Google TV, the new layer of software on top of Android TV, introduced a whole new way to browse your content on Google’s latest Chromecast. The home screen is now focused on featured shows and movies for you, and your apps and Play Store are simply integrated into the launcher as a secondary tab. For many users, this is an easy way to access their installed apps and games and try new ones, but some of us will miss access to the right Play Store.
While this tutorial focuses on the Play Store, you can also apply the same steps to two other apps that are pre-installed on the Chromecast with Google TV, but are not directly accessible: Google Play Games and Google Play Movies & TV.
Why access to the entire Play Store is important
The Apps tab on Google TV is enough to launch the apps and games you have installed and try new ones. You can even use voice search to search for specific apps. But that’s where the interface stops. To manage your existing apps, manually check for and install updates and change settings, you need access to the full Play Store.
The Play Store app has tabs to browse apps and games, as well as a good settings menu where you can manage and update the ones you’ve installed, switch accounts to grab apps your partner or roommate has bought, and a few settings related to automatic updates, payment methods, parental controls and more.
While all of this is trivial for most Chromecast users, many of us still enjoy having access to and control over these features, which is where opening the Play Store app is important.
Method 1: Google Assistant
The easiest way to access the Play Store on the Chromecast using Google TV is to tap the Assistant button on the remote and say “Play Store.”
The Assistant will open the Play Store for you. It’s that simple.
Method 2: App Settings
The second method is a bit more complicated, but is useful if you don’t want to speak out loud or if you’d rather never use the Assistant. Open the side panel on your Chromecast and go to Settings> Apps> View all apps> View system apps> Google Play Store> Open. The steps are described in the screenshots below.
Method 3: Button assignment
This third method requires a bit of installation, but once it’s done, you can access the Play Store with one button whenever you want. First you need to download Button Mapper and follow the steps in our previous tutorial to install it and give it the necessary permissions.
Once that’s done, open Button Mapper and choose the remote control button you want to use to launch the Play Store. In the screenshots below, I chose the home button, but only when double-tapped. Select to set it Home button> Double tap, and in the popup switch to Applications from the drop-down list and search for the Play Store. The steps are described below.
Of all these methods, button mapping suits me the best. I just do the button combination when I need to go to the full Play Store app and it launches, without talking to the assistant or diving six levels deep into submenus.