Whether you want to turn a personal streaming session into a viewing party, or just experience your Amazon Prime Video subscription on the biggest monitor you have to hand, casting Prime Video to a Chromecast is a neat way of doing so. Whilst Amazon and Google used to compete fiercely against each other in this area, making it nigh on impossible to do, it has recently been made super easy, regardless of your starter device.
To cast Amazon Prime Video on a Chromecast, just follow the instructions below. For any additional queries or information, see our FAQs at the end of this article.
Note: Amazon Fire TV users will not be able to do this, Fire TV already serves this purpose, and has a slightly different operating mechanism for casting.
Note: To do this, you’ll have to have a Chromecast – typically a dongle which plugs into a TV or similar device, as well as an Amazon Prime account to which you have legal access.
Table of Contents
How to cast Amazon Prime Video from a web browser to a Chromecast
- Open up Google Chrome, and navigate to the Amazon Prime Video website. If prompted, sign in to your Amazon Prime account.
- Locate the show or movie you want to watch and cast, and begin playing it back on your computer.
- Next, pause the video playback, so that you don’t miss out on anything whilst we prepare the cast to Chromecast.
- If, for example, you’re on a Google Chromebook, you’ll see the Chromecast icon already showing on screen up in the top-right by the Bookmarks star. If you don’t immediately see it, however, you’ll need to click the three vertical grey dots which symbolise the Menu on Chrome. From the menu, select ‘Cast’
- Now choose the device/TV you wish to cast to from the pop-up menu. Any device which has Chromecast built-in, or which you have a Chromecast dongle plugged into, should appear in this list. Click on your selected device.
- Hit ‘Play’ on your desktop/laptop, and your video will begin to play on your Chromecast device. You may see some lag, but this is no problem given you’re now likely going to put the original device to one side, and continue watching on your TV.
- To stop casting, just hit that ‘Cast’ icon (which now should be fixed to the top-right of your Google Chrome browser), and select ‘Stop’
How to cast Amazon Prime Video from an Android/iOS device to a Chromecast
- Open up the Amazon Prime Video app on your mobile or tablet device, and if prompted, sign in
- Locate and tap the ‘Cast’ icon in the app, usually found in the bottom-right hand corner.
- From the list of potential devices to cast to, select the Chromecast device you want to watch your TV show or movie on.
- You should see on your Chromecast device that your mobile/tablet and it are now connected and ready to stream from Amazon Prime Video.
- Next, on your mobile/tablet device, locate the show or movie you want to watch and cast, and begin playing it. It will display and play on your Chromecast TV/device. You can now use your mobile/tablet device as a remote control, pausing, playing, fast forwarding or rewinding the casted content as you wish.
- To stop casting, simply press that ‘Cast’ icon again, and follow any prompts to break the connection between handheld device and Chromecast.
And there you have it! Whether on your desktop PC, tablet, or mobile, and whether you have the Prime Video app or prefer to use the website, you can cast what you’re watching to any Chromecast-ready device in no time.
For any further information or queries, see the FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
What is Chromecast?
Chromecast is a plug-in internet streaming service from Google, though does now often come as a built-in app on some of the newest TVs. Essentially, with Chromecast plugged in, you have access to a horde of content as provided by Google. But more than just streaming, a Chromecast plugged in to your TV (or built-in, as discussed) allows you to cast from any number of devices, either via Google Chrome the web browser, or from a cast function built into the app. In other words, at just the tap of a button, you can send (or ‘cast’) what you’re watching on your phone, tablet, PC or laptop to your TV screen, thus enhancing the viewing experience.
What is Amazon Prime Video?
Amazon Prime Video is Amazon’s answer to Netflix, Disney Plus, and Google Chromecast – it is a subscription video streaming service for Films and TV Shows, either produced by Amazon, or for which the rights have been purchased/loaned out by the company. It gives Amazon Prime subscribers access to thousands of TV shows and films for free (anything with the ‘Prime’ banner across the corner of its thumbnail is available as part of the subscription service). Some Smart TVs now come with Prime Video preloaded, and it is available as an app on most devices, if you’d prefer to use an app rather than the browser website.
What happens when I cast Amazon Prime Video on a Chromecast?
Essentially, all you’re doing is sending the stream of your Amazon Prime Video TV show or film from your phone, tablet, desktop or PC from said device to the Chromecast dongle plugged into your TV (or to the Chromecast application pre-installed in your television). When you do this, the streamed content will appear on your TV screen, thus enhancing your viewing experience. In essence, your device now becomes the remote control for this TV viewing experience, and you can use it to fast forward, rewind, pause, play, or do any of the usual things on your TV, which you would normally only do on your Amazon Prime Video app on your device.
How do I stop casting Amazon Prime Video on a Chromecast?
When you want to stop casting to your Chromecast, simply press the now highlighted ‘Cast’ icon on your original device, and if asked to confirm your choice to disconnect, do so. Once you’ve done this, the link between your device and the TV screen will be broken, and your stream should stop displaying on the television. If it does not, use your TV remote control to back out of the screen, or return to its homepage.
How do I put subtitles on when casting Prime Video to a Chromecast?
You may have tried to put subtitles on to a film or TV show when casting to Chromecast from Prime Video and experienced difficulties. On an iOS device, first you must stop casting to your Chromecast, and on your device then access Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles and Captioning > Style, and then select a subtitles style, before reenabling the Chromecast cast. On Android devices, during the casting session simply press the three vertical dots for the menu in the top-right of the screen on your device, and from the drop-down menu toggle ‘Show captions’. There are also options in this menu to change subtitle style, size, colour, etc.
