Forum Discussion

PerFam's avatar
PerFam
Reel Rookie
4 years ago

Feature Request: Please allow us to create profiles!

I have ALWAYS loved my Roku devices over every other streaming device out there.   At this point, nearly every TV in our home is either a ROKU TV or it's connected to a Roku streaming stick.    Now that Roku is offering Live TV and channels upgrades, I would LOVE to cancel all of my services and just use my Roku device.  

HOWEVER, there is ONE major way that the fire stick has you guys beat... which sucks... because I hate them in every other way.   But the issue I have is a non-negotiable for us. In our home, we have 3 young children, one with autism who is VERY intelligent with tech but simply can't be allowed to watch unfiltered content due to his lack of social awareness and understanding of danger. 

Here's the issue: There is no option to use profiles to access the home navigational menu.   I understand that not every user wants this feature, but  I can't imagine I'm the only one.   It would be great if you could choose "enable profiles" in the system settings so that some profiles can be set-up with specific channels removed and all inappropriate ads/offers can be eliminated on the kid's profile.  Obviously, the profiles would need to have the ability to best to parental control mode so that the adult profile couldn't be accessed by children.  

Also: as a side note, I'm well aware of the parental controls currently being offered but that doesn't stop the kids from accessing specific apps (like youtube.)


So DEAR ROKU QUALITY CONTROL:  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE begin offering the option to use profiles!
or at a bare minimum, allow us to set specific apps to restricted so that a code is required for access to the app. 

Thank you!

4 Replies

  • JustJeremy's avatar
    JustJeremy
    Reel Rookie
    4 years ago

    I whole heartedly agree with profiles. This is about the dumbest thing ever. Even more so because credit cards are in play. Sure you can do the pin thing but you shouldn't have to. 

    In my situation my wife keeps adding channels and rearranging the home screen. Then she forgets or maybe doesn't that it's my credit card on the account.  Then she adds all kinds of stuff to the feeds that does nothing more than clutter it up with stuff I don't care about.

    We were going to try cut the cord so we tried Roku out first. I think not having this one feature may be a deal breaker for us. 

    Being a Sr Software Engineer this boggles my mind how little foresight went into this. I could not even imagine having a household of 4-6 people and relying on just Roku for watching TV.  I'd go out of my mind with the home screen changing all the time, feed with tons of garbage and channels that I have no interest in.

    • rg1231's avatar
      rg1231
      Newbie
      4 years ago

      I am also all for this and think Roku should consider it at the home/ login screen. It is impossible to go channel by channel, and it would open up new opportunities to not only personalize the channels that are exposed, but it would help parents by limiting the access of certain content even before having to configure each individual channel options (which some have, and some do not). 

      Most of the wifi parental controls do so by device or IP address, so placing limits on a certain TV, means everyone in the house has the same limits unless it is changed each time. Having a profile option on the main screen would enable the same parental control concept before even going to a specific channel. 

      Please add this as a feature! 

  • MilesT's avatar
    MilesT
    Roku Guru
    4 years ago

    Much requested. Roku is just not interested in profiles and family friendly features.

    Best you can do is use account to PIN lock channel add, and put some TVs onto a different Roku online account (with PIN lock). This works best if you suscribre to channels directly not via Roku.  Guest mode might also work, but might not allow PIN lock, and might need additional Roku account anyway.

     

  • Nacho_Roku's avatar
    Nacho_Roku
    Newbie
    4 months ago

    Apparently this has still not happened, which is unfortunate. I have also just found out about this issue and wish this would have been addressed. From some of these comments it appears that I may have to move to either the Fire TVs or Fire Stick option, which is disappointing to me. Almost every other streaming service offers profiles and it amazes me that you are still reluctant to advance your technology to meet people's interests.