Daily Archives: December 2, 2025

Netflix Is Killing Casting From Your Phone

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Among other methods, like plugging a laptop directly into the TV, many people still enjoying casting their content from small screens to big screens. For years, this has been a reliable way to switch from watching Netflix on your smartphone or tablet to watching on your TV—you just tap the cast button, select your TV, and in a few moments, your content is beamed to the proper place. Your device becomes its own remote, with search built right-in, and it avoids the need to sign into Netflix on TVs outside your home, such as when staying in hotels.

At least it did, but Netflix no longer wants to let you do it.

Netflix no longer supports casting on most devices

While you can still cast to your TV from other streaming platforms, there’s bad news for Netflix fans: The company has abruptly dropped casting support for most devices. Android Authority was the first to report on the change, though you might have stumbled upon the development yourself when looking for the cast button in the Netflix app. In fact, Netflix has prepared for your confusion, as you can see from this Netflix Help Center page titled “Can’t find ‘Cast’ button in Netflix app.” This page might offer a glimmer of hope at first, as you think “Oh good, Netflix has a solution if the Cast button is missing.” Unfortunately, the response isn’t going to make you happy: “Netflix no longer supports casting shows from a mobile device to most TVs and TV-streaming devices. You’ll need to use the remote that came with your TV or TV-streaming device to navigate Netflix.”

The exception here is for “older” Chromecast devices or TVs that work with Google Cast—but only if you pay for an ad-free Netflix plan. If you took Netflix up on its lower-cost subscription offer, those ads not only cost you extra watch time, but also your ability to cast—assuming you even have the older hardware to cast to.

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Source: Netflix Is Killing Casting From Your Phone | Lifehacker

Korea’s Coupang says data breach exposed nearly 34M customers’ personal information

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South Korean e-commerce platform Coupang over the weekend said nearly 34 million Korean customers’ personal information had been leaked in a data breach that had been ongoing for more than five months.

The company said it first detected the unauthorized exposure of 4,500 user accounts on November 18, but a subsequent investigation revealed that the breach had actually compromised about 33.7 million customer accounts in South Korea.

The breach affected customers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses, and certain order histories, per Coupang. More sensitive data like payment information, credit card numbers, and login credentials was not compromised and remains secure, the company said.

Coupang said it has reported the incident to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), and the National Police Agency.

One of South Korea’s biggest e-commerce platforms, Coupang also offers an online commerce service called “Rocket Delivery” in the country, and also operates its marketplace in Taiwan. A Coupang spokesperson told TechCrunch that the investigation has found no evidence that consumer data from Coupang Taiwan or Rocket Now, its food delivery service in Japan, was affected in the data breach.

“According to the investigation so far, it is believed that unauthorized access to personal information began on June 24, 2025, via overseas servers,” the company said. “Coupang blocked the unauthorized access route, strengthened internal monitoring, and retained experts from a leading independent security firm.”

Police have reportedly identified at least one suspect, a former Chinese Coupang employee now abroad, after launching an investigation following a November 18 complaint.

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Source: Korea’s Coupang says data breach exposed nearly 34M customers’ personal information | TechCrunch

India demands smartphone makers install government app

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India’s government has issued a directive that requires all smartphone manufacturers to install a government app on every handset in the country and has given them 90 days to get the job done – and to ensure users can’t remove the code.

The app is called “Sanchar Saathi” and is a product of India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

On Google Play and Apple’s App Store, the Department describes the app as “a citizen centric initiative … to empower mobile subscribers, strengthen their security and increase awareness about citizen centric initiatives.”

The app does those jobs by allowing users to report incoming calls or messages – even on WhatsApp – they suspect are attempts at fraud. Users can also report incoming calls for which caller ID reveals the +91 country code, as India’s government thinks that’s an indicator of a possible illegal telecoms operator.

Users can also block their device if they lose it or suspect it was stolen, an act that will prevent it from working on any mobile network in India.

Another function allows lookup of IMEI numbers so users can verify if their handset is genuine.

Spam and scams delivered by calls or TXTs are pervasive around the world, and researchers last year found that most Indian netizens receive three or more dodgy communiqués every day. This app has obvious potential to help reduce such attacks.

An announcement from India’s government states that cybersecurity at telcos is another reason for the requirement to install the app.

“Spoofed/ Tampered IMEIs in telecom network leads to situation where same IMEI is working in different devices at different places simultaneously and pose challenges in action against such IMEIs,” according to the announcement. “India has [a] big second-hand mobile device market. Cases have also been observed where stolen or blacklisted devices are being re-sold. It makes the purchaser abettor in crime and causes financial loss to them. The blocked/blacklisted IMEIs can be checked using Sanchar Saathi App.”

That motive is likely the reason India has required handset-makers to install Sanchar Saathi on existing handsets with a software update.

The directive also requires the app to be pre-installed, “visible, functional, and enabled for users at first setup.” Manufacturers may not disable or restrict its features and “must ensure the App is easily accessible during device setup.”

Those functions mean India’s government will soon have a means of accessing personal info on hundreds of millions of devices.

Apar Gupta, founder and director of India’s Internet Freedom Foundation, has criticized the directive on grounds that Sanchar Saathi isn’t fit for purpose. “Rather than resorting to coercion and mandating it to be installed the focus should be on improving it,” he wrote.

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Source: India demands smartphone makers install government app • The Register