CNN‘s Android app lets you stream videos to Chromecast as part of the app’s most recent update, though the update doesn’t include just this one new feature as it also includes a new reader mode that will allow users to see a simplified viewing of news article headlines, with the idea being that users can scroll through news headlines and be able to take in more information while navigating the same amount of space within the app, thanks to the headlines being slimmed down to just text instead of having both text and images together.
For users that prefer to read most of their news than watch it, the reader mode will surely come in handy, though users should be aware that even with reader mode enabled this does not make article context itself appear as text only, and even with the toggle switched on the very first story in the list of “Top Stories” where the reader mode is meant for still shows up with the accompanying image. All stories after that however show up with just the headline in its own dedicated card style box.
Reader mode can be found in the app’s settings menu, which can be accessed by tapping on the gear button in the top right corner of the app UI. As for the Chromecast support, any video that can be played inside of the app will have a Chromecast button to enable streaming of content just like with any other app that supports Chromecast, users will however need to wait until any ads that play before the video are completed before the button actually appears. The good news is that if you consume most of your news for your smartphone and you stick to CNN as a main source for that content, you won’t have to be limited to watching videos from CNN on your smartphone screen while at home. While reader mode does make it easier to skim through the stop stories list to find the news you do want to read, there’s no word on if the app will be updated to include reader mode for the actual article content as well at some point.