phone from going to sleep. You can do this by opening the settings app on your phone and extending how long your phone stays awake for. This will cause your phone to lose power faster.

Tips:
Check if Google Home app is allowed to work in the background while the phone sleeps
Ensure that Google Home app is updated to the latest version
Make sure Wi-Fi settings are set to stay connected when the phone sleeps
Exclude Google Home from Data Saver settings to allow it to use data in the background
Consider turning off the phone’s sleep mode to prevent disconnection from Chromecast

Google Home Is in the Sleeping Apps

Modern phones have access to thousands of apps. The average number of apps used per phone in 2021 was almost 50.

Imagine that all of those 50 apps are constantly working in the background and draining juice from your battery. That would quickly empty any battery regardless of its capacity.

Fortunately, most phones now can limit the data and the power used by some background applications. 

Yet, sometimes the phone would limit some important apps from working in the background by accident. The phone may label an application as ‘sleeping’ or ‘deep sleeping’ and stop it from working as a means to save energy.

Google Home is the application responsible for linking your phone with your Chromecast device. If your Google Home isn’t allowed to work in the background or when your phone sleeps, it will lose connection to your Chromecast the moment your phone goes to sleep.

To stop this from happening, go to your Settings > Device Care > Battery > App power management > Sleeping/Deep Sleeping apps. 

Make sure that Google Home isn’t included in the list of sleeping and deep sleeping apps. 

Read more: Does Chromecast drain phone battery?

Wi-Fi Is Configured to Disconnect on Sleep Mode

This option may not be available on every android phone but it can cause Chromecast to disconnect if it’s present on your phone.

Unfortunately, the phones that do have that feature don’t have the same steps to follow if you want to turn it off. Yet, we’ll give you a general idea of how to turn it off.

You need to access your phone’s settings, then go to Battery or Wi-Fi settings. Search for an option named “Keep  Wi-Fi on during sleep” or “Stay connected while asleep.”

Make sure that whichever one of those you find is switched on.

Read more: How long does Chromecast last?

Data Saver Is Turned On

Data saver is a handy option in phones that reduces your data usage by preventing unnecessary apps from consuming data in the background.

While this may sound great, your data saver may accidentally stop Google Home from using data in the background and prevent it from working while your phone is sleeping.

To handle this issue, you have one of two options:

Turn Off Your Data Saver

If you’re on an unlimited or large data plan, you may comfortably turn off your data saver.

To do that, go to Settings > Connections > Data Usage > Data Saver > Turn Off.

Exclude Google Home From Your Data Saver

If you want to use the benefits of the data-saving option but exclude Google Home (or any other app), You should follow the same steps as before but with an extra step. Here’s how:

Settings > Connections > Data Usage > Data Saver > Allow app while Data saver on. A list of all of your installed apps will appear, navigate and find Google Home and exclude it.

Google Home Isn’t Updated

Google Home needs occasional updates to keep working without issues. By default, the update of any app you download is set to ‘auto-update.’

Although convenient, this could consume your data much quicker than you like. Because of that, many people choose to manually update their apps. Some apps, like WhatsApp for example, refuse to work if they haven’t been updated for a long time.

Most apps, however, won’t force you to download the new version but will start showing you that they’re in distress. One of those red flags is the occasional disconnection from your Chromecast when your phone goes to sleep.

Whether you’re setting your Google Home to manual or auto-update, make sure that it stays updated to the latest version at all times.

The End

If Chromecast disconnects when phone sleeps, you need to check your Wi-Fi settings and your Google Home background activity. Make sure that your Wi-Fi doesn’t disconnect when your phone sleeps and that your Google Home app is allowed to work if the phone sleeps.

Additionally, it’s worth checking if your Google Home app is updated to the latest version. Sometimes the simple solution that’s right under our noses could be the only solution.