CastHub at Home has three parts: the app on each family member’s phone, the CastHub app on each TV, and the albums that connect them. The phone adds, the TV shows, and every TV in every home follows the album it was given. This page walks through each part the way you will meet it.

The app on your phone

CastHub at Home is a web app at family.cast-hub.com that lives on your home screen like any other app. On an iPhone, open it in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, the browser offers to install it. Sign in with the email and password the family was created with. Four tabs: Family (homes and TVs), Albums, Cass (the assistant) and People.

A TV joins the family

Install the CastHub app on the TV or streaming player and open it, or plug in an Amazon Signage Stick, which has the app already. The TV shows a six-digit code. In the phone app, open the Family tab, tap Add a TV, type the code, give the TV a name (Kitchen TV, Grandma’s den) and choose which home it is in. A new home can be created right there. That is pairing done; the TV is now in the Family tab with its home.

Albums are what a TV plays

An album is a list of things the TV shows one after another, from the top, then again from the start. Open an album and tap Add to put things in it: photos and clips from the phone’s library, including iCloud Photos on an iPhone; a PDF or a PowerPoint file from the phone’s Files, where each page becomes one screen (a chore chart, the week’s menu, a schedule made in PowerPoint, Keynote or Canva and saved as a PDF); or the family calendar. Edit album changes the order, sets how many seconds each item stays on screen, and removes items. Anyone in the family can add to any album.

The calendar the family already keeps

CastHub at Home shows a calendar; it does not create or edit one. The family keeps using Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, and the TV shows what is in it. The app needs the calendar’s link in iCal format, pasted once and saved. A calendar in an album can show the week, the next three days or the month, with or without event times, in type large enough to read across the kitchen. When the calendar changes, the TV follows on its own; it reads the calendar again about every 15 minutes, so a new event can take that long to appear. The calendar needs the TV to be online, and it does not show on a Samsung TV or a Roku. The setup guide has the exact clicks for Google, Apple and Outlook.

Homes, TVs, and what each one shows

A home is a place with TVs in it. The Family tab lists each home, each TV in it, what the TV is showing and, where the TV reports it, whether it is on. Each TV shows one album at a time; any TV in any home can show any album, and several TVs can show the same one. Tap a TV for its own page: what it shows, its name, its quiet hours and its status. An Amazon Signage Stick reports whether it is online; other TVs show when they were last seen.

People

The People tab lists everyone in the family. Invite someone by email and name and choose which homes they belong to; they get an email to set a password and then sign in to the app on their own phone. The person who created the family is the owner and holds the plan. Everyone else is a contributor: they add photos and manage the TVs of the homes they were added to. All of the family’s albums are shared with everyone in the family.

Quiet hours, and switching a TV off and on

Quiet hours turn a TV off at one time and back on at another, every day, so the den does not glow at 2 a.m. They work on a TV with an Amazon Signage Stick, which switches the TV through the HDMI cable; the TV has to allow that, through a setting usually called Anynet+ on Samsung, SimpLink on LG, Bravia Sync on Sony, EasyLink on Philips, or HDMI-CEC elsewhere. The Stick can also be restarted from the app and asked for a picture of what the TV is showing. For any other TV or player, use the TV’s own sleep timer.

What CastHub at Home does not do

It does not pull photos in from Google Photos, Amazon Photos or a shared iCloud album by itself; photos are added from the phone. It does not create or edit calendar events. It does not send a message that takes over a TV; a message for the family goes into an album as a picture or a document. And it is not for business use; organisations need CastHub for business.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to install anything on my phone?

No app store is involved. CastHub at Home is a web app at family.cast-hub.com that you put on your home screen: on an iPhone, open it in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen; on Android, the browser offers to install it. It then opens like any other app.

How does a TV join the family?

The CastHub app on the TV shows a six-digit code. In the phone app, open the Family tab, tap Add a TV, type the code, name the TV and choose its home. A new home can be added at that step.

Can several TVs show the same album?

Yes. Each TV shows one album at a time, and any number of TVs in any home can show the same one. Change what a TV shows from its own page in the Family tab or from the album.

What can go in an album?

Photos and clips from the phone’s library (including iCloud Photos on an iPhone), a PDF or PowerPoint file where each page becomes one screen, and the family calendar from its iCal link. Edit album changes the order and how many seconds each item shows.

Does the TV need to stay online?

A TV needs to be online to receive new photos and to show the calendar. Photos already on the TV keep playing. Only an Amazon Signage Stick reports whether it is on; other TVs show when they were last seen.

Can I sign in with Google or Apple?

Not yet. Sign in with the email and password the family was created with. Google, Microsoft and Apple sign-in are not available in the app at launch.