- Quick question,
how many of you walk around the house with your phone?
I mean, you're chilling in the living room, watching TV,
and your phone's right next to you.
You hit the bathroom and you take it with you.
You lay down and it's on your nightstand.
You get up, watch TV in bed, and it's next to you.
Now, how many of you do that with your remote?
How many of you have lost your remote?
Today, I'm gonna show you Roku's awesome mobile app
and remote.
You don't wanna miss this because if you aren't using it,
you are definitely missing out.
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You already know
that we're big fans of Roku around these parts.
Roku hardware, their menu set up, and the breadth of options
when it comes to streaming services are
among the best available,
and they have something for everyone
with the various price points.
And much like the utility you get
out of a Roku hardware product and its software,
the Roku mobile app is an equal compliment
in its versatility.
It's part streaming app, part streaming service portal,
part remote, and it is all good.
One of my favorite experiences
in streaming boxes is Apple TV and iPhone
because they make all the hardware,
so it's just easy to use all the way around.
Well, Roku has gone a long way to give a similar experience
without even being in control of the mobile hardware.
But we'll get to that more in a minute.
Once you download the app,
you can configure your services and settings in the app.
I wanna spend some time with that,
but that's gonna factor into my discussion
of the remote functions to a degree.
So, let's take a look at the app,
beginning with the first things you'll see
when you crack it open, the home tab.
Now, what you see and have access to is going to depend
on whether you're at home connected to your Roku hardware
or out in these streets connected to living your best life.
When connected, you're going to have a list
up top of recent channels you've watched.
Now, keep in mind
that Roku calls the various streaming services
you can connect "channels."
And since this is the Roku app,
the next tile down shows you
what is currently being featured on the Roku Channel.
Craig has done a whole review of what's on offer there,
so you can check out that video for more.
Next is popular zones.
This is a smart way for Roku
to break all of the content up into general categories,
so you can see a bunch of similar items
which may interest you all in one place.
The most interesting category
for me is the Movies at Home zone.
Like it says, these are movies you can watch at home,
new releases that were recently in theaters
or that released and streamed simultaneously,
as well as streaming releases,
free movies on the Roku Channel,
and there's something for everyone
from the kids to the parental units.
There are other category zones as you scroll down the page,
but the Watch Live tile is probably one
that many of you may gravitate to.
This is where you can stream live news, sports,
and kids programming.
The options for live streaming content
on offer here are okay,
but I like what's served
on the next tab we're going to talk about.
The next tab over is the Roku Channel tab.
Here's where you'll find live TV
with some great news options, children's programming,
game shows, and popular TV shows.
It really is a more robust offering
than the live TV tile on the home tab.
If you're already familiar with the Roku Channel
on your streaming box,
then everything you see here should be familiar
to you as well, from the featured content to the categories
like romantic comedies and Espacio Latino, it's all there.
And the streaming quality, even on a week 5G signal,
is beautiful for live TV.
At home on wifi, forget about it.
And I haven't talked about it yet,
but the search box at the top of each window is type
and voice input enabled.
This makes it easy to search
for your favorite content on Roku
if you don't feel like using the voice enabled remote
that comes with some Roku models.
This greatly expands the utility of using the app
over the supplied remotes in my opinion.
Pro tip, before I get into this next part,
the Roku app is available as a widget on Android,
so you don't have to go into the Roku app itself
to access basic remote functionality, okay?
Now, the real magic happens in the last two tabs
when connected to your home wifi network and Roku hardware,
so let's get into those.
And one more,
tapping on that remote tab brings up the,
you guessed it, virtual remote.
And this virtual remote is so much more functional
than the hardware remote which comes with your box.
From the top drop down menu,
you could choose which Roku you're controlling.
Then below that you have a settings cog.
Tap on that and you'll find options to change
how you interface with the remote.
I prefer traditional tapping over the swipe option.
And you'll be able to turn on private listening
so that you can stream audio through your mobile device.
This is a great option
if you find yourself watching a movie late at night
and you don't want to disturb anyone,
also great if you have a great pair of earbuds
or headphones like AirPods Pro or Max or Pixel Buds
or Galaxy Buds Pro or Sony XM4.
You can also turn haptic feedback
in the app on and off here,
switch the Roku you're controlling,
buy another remote if you lose yours,
and adjust the audio delay
using the phone's camera and microphones.
Now, backing out of that
and going back to the remote interface,
next to the cog you'll have a keyboard icon,
which, as you've guessed, allows you to use the phone
for keyboard input on your Roku
instead of navigating text boxes with the hardware remote
and its D-pad, which is so laborious.
This is such a time saver however
when you have to fill in those email addresses
and passwords to sign into a service.
Next to that is the search dialogue.
Then below that row of icons,
you get your standard remote functions,
the back arrow, menu asterisk, home button D-pad.
And below that you have
the skip backwards 10 seconds button,
voice activation button,
which allows you to do things like search for movies
using only a line from the movie
or find free movies or yes, search for content by title.
Next to that is the headphones button.
You're gonna press that whenever you have headphones
or earbuds plugged in or connected to your mobile device.
Below those icons are your standard rewind, play, pause,
and fast forward icons.
Connecting to certain devices will get you a row
of volume control buttons as well.
Then at the bottom of the remote,
the remote tab is already lit up
because that's what you're using,
but you can change that by tapping the channels icon.
This brings up a list
of the most recent channels you've been watching.
And last, there's your save list.
These are shows you've saved to a watch list,
or save list as Roku calls it,
in the main Roku app or on your TV in the Roku app.
Going back to the main screen, the last tab, devices,
just shows you all of the devices you've connected
to your Roku app.
It gives you the current status of those devices,
including showing you
which device you're currently connected to.
You'll notice that under them you have icons similar
to what was in the remote
with the addition of the media icon.
Tapping on this icon allows you to play various media
from your phone to your TV
and gives you instructions on playing content
directly from the apps on your mobile device
either via AirPlay or the Chromecast icon.
Another way to access media
and play it on your Roku device is via the account menu
at the top right of the home screen.
You go into photo streams there once you get in there
and you can now upload photos directly from your device
to play on Roku's screensaver, AKA photo streams.
Like everything else I encountered when using the app,
the process of creating your photo streams is easy
and straightforward.
And hey, iOS users, there's a menu here for Siri shortcuts
which allows you to do things like open the Roku app,
play, pause, search,
and turn on and off supported Roku devices,
obviously again, using Siri voice activation
directly from your phone
or your mobile device, your tablet, your iPad.
Speaking of turning things off,
I better wrap this up before y'all turn me off.
At the end of the day, this app is excellent,
and you should all go download it now
if you haven't already.
Its utility and ease of use make it the perfect companion
to your Roku box or Roku smart TV,
and you'll be glad you have it
the next time you misplace the remote
or one of the kids loses it.
Hey, I'm Tshaka Armstrong for Reviews.org.
Don't take it lightly
that you spent your time here watching with us.
If you have any questions about the mobile Roku app
and remote that I didn't answer in this review,
please leave them in the comments below.
I'll get to them.
Love chatting with you.
I'll catch you on the next video.