Several users have been complaining for quite some time now that Chromecast with Google TV has some important tabs like “For you”, “Movies”, and “Shows” missing from the top of the home screen.
Instead, it only shows the list of installed apps along with a row of randomly picked shows. Basically, there is virtually no sign of curated content at all.
Just got a Google TV with Chromecast device. I seem to be missing the ‘For you / Movies / Shows’ tabs on the main screen. All I have is ‘Search / Home / Apps / Library’. Anyone have the same issue? Any fix?
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As the title says, I don’t have a “For You” section on my Chromecast with Google TV and the assistant only shows Netflix as a search options, I also can’t see the improve recomendations at the end of the main page and there’s no wallpaper, only a grey/black background.
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As a result, users are only able to browse through generic movies/shows that they may not even like.
If you are one of such users, then there is a simple explanation for it all. A Product Expert has emphasized that tabs that display personalized content are available in select regions only for now.
The Chromecast with Google TV has only been officially released in the following countries. Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States (except Puerto Rico). If you are using your device outside of these countries then all features may not be available.
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And details about when such restrictions will be removed from unsupported regions are unavailable which does seem to imply that Google isn’t really planning on enabling those features at least in the near future.
Moreover, a user observed that the Chromecast Google TV image on the Irish Google Store site displays a menu with only “Search, Home, Apps, Library” listed. This further proves that Google isn’t planning to bring those features to other regions.
But that’s not all. The tabs are missing for some users residing in supported regions too. In this case, there are a few workarounds available.
Workarounds for the Chromecast with Google TV missing tabs issue
1. Steps by Google Support: A user presented the following series of possible solutions recommended to them by Google support themselves. These have actually worked for some users.
2. Use VPN: Since the tabs are available in select regions only, your best bet would be to connect to such regions using a VPN. Several users have managed to work around the issue using this neat little trick.
I finally got the feature working in Austria by using Windscripe VPN to connect to a server in Germany, enabling Personal Results and disabling App Only Mode and then deleting all data/cache/etc for LauncherX. At least for now the feature doesn’t disappear even when not using the VPN or restarting the device
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