In addition to revised hardware for Chromecast and the new Chromcast Audio, Google also announced a new version of the Chromecast app at its San Francisco event. This updated app is more than just a connection tool, it's a content discovery portal, automatically detecting Chromecast and Chromecast Audio-compatible apps on your phone or tablet. It will show popular and personalized content suggestions to users, and recommend new Chromecast apps from the Play Store.

The new default screen is What's On, a sort of pick-and-mix of the Chromecast-compatible content on your phone right now. It's presented in a scrolling list of categories, not unlike the home page of the Play Store app. Each app is its own sub-section, with a side-scrolling list of shows and live streaming events. Tapping on any show will take you into the relevant app with that piece of content open. There's also a launcher-style icon list of all your cast-enabled apps.

The Devices tab will show you all of the Chromecast and Chromecast Audio units on your home network and what's playing on them right now, along with simple playback controls for each. The third tab is Get Apps, which is a selection of Chromecast-enabled apps in the Play Store. Again, this view looks a lot like a featured Play Store page with content split up into predictable categories.

But wait, there's more! The Chromecast app now includes a search bar, which searches for individual pieces of content (like a single TV episode) across all your apps. The listings include individual links to different services - for example, if something is available for free streaming on Netflix or purchasing on Google Play, you'll see both of those options with a link to each. Nice. It also shows services for apps that you don't have installed with Play Store links. General search results include YouTube and other video results from the web.

The app update will be coming "in the next few weeks" on both Android and iOS.