How to cast just one app from your Pixel phone to a larger screen (for better privacy)
I often need to cast video content from my Android device to a larger screen. Sometimes, that’s for my own purposes (to make sure a video I’ve edited looks good on larger screens,) and sometimes, it’s to entertain or educate an audience.
Either way, it’s good to know that Android has my back.
But how can you cast a single app to a device? If you were to cast your entire screen, you could wind up sharing something an audience shouldn’t see (like passwords from your password manager). How do you get around this?
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Well, it’s quite easy and built right into Android.
Before I get into the how-to, it’s important to know that you’ll need a device to cast to. I tend to cast to a Samsung TV or a Google Home speaker, both of which make it easy to receive streams cast from Android. Make sure you have either a smart TV or a smart speaker to cast to; otherwise, this could be futile.
Let me show you how it’s done.
How to cast a single app for better privacy
What you’ll need: As noted above, you’ll need a device to receive your cast, so make sure you have that available before you start. You’ll also need an updated version of Android on either your phone or tablet. I’ll be demonstrating with Android 15 on a Pixel 9 Pro. If you have a device from a different manufacturer, the process might be a bit different, so if you find my steps don’t work for you, research how casting works for your phone or tablet model. Sadly, Android isn’t always black and white because of version fragmentation.
The first thing you must do is ensure that both devices (phone and receiving device) are on the same wireless network. If this isn’t the case, your phone will not be able to find the device you want to receive the cast.
Pull down the Notification Shade twice, and you should see the Quick Tiles section. Swipe left until you see the Cast Tile.
Your Cast button may appear in a different spot in the Quick Tiles section.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Tap the Cast tile, and then, when prompted, tap the drop-down and select “Cast one app” from the drop-down. Once you’ve done that, tap Next.
You can either cast a single app or the whole screen from Android.
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
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On the resulting page, locate and tap the app you want to cast.
Make sure the app you want to cast is compatible with the receiving device. (For example, you can’t cast video to an audio device.)
Screenshot by Jack Wallen/ZDNET
At this point, you have to wait for the app to receive the cast. In some cases (such as my Samsung TV), I have to accept the incoming cast using the TV remote to select OK. If you see a pop-up on your TV, make sure to accept the request. With Google Home speakers, you’ll hear a chime that the stream has been received, and it should start shortly.
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You’ll also want to make sure the app you are streaming to the receiver is playing whatever media you want to share. Of course, you can opt to cast the entire screen (within the casting wizard), but that would defeat the purpose of keeping things a bit more private.
And that, my friends, is all you do to cast a single app from Android.
