Whether you've owned a Roku device for two days or two years i'm willing to bet you
aren't taking full advantage of everything it can do stick around and i'll show you how to
get the most out of your Roku whether it's a streaming box streaming stick or Roku TV
Welcome back everyone i'm Caleb Dennison and today i want to run through a list of
Roku tips and tricks at least some of which i think you'll find helpful i mean even if you
pick up just one or two new skills from this video i think you'll be pretty happy but like
if you want to be a Roku power user i'll help you get there and before i get started i just
wanted to say thank you for your support just by watching clicking like and subscribing and
sharing our videos you help keep this channel running i literally could not do this without
your support also if you have lingering questions drop us a comment down below
and if i can't answer personally we've got a great community of loyal viewers who have
proven super helpful in the past so hop on into the conversation and i'll see you there
okay so i'm going to start with some Roku features that are well advertised but perhaps
you just forgot about them and then as we go along we'll work our way into some of the hidden
gems you may never have even known Roku offered with that in mind let's start with some tips on
changing how your Roku looks and feels first reorder your channels or apps if you didn't know
you don't have to just leave the apps in the order that they appeared when you first got started
actually by default Roku has apps i've never used right up at the top and apps i use all
the time several clicks down save yourself some clicks by putting the apps you use the most often
right at the top you can do this anytime you want and it's super easy just highlight the channel you
want to move press the star or asterisk button on the remote then move the app up down left right
wherever you want it continue doing this until all your favorite apps are in the order you prefer
once you've done that you're in a good spot to delete stuff you don't want you can delete
apps you never watch and even delete menu items from the sidebar when you're done you'll have a
cleaner home screen with everything you want and nothing you don't to delete apps highlight the
app press the star key and then select remove app to delete menu items off the sidebar click
settings then home screen then select hide on anything you don't want to see and you can always
undo this later now that we've got the home screen looking cleaner we can change the theme
or overall look of the home screen to do this click settings then themes and try one of the
free themes available this is fun to do around the holidays when Roku offers some seasonal themes to
match the occasion and as long as we're changing the home screen we can change the screen saver too
click settings then screen saver to have a look at what's pre-installed on the Roku or what i like to
do is go to the screen saver channel and look at all the options there if you dig the crackling
fireplace look that's available among a ton of other cool options a quick note here before we
move on there is currently still a way to add so-called private channels to your Roku these are
not official channels they they don't necessarily abide by Roku's terms and conditions so they
aren't easy to get but that's on purpose so let's say you wanted to have twitch as a channel on Roku
since there's no official twitch channel you'll need to add the private channel here's how you
do it go to your Roku account using a web browser when you get to your account's homepage click on
add channel with a code now you'll need to know the code for the channel you want you
can look that up pretty easily in this case we're adding twitch so we type in twitch TV there will
be a warning click yes you want it anyway and your Roku will update with that channel on it
now let's talk about the Roku app folks i'll make this simple if you don't have the Roku app
then you are missing out on a ton of legit helpful and fun stuff your Roku can do
so much is unlocked with the app so if there's one thing you take away from this video it's
get the app for your phone or tablet ios or android once you have it here's how you'll benefit
first off if you lose your remote and you don't have Roku's remote finder you can always use the
app as your remote also it's easier to enter text if you're tired of hunting and pecking out one
letter at a time with a virtual keyboard then you can use a real keyboard built into the Roku app
just using the app as a remote when you get to a spot where you need to enter a username
password or search term just double thumb your way through it in a fraction of the time
another cool Roku app feature lets you replace the screen saver with your photos so head to the
devices tab on the Roku app then click media and select screen saver allow Roku to access
your photo library then select the photos you want to comprise your screen saver now if you do this
and want to switch back to a normal screen saver you need to go back to your Roku players menu
click settings then theme then screen savers and pick what you'd like from there
now let's talk about sharing content while the Roku isn't a full-on chromecast capable device
you can cast content to it from the youtube and netflix apps so if you're watching something on
your phone or tablet from netflix or youtube click the little TV icon and as long as you're on the
same network as your Roku you can cast the content to the Roku and continue watching on your TV
in addition to being able to cast content to your Roku you can also screen mirror your device now
sometimes these two terms are used interchangeably but to be clear here screen mirroring is the
process of showing exactly what's on your phone or tablet screen up on a bigger screen through
the Roku it's not just about playing music videos or photos so if you're on android you're going to
need to look up the instructions for screen mirroring for that android device and go
through that process where at the end you'll get to choose the Roku device as the mirroring device
as long as you're on the same network you should have no problem it's a bit easier if you're on
iphone or ipad though so long as your Roku device supports airplay or airplay too and most of them
do now to do that follow airplay instructions for your device and again just pick your Roku device
as the mirror then you'll see exactly what's on your phone or tablet screen right up on your
big TV this can be great for presentations where you don't want to try to make a wired connection
now those are all awesome Roku app tips but my absolute favorite has to be the private listening
feature now you might have a Roku remote with a headphone jack built in so that you can just plug
in a pair of wired headphones or earbuds and start listening that way the problem is doing
it this way will kill your remote batteries pretty quickly so when i want to listen privately
i do it this way what you want to do is use the Roku app for audio listening this way you can use
wired headphones or wireless headphones connected to your phone or tablet and listen to whatever
you are watching on your Roku this is great for when you want to watch TV with big robust sound
but without disturbing anyone i do it all the time next i want to talk about privacy for a minute
now if you're the sort of person who will happily give up a personalized experience
in favor of privacy here's a couple things you can do you want to go to settings then click privacy
then click advertising and then click limit add tracking and make sure that the box is checked
this stops Roku from serving you ads based on your viewing habits now to keep your personal
info from being sold by Roku this does nothing for the apps that you use tap the profile icon
in the Roku mobile app and then make sure the opt out toggle is turned on and that's my list
for now i reserve the right to do another one with some more specifics around changing the audio and
picture quality but hopefully now you know how to get much more out of your Roku experience
thanks as always for watching everybody if you found this video helpful let us know by
clicking like and subscribe and here's two other videos i think you'll like