Firefox for Android gets Chromecast, Roku support. Here is how it works

I bought a Chromecast some time ago just to see how it works and how useful it can be. I don't really watch a lot of TV but do watch Internet streams from time to time. While I do not have any issues watching it on the computer screen, I sometimes prefer to watch it on the larger TV screen instead, especially if I'm not the only one watching.

Mozilla has integrated Chromecast and Roku support to Firefox for Android. To be precise, the feature is enabled in the Nightly and Beta version of the mobile browser right now.

Stable users will get it eventually but for now it is reserved to those other channels.

Since it is integrated natively, it will work right out of the box. It needs to be noted though that you can only stream video formats that the device supports.

Here is how it works

• Visit a website in Firefox for Android that embeds video contents. You can try Mozilla's Casting Test web page for example which makes available several mp4 videos that you can play directly in the browser.
• Fire up your TV and switch to the Chromecast channel.
• Make sure Chromecast is connected to the same Wifi network as Firefox for Android.
• If you are using Roku, add the Firefox channel to the channel list by selecting Channel Store, browsing channels and selecting add or buy once you have selected it.
• Play the video on the Android device.
• A new control is displayed in the url bar which you use to cast the video.
• A tap on it displays the list of available devices, select the one you want to use.
• The video should play on the TV a moment later.
• Firefox displays controls at the bottom of the browser window that allow you to control playback.

I have tested Chromecast support on several websites including YouTube and CNN and it worked fine on those websites. It won't work on sites requiring Flash to play video on the other hand but that was to be expected.

Conclusion

The feature appears stable, at least during limited tests runs that I made. Mozilla is currently trying to sort out remaining issues before it will land in the stable version of Firefox for Android.

Firefox for Android users who test the functionality and find bugs are asked to report them on Mozilla's Bugzilla website.