Forum Discussion

Real_DiRT's avatar
Real_DiRT
Reel Rookie
2 years ago
Solved

Remove "Categories" and "Browse" from Home Screen

I have all shortcuts turned off under the available options for my Home Screen. However, I now have, in my list of channels, "Categories" featuring 'Movies', 'TV Shows', and 'New & Popular' and "Brow...
  • RokuAustin's avatar
    RokuAustin
    2 years ago

    Thanks for all your input on Roku’s latest update. All devices will receive an update over the next couple of days that will allow you to revert back to the original settings.

    You can customize your features by navigating to Settings > Home Screen > Recommendation rows.

    Happy Streaming!

nothanks123's avatar
nothanks123
Newbie
2 years ago

Agree. Total BS. One more way to screw customers.  

JoLiKMC's avatar
JoLiKMC
Binge Watcher
2 years ago

Alright, you lot.  Calm down.

It's annoying, yes.  A majority of people probably didn't ask for this.  But… are you seriously going to throw away your television set and stop using Roku's streaming services all because they made a decision you don't agree with?  Seriously?  That just seems wasteful.

Looking at it pragmatically, this has no real impact on the customer base other than being a small irritation.  It's not costing anyone anything more than a small amount of time, if only to gawk at it and go "What a **bleep** idea!", and they're not forcing anyone to use it.  I mean, it would be one thing if they pulled a YouTube and started jamming unskippable advertisements in there.  These are just "convenience options", though; harmless and potentially helpful to some users.  Nothing more.

That said, I still stand by my previous statements of "please remove this silliness from my Home Screen".  Or at the very least, give us the option to turn them off.  For someone like me, it still seems very unnecessary and no more convenient than the usual "Find Channels" option Settings or the "Live TV" "channel".  Plus, I like to keep my Home Screen tidy with around six options since that's about all the inputs and subscriptions I currently have.  Seeing this addition of six more options that I really didn't want or need was definitely shocking and is somewhat annoying.  I'm not going to throw away my TV set, though; I'm going to keep watching stuff on Roku TV and keep using my TV until it breaks.  I just really wish there was an option to disable that extra stuff.

Once again, thank you.

  • JCGoodwin's avatar
    JCGoodwin
    Roku Guru
    2 years ago

    JoLiKMC, I agree with most of what you said, but I can't say with certainly that I'm going to stick with Roku indefinitely now, because Roku's insistence that these items stay on the Home screen is concerning.

    This could be the start of Roku becoming more and more like less popular platforms (Fire) that include intrusive promotions. They already had stuff popping up on the bottom left, and now they've added this.

    If they dare to start putting items between the app rows, I'm done, and I won't be alone.

  • october45's avatar
    october45
    Channel Surfer
    2 years ago

    This is in response to the post that said everyone should calm down. 

    Would I stop using Roku services completely and stop recommending them to friends and family over this? Absolutely!

    Would I throw away my Roku TV's? No, I'd just plug a Chromecast into them and use that instead. I would throw away my Roku stick though. 

    It's not a "small irritation", it's pretty big. It's a Roku forcing something you didn't want or ask for and no way to turn it off. I would and will absolutely switch platforms over asshattery like this. 

    For people that have kids it's pretty messed up to have something you have no control of added to the home screen that your kids can browse through. A few of the shows in "new and popular are "operation sex sting" and "hoochie daddies". People don't want their kids to see stuff like that.  

    For shame Roku. 

    • yann-gael's avatar
      yann-gael
      Binge Watcher
      2 years ago

      I fully agree with october45, I also have kids and I don't want to have to check the TV every morning in case Roku decides to add weird things to the home screen...

    • JoLiKMC's avatar
      JoLiKMC
      Binge Watcher
      2 years ago

      willir64
      Yep.  That sounds about right…  And I mean, the counter-argument is just "pay attention and re-train yourself", but why should you have to?  Especially when Roku may very well further alter the menu at any given time in the future.

      october45
      Wait, hang on.  Seriously?  That doesn't seem right.

      [one experiment later…]

      So… that's fun.  The Parental Controls on my HiSense Roku TV don't appear to do anything in regard to the new "recommendations" menus.  I have everything blocked up to TV-Y7 (or the regional equivalents) and, yep, there's some rather sketchy things on the "New & Popular" menu.  Queenpins, Beyond Skinwalker Ranch, lots of spooky horror stuff…  Anda actually, there's an advertisement for Peacock's new series, "The Exorcist: Believer" right there on the main menu, too. What a treat.

      This is extremely irresponsible of Roku TV.  I'm not a parent, but if I were, I wouldn't want my kids being tempted into watch stuff that might either scare them or negative impact their world view.  The fact that the Parental Controls have no influence over the advertising or the new recommendations menus is simply unacceptable.
      –

      I'm glad there are so many people sounding off in this topic.  There are a lot of viewpoints I hadn't considered before.  And again, I still strongly feel like these new menus should have an on/off toggle, at the very least.  Now, though, I'm starting to understand why so many of you are seriously considering cutting all ties to Roku.  I hadn't considered this possibility that this stuff wasn't just annoying, but could potentially show harmful content to young children.  That's even worse than advertisements up your nose.

      This really is unacceptable and irresponsible.  Something needs to be done about this.

      • willir64's avatar
        willir64
        Streaming Star
        2 years ago

        JoLiKMC

        Why should I have to be the one rethink and retrain every few months? How would you like it if every few months you need to be retrained to drive a car? Or to be retrain to use a fork?

        The problem is when they did the "continue to watch" what happen? They offered a ton of excuses and then changed it to be allowed to be turned off. So, after that why would you do the same thing? Only the mentally ill person would repeat the same behavior and expect a different result. I for one refuse to believe that they are insane they are make bad choices and bad choice will result in losing.

  • willir64's avatar
    willir64
    Streaming Star
    2 years ago

    I've been following the comments and one caught my eye because it said it was "a small irritation". Well I am sorry it's not "a small irritation" when they keep doing it. I have seen this multiple times and the comments have always been the same. Don't like it allow us to turn it off. It's "a small irritation" if your neighbor barrows a tool without asking you. It's not small when it happen multiple time now is it?

    The smaller icons to allow less scrolling then you add this to add more scrolling? HUH?? The smaller icon was a problem for me who has vision problems and had a harder time seeing them. Plus, not to mention that I memorize the number of presses to navigate the screens and now this screws that up. It just another corporate money grab and we are ask just to take it. How many times do you get screwed over before you final get mad?

    Were MAD!!! Also, please note that 15 pages of users complaining and zero Roku response.

    • JoLiKMC's avatar
      JoLiKMC
      Binge Watcher
      2 years ago

      willir64
      You know, you're right.  For people who have rows and rows of inputs, streaming services, and the like, this isn't just "a small irritation".  Even with just five rows with 15 icons, that's already a lot of navigation.  But now, with the addition of two more rows that can't be removed, that's an extra few seconds people have to wait before they can wrap around to the top of their icons.  This irritation applies to people who barely have any icons, too, as this can quickly lead to frustration when your muscle memory says "two down, one over" and you somehow end up on the Roku TV app, staring at holiday movies.

      Still… I'm not sure something like this should be a make-or-break kind of thing for customers.  It seems like a pretty petty thing to ditch an entire company over.

      But then, I stopped watching Tubi because they put a "this was a product of its time" warning on The Flintstones, so…

      • JDnTX's avatar
        JDnTX
        Channel Surfer
        2 years ago

        I have cancelled all services subscribe to through ROKU.  They will not make another dollar from me.  If I want to keep the service I just subscribe directly.  **** You Roku!!!!

  • Brenn's avatar
    Brenn
    Binge Watcher
    2 years ago

    I agree that "Categories and Browse" are a minor inconvenience NOW.  The fact remains that until this minor inconvenience showed up, we had total control over what is presented in the center section of our screen be it six or sixty icons.  

    Each icon in these two sections has at least ten and up to forty options within.  What happens when ROKU decie we should have more of these sections and intersperse them with the ones we've specifically chosen to display.  

    The home screen already has a solution built in that is already partially implemented...            Home>Settings>Home Screen permits you to Show or Hide specific categories.  Sports and Live TV are among these already.  Once turned on, they are easier to access by simply scrolling down.

    While I have no intention of leaving ROKU right away, this has dampened my enthusiasm for the brand.

  • rawlsrules's avatar
    rawlsrules
    Roku Guru
    2 years ago

    Well, good for you.