Google Slides for Android and iOS now lets you stream presentations to your TV via Chromecast and AirPlay

Google today updated Google Slides for Android and iOS with streaming support via Chromecast and AirPlay. You can download the new app now directly from Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Google has sold over 17 million units of the Chromecast, a small HDMI dongle that lets you stream content from mobile and web apps to your TV. AirPlay is a proprietary protocol stack developed by Apple that allows wireless streaming between the company’s devices.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1747608,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"media,mobile,","session":"B"}']

In short, today’s update means Google Slides now lets you wirelessly stream your presentations to the big screen. To do so, all you need is a smartphone or tablet with the Slides app. “So you can say goodbye to wires and set-up stress,” Google said.

To use the new feature, open a presentation in Google Slides (the cast icon doesn’t appear until you open a presentation), go near a Chromecast device, and hit the cast button. Once your presentation shows up on the TV, you can use your smartphone or tablet to advance slides, view speaker notes, and keep an eye on your pace with the built-in timer.

Until now, if you wanted to cast a Google Slides presentations, you had to use a computer or mirror your mobile device screen. This simplifies the whole process.

If you don’t want to use a mobile device at all, you can install the Google Cast extension in Chrome. Then just connect to the same Wi-Fi network as your Chromecast device, click the small drop-down arrow on the Present button in your presentation, and select your Chromecast device from the options.

This isn’t a huge update, but it certainly is a welcome one if you’re a hardcore Google Slides user. Although PowerPoint presentations can’t be streamed via Chromecast and AirPlay, Microsoft offers similar functionality for its various Office applications.