iOS 27 to Add Native Google Cast Streaming as EU Antitrust Rules Force Apple’s Hand

Apple is building native support for Google Cast into iOS 27, Bloomberg reports — a change driven by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act rather than anything Apple chose to do on its own.

Today, iOS supports only AirPlay as a built-in system-level streaming protocol. Developers can already add Google Cast to their individual apps — the SDK is public and free — but each app has to integrate it independently. The OS provides no shared casting layer. According to Bloomberg, iOS 27 will change that by adding “third-party AirPlay streaming alternatives” directly into the operating system, with Google Cast named specifically as one of the supported protocols. That means, rather than each app managing its own Cast session, iOS would broker the connection the same way it currently handles AirPlay — making it available across apps automatically, without per-app developer work.

Google Cast is the wireless streaming protocol behind Chromecast, Google TV, and a large number of third-party smart TVs, soundbars, and wireless speakers from Sony, Bose, LG, and dozens of other brands. Any device with Cast built in can receive audio or video streamed from a phone over the same Wi-Fi network. It is one of the most widely deployed streaming standards in consumer electronics, which is precisely why its absence from iOS’s native layer has been a friction point for households that don’t buy everything from Apple.

The push is coming from Brussels, not Cupertino. The EU’s Digital Markets Act designates Apple as a platform gatekeeper and requires it to open core iOS capabilities to competing standards, including streaming interoperability. Apple has so far applied DMA compliance changes only within EU borders: alternative app distribution, third-party NFC payment access, and browser engine choice are all EU-only. 9to5Mac, which also covered Bloomberg’s report, says native Google Cast will almost certainly follow the same pattern — rolling out first, and possibly only, in the EU when iOS 27 ships this autumn.

For EU users, the practical change is real. An iPhone would be able to cast directly to a Chromecast dongle, Google TV set, or Cast-enabled soundbar the same way it already casts to an Apple TV — no third-party app acting as intermediary, no app-specific setup, no hunting through menus to find the Cast icon a developer remembered to include. For the large share of European households with a mix of Apple phones and Google or Android-based TV hardware, that closes a gap that has existed since Google launched Chromecast in 2013.

For users outside the EU, the outcome depends entirely on whether Apple decides to extend the feature globally. Apple is not obligated to do so, and its track record on DMA-mandated features suggests it typically does not. Whether consumer demand outside Europe is strong enough to push Apple toward a voluntary global rollout is an open question.

Apple is expected to formally announce iOS 27 at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2026. The scope of Google Cast integration — whether it covers audio, video, or both, and how deeply it is embedded in Control Center — should be clear at that point.

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