How to Cast to an LG webOS TV from iPhone or Android

Cast to an LG TV natively over webOS

LG ships a second-screen service on webOS that lets an approved phone app launch and drive the TV's media playback. CastBrowser uses that service, so the television plays the video in its own MediaPlayer rather than rendering a mirrored copy of your screen. Picture quality comes from the TV's decoder, and the phone is free to lock or move to another app.

1. Install CastBrowser on your iPhone or Android phone. It is free and needs no account.
2. Put the phone and the LG TV on the same Wi-Fi network, not a guest network.
3. Open the website inside CastBrowser and start the video.
4. Wait for the video indicator, then choose a detected source or quality.
5. Tap cast and select LG webOS TV.
6. The first time, the television asks whether to allow CastBrowser. Accept it with the remote.

webOS hands the app a key when you accept, and CastBrowser stores it against that television, so the prompt does not come back. A factory reset on the TV or a fresh install of the app clears the key and the prompt returns once.

What you get on this route

• Play, pause and seek from the phone while the TV holds the stream.
• TV volume from the phone, so you can leave the LG remote alone.
• A subtitle track found on the page can be sent with the video when playback starts.
• HLS streams as well as ordinary progressive video files.

Switching subtitles on and off mid-playback is not available on this route. Choose the track before you cast, or use the Web Receiver, where subtitles can be changed while the video runs.

LG has changed its second-screen support across firmware generations, so the entry appears on most webOS sets but not on every model and region. The fallbacks further down cover the rest.

Does an LG TV have Chromecast built in?

For most LG televisions, no. LG builds its own operating system, webOS, rather than shipping Google TV, and Google Cast was not part of it for years. Some recent LG model ranges have added Cast support, which is why one owner sees the TV in Chrome straight away and another with a different model year sees nothing at all.

Check the exact model number rather than the brand. Look in the TV settings for a Google Cast or Chromecast entry, and read the specification sheet for that model. If the specifications list webOS, AirPlay, Screen Share, Miracast or DLNA but never mention Google Cast, Chrome will not treat the television as a cast target no matter what you change on the network.

If your LG model does have Google Cast (from a computer)

1. Put the computer and the LG TV on the same Wi-Fi network. These steps are the desktop Chrome workflow; Chrome on a phone offers casting but not the tab and screen choices below.
2. Open Chrome and choose Cast from the menu.
3. Select the LG TV from the list of Google Cast targets.
4. Pick the source: a tab, the whole screen, or an available media route.
5. Start playback and leave Chrome open for as long as you are casting.

Casting a tab sends a live recording of the browser window, which is why long videos often look soft and drain the battery. When the page has a real video file behind it, sending that file directly gives the TV something it can decode itself.

Fallbacks when the webOS entry never appears

DLNA. Many LG Smart TVs expose a network media renderer, the feature LG has long associated with SmartShare. CastBrowser can push a compatible video to it, with no approval step. Volume from the phone works when the renderer exposes a volume service, which not all of them do, and subtitle handling is left to the TV player.

Web Receiver. Press Home on the remote, open the LG Web Browser and go to castb.cc. CastBrowser shows a three-character code on the phone; type that code on the TV and the LG browser becomes the receiving screen. Playback then depends on what the TV browser itself can decode, so an old webOS version is still a limit. The Web Receiver guide covers pairing in detail.

An external stick. A Chromecast, Google TV, Roku or Fire TV device brings its own receiver and app store. It does not update webOS or its browser; it sits alongside them on another HDMI input.

When the LG TV will not appear at all

• The phone is on a guest network or a different band that the router keeps isolated.
• A VPN on the phone is routing local discovery traffic off the network.
• The television has been in standby long enough to stop advertising its services. Power-cycle it.
• Router client isolation, sometimes called AP isolation, is switched on.
• You declined the approval prompt earlier. Cast again and accept it, or clear the app's stored devices and retry.

What CastBrowser does not do

CastBrowser does not turn an LG TV into a Chromecast, and it does not unlock protected video. Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and similar services encrypt their streams and play only inside their own authorised LG apps. If a cast starts and the television shows a black screen with audio or nothing at all, protected playback is the usual reason.

Detection also needs a real video source on the page. A site that plays through a proprietary player with no separate media address gives the app nothing to send, however well the network is behaving.

Struggling with the LG browser itself?

This page covers pairing and receiver setup. If the problem is that pages and players fail inside LG's own browser, the LG webOS browser alternative guide explains how to browse on the phone and treat the television purely as the screen.

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