I have multiple Roku devices. The main unit I use is a Roku 4670X ULTRA. For over a year now I have been using this device every night. I use the YouTube app and access one of the 10 to 12 hour selections of relaxing/healing music. Once watching the video I have been able to long press (3 seconds) the mute button to get the TV display to turn off (go black) while keeping the audio working. A few daya ago this stopped working. I have spent multiple sessions on the phone with Roku support (under Support reference #: 13120646) but have made no progress. The last promise to call me back was apparently not true, no one called, so i was lied to by support. I have identified the issue on my own. I can see that the ULTRA was updated to software version 15.0.4 build 5531 on 10/8/2025, which is when this feature stopped working. I also have a Roku Express and a Roku Premiere + that have not been used for a while so I hooked up the Roku Premiere + to the involved TV and paired up the remote that I first experienced the issue with. The long press feature works fine with that device. I checked and found the software version on that device is 14.6.4 build 9915. I also checked the Roku Express with an even older version of software and the feature is working properly. CLEARLY this indicates a bug in the 15.0.4 build 5531 software. PLEASE get the development team to correct what has been broken by that software update.

I reported a bug here:Software bug in version 15.0.4 build 5531 | Roku CommunityThe bug is a function that has worked for a long time - when you press the mute button on the roku remote the player would cause the display to go black, but would leave the audio running. That feature has been disabled when a player updates from software version 14.6.4 build 9915 to software version 15.0.4 build 5531. Since then another update has occurred to build 5534, but the function remains disabled. And there is no way to prevent updates. I have had three Roku devices suffer this function being disabled and it appears Roku does not care that their updates are breaking a feature! I used this daily to bring up YouTube videos with long musical audio tracks and kept the audio running while the video was turned off.

blue_gascon wrote:I am not using the TV remote. I am using Roku voice remotes in each case.That doesn't mean you're not activating a TV function however. When you set up a Roku remote for a TV, the TV controls including mute are programmed to send appropriate IR codes to the TV.

I can confirm that I've experienced disabling of the long press mute button on the Roku voice remote, which used to turn off the display while leaving audio active. I have 2 Roku streaming sticks with software version 15.0.4 build 5534. On both of these streaming sticks voice remotes, the long press of the mute button worked fine on Vizio T.V.'s before the 15.0.4 software update. After the update both voice remotes the long press of the mute button no longer works. In contrast, I have another Roku streaming stick that I keep the plug pulled from the wall and the batteries pulled out of the voice remote. It has not been updated and holding the mute button long press it turns off the display while leaving audio active. The working stick has software version 14.6.4, build 9914, and remote firmware version 2.01.19.108. It too is installed on another Vizio T.V. AND the the long press of the mute button turns off the display while leaving audio active. NO ISSUE!!Try this! Take the Roku voice remote with software version 14.6.4, build 9914.1) Hold the mute button down, 2) Point the remote IR code end at the camera app on your phone (camera app on) screen, 3) You'll see a light stream that STAYS ON while you're holding the mute button down, 4) You'll also notice if you point the Vizio T.V. remote, IR code end, at the phone camera app being turned on, and hold the Vizio remote mute button down, the remote transmits a light that stays on while holding down the mute button turning off the T.V Screen while leaving the T.V. audio on.In contrast, try the same procedure with the Roku voice remote on the TV using the updated Roku streaming stick with software version 15.0.4 build 5534. You'll see when you hold the Roku remote mute button long press, the remote sends a short flash of light resulting in only mute On or Off displayed on the T.V. screen. While I'm not an expert here, I'm confident that the short flash of light produced by Roku remotes after the recent update IS NOT ALLOWING the proper coding to tell the T.V. to turn off the T.V. screen while leaving the audio playing!Finally! Roku, you need to provide a fix and restore the long mute button hold function the recent update disabled. Roku, please take ownership of the problem and provide a fix with an software update! If interested, I would be happy to show your engineering team exactly what I've discovered!Thank you!

Hello blue_gascon You mentioned that after an update, your Roku Ultra no longer supports the long-press mute function that previously turned off the display while keeping audio active. As an alternative, try enabling Fast TV Start: Go to Settings > System > Power > Fast TV Start and turn it on. Once audio is playing, you can turn off the screen by: Remote: Press the Star (*) button, scroll to Turn off display Voice (with Roku Voice Remote Pro): Say “Turn off display” or “Hey Roku, turn off the screen” To turn the screen back on, press OK or use a voice command like “Turn on display.” For more tips, visit here. Hope this helps! Roku Community Team

blue_gascon , I've been using Roku devices since day 1 and this is the first time I've ever heard of such a feature and in fact I tried it on my various devices that haven't updated to 15.0 and none of them turn off the display. Are you certain that this isn't a feature of your TV(s)? A quick search shows that some Vizio TVs have this feature. Since the TV controls on the remote are strictly for the TV, I don't believe they'd have any effect on a Roku device.

Long Press Mute Function Disabled

16 Replies

blue_gascon
Binge Watcher
20 days ago
I reported a bug here:
Software bug in version 15.0.4 build 5531 | Roku Community
The bug is a function that has worked for a long time - when you press the mute button on the roku remote the player would cause the display to go black, but would leave the audio running. That feature has been disabled when a player updates from software version 14.6.4 build 9915 to software version 15.0.4 build 5531. Since then another update has occurred to build 5534, but the function remains disabled. And there is no way to prevent updates. I have had three Roku devices suffer this function being disabled and it appears Roku does not care that their updates are breaking a feature! I used this daily to bring up YouTube videos with long musical audio tracks and kept the audio running while the video was turned off.
- RokuRiamie-D
  Community Moderator
  19 days ago
  Hello blue_gascon
  
  You mentioned that after an update, your Roku Ultra no longer supports the long-press mute function that previously turned off the display while keeping audio active.
  
  As an alternative, try enabling Fast TV Start: Go to Settings > System > Power > Fast TV Start and turn it on.
  
  Once audio is playing, you can turn off the screen by:
  
  Remote: Press the Star (*) button, scroll to Turn off display
  
  Voice (with Roku Voice Remote Pro): Say “Turn off display” or “Hey Roku, turn off the screen”
  
  To turn the screen back on, press OK or use a voice command like “Turn on display.”
  
  For more tips, visit here.
  
  Hope this helps!
  
  Roku Community Team
  - blue_gascon
    Binge Watcher
    19 days ago
    Thank you for your response, but your proposed solutions are not applicable. You have proposed solutions that work on Roku TVs, NOT on Roku players. Your suggestion to use the remote and "Press the Star (*) button, scroll to Turn off display" does not work on external Roku players. There is no such option when pressing the Star (*). All that appears are options for Closed Captioning, Volume mode, and Accessibility and Language.
    There is also NO CATEGORY available in Settings > System > Power, and therefore no "Fast TV Start" menu item to turn on.
    I have four external Roku players as follows:
    1. A 3810X Roku Streaming Stick+
    2. A 4670X Roku ULTRA
    3. A 3910RW Roku Express+
    4. A 3921RW Roku Premiere+
    The fourth device, the Premiere+, has not updated and remains at software version 14.6.4 build 9915. The long press of the mute button on the Roku voice remote does in fact still turn off the display while leaving audio active. I have seen the other three devices loose this feature as each of them has updated to software version 15.0.4 build 5531, and then to build 5534.
- renojim
  Community Streaming Expert
  19 days ago
  blue_gascon , I've been using Roku devices since day 1 and this is the first time I've ever heard of such a feature and in fact I tried it on my various devices that haven't updated to 15.0 and none of them turn off the display. Are you certain that this isn't a feature of your TV(s)? A quick search shows that some Vizio TVs have this feature. Since the TV controls on the remote are strictly for the TV, I don't believe they'd have any effect on a Roku device.
  - blue_gascon
    Binge Watcher
    19 days ago
    I am not using the TV remote. I am using Roku voice remotes in each case. TVs are a mix of Vizio and Samsung.
    I have four external Roku players as follows:
    1. A 3810X Roku Streaming Stick+
    2. A 4670X Roku ULTRA
    3. A 3910RW Roku Express+
    4. A 3921RW Roku Premiere+
    I have used this feature daily for over a year. I discovered it in a post on the Internet by a user, I believe even in one of these Roku discussions. The fourth device, the Premiere+, has not updated and remains at software version 14.6.4 build 9915. The long press of the mute button on the Roku voice remote does in fact still turn off the display while leaving audio active. I have seen the other three devices loose this feature as each of them has updated to software version 15.0.4 build 5531, and then to build 5534.
Strega2
Roku Guru
19 days ago
I searched around for awhile. I couldn't find any documentation of a feature like this related to Roku players. (Roku TVs, yes, players, no - although even with the Roku TVs, you don't press the mute button to activate this feature.)
I also found references to vizio TVs - for example, here is a response from a vizio moderator: "Hi there, This is actually a feature that we have on our TV's! Just press and hold the mute button on the VIZIO TV remote to sleep the screen! Now if the TV accitdently mutes the TV, the volume up and down buttons will not affect the screen sleeping. Any other button press will wake it up though!"
Could a Roku update affect a TV feature? I would say yes. For example, what does holding the mute button do? Does it send the same code over and over again? If so, maybe just changing the delay between codes would cause the TV feature to not trigger and Roku would never know about it (since they probably didn't know about the feature to begin with). Perhaps try the TV remote? If the TV remote still activates the feature, then I would think it is something like that.
- blue_gascon
  Binge Watcher
  19 days ago
  This is where I discovered the feature:
  https://www.reddit.com/r/Roku/comments/eqbuys/long_pressing_the_new_roku_remotes_mute_button/?chainedPosts=t3_azwvuk
  "Long pressing the new Roku remote's mute button while playing usually disables your TV's screen without turning off the audio. Great for background music."
  
  As I said, I have been using the feature for a long time now. The TV firmware has not been updated, only the software in the Roku player.
Strega2
Roku Guru
19 days ago
OK, so that thread's OP says it "usually" does that. Someone asks: Usually?? When doesn't it work? And someone replies when your TV doesn't support that command. One person makes multiple posts saying it works for him - on his Vizio TV. Most responses are about it not working for them. I don't see anyone claiming to be a Roku employee or mod in that thread, or any link to a Roku page (not even one that has since been removed.) Pretty mysterious but I'm still leaning towards a TV feature.
- blue_gascon
  Binge Watcher
  18 days ago
  It appears that it IS a feature of the TV and a long press of the TV remote still turns the display off. But the updated Roku software must have changed the way the TV controls of the Roku remote work. When setting the remote up to control the TV it has always been the first choice when indicating a Vizio TV. All other possible choices for Vizio do not work correctly with my TV. But at least I can make the feature work with the TV remote, so I guess I will just have to live with it.
  - renojim
    Community Streaming Expert
    18 days ago
    It's good that you have something that works. It's strange that a Roku update would affect the remote, but maybe the update included some kind of remote update? Have you tried setting up the remote for TV control using both CEC and IR? I assume those options exist for all Roku models, but I'm not sure.

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Long Press Mute Function Disabled

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