Smart TVs & Google Drive: 8 Answers (For Beginners)

Do you store your documents and photos on the cloud? Cloud storage is a great way to hold onto important data or precious photos because you don’t need to worry about losing any physical storage like flash drives or your device.

When you need it, just log into the cloud storage app on your phone or computer.

However, while cloud storage may be convenient, it’s not always accessible on some smart devices, such as smart TVs.

Here’s What You Need to Know about Smart TVs and Google Drive.

Google Drive lets you store media over the Internet so that you can access it whenever you need it, but accessing it through a smart TV takes some extra effort. There is no Google Drive app for smart TVs, so your best bet is casting or mirroring your screen from a device to your smart TV.

1. How To Access Google Drive On Smart TV?

If you want to access Google Drive on a smart TV, you can try a few things:

• Log into the browser of your smart TV and navigate to the web app. You might be able to see the content of your Google Drive storage, but you may encounter some issues opening these files.
• You can also sideload the Google Drive app, but this may not work for all smart TVs. This method needs you to install file management apps before you can use the sideloaded Google Drive app.
• You can also access Google Drive through a casting app. You’ll need to use your smartphone or tablet to access Google Drive, then cast your device onto your smart TV.

2. Can You Download a Google Drive App for Smart TVs?

Unfortunately, there is no Google Drive app for smart TVs.

3. Is Google Drive Available on Android TVs?

There is no available Google Drive app for Android TVs, despite being owned by the same company.

But that does not always mean you cannot access Google Drive on your smart TV.

With the help of mirroring devices, you can show content from your Google Drive on your smart TV, or you can try accessing your Google Drive through your smart TV’s web browser.

You can try installing nPlayer, which can open content from Google Drive, or using Kodi to install the Google Drive plugin.

4. Can Google Drive Be Used with the Major Smart TV Brands?

You can’t use Google Drive with major smart TV brands unless you use the methods listed above.

Luckily, you can find smart TVs that have Chromecast and AirPlay built into them, such as those made by Vizio, LG, and Sony, which makes casting a sinch.

Meanwhile, other brands like Samsung have their own mirroring system that you can set up with select devices.

5. Can You Watch Google Drive Videos with a Chromecast?

While Google Drive on its own does not support Chromecast, there are workarounds for watching video content from your Drive account on your smart TV.

• If you own an Apple device, you can use AirPlay 2 on any compatible smart TV and watch videos from your Google Drive.
• Another option is to connect your computer and mirror via HDMI from your Google Drive folder.

You can also cast content with Google Photos.

• This method is pretty straightforward, and all you need to do is open the video file with Photos while inside Google Drive.
• It will then play the video, and you can cast it to Chromecast from the Google Photos app.

You can also use a casting app that supports Google Drive.

• Apps like AllCast, LocalCast, and Server Cast are compatible with Google Drive and have premium versions that remove any ads.
• These apps will also need app access to Google Drive to view the files. You’ll have to sign in to your Google account and grant permission.

6. Do People Generally Use Smart TVs with Google Drive?

While Google Drive can store videos and photos, people don’t usually use it with their smart TVs since there isn’t a smart TV app for Google Drive.

There are a few other reasons it can be difficult.

• While you can try opening it with your smart TV’s web browser, it won’t be as easy to use as when you’re using it on a computer or a smartphone.
• The absence of a direct Chromecast compatibility hinders people from using Google Drive with smart TVs.
• While you can use AirPlay with Google Drive, not everyone has an Apple device.
• Not everyone has the technological know-how to sideload and install extra apps that can help access Google Drive.
• Even the workaround of casting or mirroring content can be an issue for many.

So if you plan to showcase personal videos that you have, you can try uploading them on Facebook and cast via the Facebook Watch app.

Or, if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can choose to store these photos or videos on Google Photos, which supports Chromecast, or on an external storage device you can plug into the USB drive of your smart TV.

7. Can a Fire TV Stick Play Videos on Google Drive?

Unfortunately, you cannot use a Fire TV Stick with Google Drive without using dedicated apps that bridge the cloud with your TV or FireStick.

Since the Fire TV Stick is based on the Android TV system, you will need to install Kodi and add the Google Drive plugin from there for access to your cloud account.

8. Can a Roku Streaming Stick Play Videos on Google Drive?

There’s a Roku app (or channel, as the brand calls them) that lets you access media content from cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive.

Called Roksbox, you can watch all uploaded media files on your Roku Streaming Stick. The app also allows you to watch content from your USB storage devices.

The Roksbox costs $4.99 and can play mp4, MOV, m4v, WMV, mp3, WMA, jpg, png, and gif files.

Final Thoughts:

Google Drive isn’t the best media storage solution for watching content on your smart TV.

While there’s the Roksbox app, it’s only available for devices using the Roku OS.

But if you want cloud storage that is compatible with Google Drive, consider using Google Photos. It’s compatible with Chromecast, which almost comes standard for smart TVs today. It’s free, and Google will only charge you when you go beyond 15 GB of media stored on their services.

 

Sources:

How to watch Google Drive movies on your Chromecast

7 Best Roku Channels to Stream Movies from Cloud to Roku.