Apple TV vs Chromecast for Netflix / YouTube access on your TV

The great debate in the wonderful land of mobile devices, Apple vs Google. But what happens when you start to mix ecosystems between the two.

I’m an iPhone 4s (stop laughing, I realise it’s 2025) and iPad mini 2 guy, but when it comes to putting content on my TV, I’ve tested both the Apple TV & the humble Chromecast & funnily I prefer the…..Chromecast.

The Apple TV allows sharing of your screen (which is nice to have), along with the ability to stream apps & games, but the downside, no multitasking. Say you flick a Netflix movie up from your iPad to your Apple TV, then head over safari which then sends you to YouTube, bam! Netflix stops showing your movie. However with the Chromecast you can multitask, you can watch your Netflix Movie on your TV & your YouTube clip on your iPad. 

The way Netflix & the YouTube apps hand off to the Chromecast allow you to continue using the app & search for more content to watch, the YouTube app even allows for “queuing” up content.

Unfortunately the Chromecast doesn’t support mirroring from the iPad. But you can mirror from the Google Chrome web browser with the aid of an extension which I haven’t used an awful lot, but it is handy.

So if you want a cheap way to show Netflix or YouTube from your iPad to your TV, the humble $50 Chromecast is a winner.

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