My back button on my Roku is not working. It is not working on the remote that came with the Roku and it also doesn't work when I try to use the remote with my phone using the Roku app. All other buttons on the remote are working. I have already tried a system reset.
Hello,
The back button that allows users to toggle between two channels stopped working on all of our Roku devices (5+ devices in same house). I suspect a faulty firmware update. I have reset the Roku receiver (unplugged for 60 seconds) and replaced the batteries in the remote control - but that solution did not work. I would appreciate any help.
Adding the growing pile. Definitely agree that this is related to a recent update. Had some issues with my Roku earlier today. Up until that point it had been working without any issues. Ended up performing a factory reset and initially after restoring all settings and apps it seemed to be functioning as expected until several hours later when in the HBO Max app I attempted to use the back button as I normally would and nothing. Thought the issue was just with the HBO Max app, but also noticed the same behavior with Hulu and Disney, yet it works fine in both the Netflix and Prime Video apps. Also it works intermittently on the Home screen. Been in IT for over 30+ years and if I ever rolled out updates that either broke a system(s) or did not have the capability to roll the updates back in the event of an issue(s) I would have lost my job a long time ago. Have to do better Roku.
Same issue - Roku broke something. To be clear, this is the Back arrow button next to the Home button.
As you said, others are reporting the back button doesn’t even work from the Roku app.
The only workaround I’ve found is toggling on the voice control slider button on the side of the remote (if your remote has one). Toggle it on and see if the back button begins working, then try toggling it off. Play around with it. For me, it fixes the problem temporarily at least. There seems to be some link to voice control.
Roku, please get this fixed.
I can confirm toggling voice search on and off seems to restore functionality at least temporarily.
Over on the Roku subreddit, there is talk that it is home screen related and that after a reboot immediately move off the home screen And open your desired app via search and it won't hose the back button. Haven't tried it yet myself.
The search option to open the app works even without the reboot. They have got a home screen problem - and it just started for us all. Bad update somewhere in their ecosystem.
I updated my Roku today August 27th 2025 and now if I'm inside of an app playing a movie and I hit the back button nothing happens. So I have no way to exit that movie.
From user Antharian on another thread ("Known Issues"):
Further testing shows that if you enter the app via the "Search" menu area, the back button will work. This leads me to believe they published content to the "Home" Content Well that broke things.
For this to work, the "Back" button must be functioning; Hit the "Home" button, then navigate to the "Search" menu, and find the app you want to run. It should function until they get this resolved.
You rock!!! This worked for me. But Roku needs to get on this fast.
Thanks for this workaround!
I have the same issue . Back button ( the bottom next to the home button) stopped working for many apps.
Same issue here. The back button/arrow doesn't work on any apps now on any of my Roku remotes. I even tried the remote control app and it doesn't work from there either.
Me too. Two different Roku Ultras, two different remotes, tried resetting, unplugging power to the roku, repairing remotes, etc.. It just happened all of a sudden not too long ago. The back button (left arrow button to the left of the Home button) simply does not have any effect in any app or even in the main Roku menus like for system settings, etc.. The Rokus register the button press, since I can watch the LED flicker on the Roku, they just don't do anything. They say I last updated the firmware in early July, so if it is a bad firmware update, it must be some counter/clock that took this long to finally overflow. One of them has been stuck "Checking for new software" for a long time now (stuck so badly that I just had to power cycle it), so I'm thinking that maybe this is a more widespread issue and Roku's update server is being hammered?? It smells like a firmware bug to me. I guess we just have to wait for them to release an update. This is a serious problem, since most of my most commonly used apps are largely unusable without back button functionality.
