Want to explain to me why I went to my Home screen on Roku this morning and this Howdy app had been added to my menu without my permission? Did I ask you to add this? No, I did not. Roku is becoming more invasive and aggressive every single day. All they want to do anymore is bend over for their sponsors and suck their money in lieu of giving their users a good customer experience. I am so over you!
Roku has a history of adding apps (as well as backgrounds and screensavers) for services they think their users might enjoy. At least it wasn't forced onto the top row, and it can be removed if unwanted. Frankly, there are more important issues to be dealt with than getting annoyed at a random app being added to the screen.
Yes. Many of us are well aware of Roku's history of adding unwanted apps.
Read more than just the above comment by TiffanyFLR.
Roku added howdy. Yesterday I was "allowed" to remove it from one of my roku devices.
My other two Roku devices: NO. Roku does not offer the option to remover this app. At least not as of 1413 PDT 081025.
Agreed I’m so done with Roku. I’ve been a fan of theirs since their inception and have bought Roku devices as gifts for many people. Last week WatchTCM stop working, and there is no solution yet. And the other day I wake up and see that stupid yellow howdy app on my home screen I immediately deleted it. Are they kidding?
Right. And now they won't let us delete it.
This is how they wish Roku to be known for anyone who thinks roku is supposed to be an alternative when 'cutting the cord'?
Oddyly enough, I was allowed to remove the "howdy" trash from my home page on one of my roku screens last night — and now I am unable to remove it from my other screen.
Time for roku to at least accommodate those of us who at this point still use roku but do not want roku to use our home pages as dumping grounds for their app-trash.
PLEASE??!!??
Goodness, personally I love it! & I love how Roku kind of thumbs their nose at Comcast Xfinity & cox & all the other providers of tv and also now Netflix & prime & hulu & all the others with no ads & good content for WAY more reasonably priced than the competition. I just hope they keep it reasonable & not corner the market & screw us bleeding us dry like the others. Peacock started off cool but very soon flipped on us like savages. Idk what's not to like about Howdy & Roku. 🤷
If Howdy is so great, why are the force feeding it down people's throats? Roku didn't achieve their level of success by tricking customers and imposing their will on the people. They got there by building a great interface that's now being overgrown by weeds. If you build a great streaming app that people want to watch, people will find it. If you put out an app that has a middle of the road content that has no tent pole movies or series to draw the people in, then that fruit is going to die on the vine. A lot of us don't mind ads as long as they use broadcast audio mixing standards for levels.
Make Howdy great and people will download it. Force it on me and I'll cut the TV's data connection so they get nothing and they can't force anything on me anymore. The Roku UI is good, but it's not worth all this new disrespect.
If Roku didn't pop the app icon on your screen, you likely would never have known about it. So how would you know to install it and check it out?
If you read the terms of service that you acknowledged when you signed up for Roku (you have read it, right?) you'll see that you have given Roku permission to add or remove apps from your device without your knowledge or consent. Usually they are only removed if the provider terminates their agreement with Roku, or they are violating their agreement (usually offering content without legal permission). But on occasion they add a new app (such as Howdy) simply to make people aware of it. Don't like it? Just remove it and go on your way.
New? Roku has done this from the beginning. This is nothing new.
