You’ll lose this critical cross-device feature if you root your Googlebook

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You'll lose this critical cross-device feature if you root your Googlebook

Nov 2, 2026 — 4:08 AM ET

- A top Android tinkerer has confirmed that you’ll lose app casting capabilities if you root your Googlebook.

- This is apparently because your Googlebook will no longer pass hardware key attestation.

Googlebooks have been on the market for roughly a month now, and they have a few selling points. This includes deep Gemini integration, a variety of cross-device features, and Android app support. Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll lose out on one key feature if you choose to root your Googlebook.

Magisk creator and Googler John Wu has confirmed on X that you can’t cast apps from your Android phone to your Googlebook if the laptop is rooted. The developer explained that this is because the phone rejects app casting if the Googlebook doesn’t pass hardware key attestation.

It’s no surprise to lose out on some features if you have a rooted device. It’s not uncommon for banking apps, Google Wallet, and some streaming apps to stop working after rooting an Android phone.

However, app casting is one of the key reasons to buy a Googlebook in the first place. So it’s unfortunate that you might lose out on this feature if you choose to root your new Google-powered laptop. Then again, I imagine that casting apps to a rooted Googlebook could be a security risk for your phone and associated apps.

In any event, the news also comes after a rather disappointing initial reception to these Google-powered laptops. Issues at launch include broken app casting, no multiple profiles in Chrome, and barebones Linux support. Thankfully, Google has fixed these issues or confirmed that a fix is on the roadmap.