Forum Discussion

Alatarius's avatar
Alatarius
Binge Watcher
3 years ago
Solved

Why can't the devs add a "Clear Cache" to the channels like all the other streaming apps

Most of the other apps and devices have a "Clear Cache" option to their channels, like Samsung TV and Netflix, Hulu, etc on mobile devices. Roku is the only device/service that I have found that does...
app playback
  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    3 years ago

    That needs to be communicated to the individual channel developers. Roku only provides two channels themselves: The Roku Channel and Roku Media Player. All other channels are developed by 3rd parties, and would have to build that functionality into their own channels.

    I think it's a good idea, but getting all the developers to implement such a function might prove to be difficult. Roku is dropping support for an older version of their programming language late this year, and it's been announced to the developers for quite some time. And yet, some channels still rely on that old programming language that will soon fail to work at all. 

atc98092's avatar
atc98092
Community Streaming Expert
2 years ago
Alatarius wrote:

Isn't the Roku development team the one's responsible for programming the streaming devices? How can they NOT be responsible for adding this to a streaming device. 

Roku developers are responsible for the core operating system, as well as a handful of Roku branded channels. All other channels are developed by 3rd party developers, who are paid by the content providers, not Roku. No, Roku developers are not responsible for the functionality within these 3rd party channels. 

Rebooting the Roku is how you clear the cache from the operating system. There's no method of the OS clearing the cache within a specific channel. Look at the browser cache on your computer. Clearing the cache in Edge does not clear the cache for Chrome or any other browser you install. Each app must have its own method. 

Alatarius's avatar
Alatarius
Binge Watcher
2 years ago

Not true If I open my browser on my PC the I can clear the cache from every site I have visited within the browser itself. As the browser isn't the website itself all site would be considered 3rd party and yet I can clear the cache with the browser itself and browser developers don't leave it up to the individual sites to clear the cache from the browser. Roku device are basically browsers for streaming sites so to say it's the sites problem to clear the cache is a misnomer. You shouldn't have to power off the device to clear the cache. You don't have to shut down your browser to clear the cache.

Even the streaming sticks let you clear the cache from within their devices but yet Roku can't seem to figure this out. The Amazon Firestick allows this, so does Google TV streaming stick. With both of those they have an option in their settings to clear cache, so why can't Roku? Are you saying that these other two companies can do something that simple but you can't?

To say it's the streaming sites problem, in my opinion, is just lazy development, since all the other streaming devices have this option.

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert
    2 years ago
    Alatarius wrote:

    Not true If I open my browser on my PC the I can clear the cache from every site I have visited within the browser itself.

    Yes, but you're only clearing the cache for that one browser. I have three different browsers on the computer I'm using at the moment. Clearing the cache for Chrome does NOT clear the cache for Edge or Brave. That's why I say the app has to clear its own cache. And Windows itself has no method of clearing the cache for any of them. Again, it's not the OS's job to do those things. It's the application itself that handles that. 

    • Alatarius's avatar
      Alatarius
      Binge Watcher
      2 years ago

      But we're not talking about browsers. We're talking about a physical device where the cache is stored such as any Roku streaming box or Roku TV. Third parties don't have access to those and I assume it's safe to say that all of the streaming hosts don't have access to your proprietary software. There needs to be a setting to clear the cache on a particular Roku device without having to unplug said device and plugging it back in.

      For example both Google TV streaming device and Amazon Firestick have settings to clear the cache since that's not a 3rd party capability. That is up to the device software.

      And yes, the device itself is where the cache is stored so again, why can't Roku devices have a clear cache button?

      • atc98092's avatar
        atc98092
        Community Streaming Expert
        2 years ago

        I admit I don't know the inner functionality of the Roku OS. I used browsers as a comparison because they are apps, just like the Roku channels. If each channel stores its cache independently (like the browsers do), then it would not be viable to have a global cache clearing function.

        Now if every channel stored their cache in the same folder, then an OS level clear function would be possible. But my guess is each channel stores its own, and I do know enough about coding to know that would be a complete pain to attempt to program at the OS level.