Apps & viewing

[Flyingcircus317]

Both my streaming stick and older 3 box are showing no apps after this morning's software update. I've rebooted both devices twice. It still shows my email address in settings but ... not logging in or something? What?

[RokuEmmanuel-D]

Hey, @Flyingcircus317.

Thanks for sharing this here!

Could you also share what specific apps are not showing on your Home Screen? Also, can you please try these troubleshooting steps below?

1. Press Home on your Roku remote
2. Scroll and select Settings
3. Select System
4. Select Power. If you do not see a Power submenu, skip to the next step.
5. Select System restart

Still not fixed? Please get back to us so we can take a closer look!

Roku Community Team

[Flyingcircus317 · Accepted solution]

After 90 minutes in chat with 2 support / product techs, two reboots, taking pictures of the software version and providing serial numbers, the final suggestion was do a factory reset.

Factory reset worked, although I'm not sure it was because of that or part of the process re-established the payment method which i had seen a request to establish it in the last day. I hadn't changed it. 

Factory reset on one device reset the account & fixed the account on BOTH devices - which seems to indicate it was a software glitch.

Which then required logging back into every streaming service individually - so, save those passwords y'all! 

Probably irrelevant but the software in the Roku 3 (might be 10 years old device??) hadn't been updated since January. And the remote for it just... stopped working a month ago (yes, i changed the batteries.) 

[RokuEmmanuel-D]

@Flyingcircus317, thanks for the update!

We're glad you're back on streaming! However, we'd like to know more about the issue you encountered with the Roku 3's remote.

Have you tried connecting another remote to it to see if it works? In the meantime, we recommend installing the Roku Mobile App to see if the device works with it.

Let us know what you find out!

Roku Community Team

[Portalogem]

That's too bad you had to go through all of that and waste so much time. It sounds to me that you had the same issue that I (and many others) had (or continue to have) with this OS 14.5 update, in which I was able to resolve it (on Roku Express devices) without having to do a factory reset. I also read on this thread that another person factory reset their device, but because they didn't then update it to OS 14.5, the issue presented itself again after a couple of days. So make sure you are on the current OS by going to Setting/System/About.

If you are still on OS 14.1 which is still on my Roku Ultra -- which like you hadn't had an update since 12/19/24 so this is normal -- then hopefully following the steps I posted in the link below will help you. If not, since I have a Roku 3, if or when I have to deal with this error 004 update issue, and if I can figure out a workaround, I'll post that on that thred. 

This is my post on that thread on how I resolved this on older Roku Express devices if you still need help with this or if anyone happens to come to this thread who is having this same issue. I am still not certain if these steps will resolve this issue on all Roku devices, so hopefully, this works on your (and my) Roku 3.

Also, you may be interested in this thread (join the conversation if you wish) which has people having issues with their Roku 3 devices after the OS 14.5 update. I don't use that Roku much, so mine has yet to update and is still on 14.1 with no issues, so I can't troubleshoot their issue yet. But to potentially solve this other issue which may be related to the OS 14.5 update, what I told them was to remove that microSD card, format that in a computer or smart device, and then reinsert it back into the Roku device. I do this after every OS update on my Roku 3. The microSD card is located under the HDMI cord, so you'll have to remove that. That thread has then taken a turn in which we're discussing what newer Roku (and even non-Roku) devices we are thinking of purchasing since this Roku 3 device is quite old and may one day soon no longer be supported by Roku. 

And with your remote issue, I have been using a basic remote (Roku Players Remote) for quite some time which works on the Roku 3 and isn't all that expensive. I don't recommend that you purchase a newer voice remote since if you decide to purchase a newer 4K Roku model, that will come with a voice remote. Unfortunately, the basic remote (Roku Players Remote) I was using with my Roku 3 and Roku Express Plus decided to hide itself from me after I did much finger dancing on it (to clear the cache and get to this secret menu) to deal with this issue, and I still can't find it. 😞

[Flyingcircus317]

The other (non-basic) remote I use for the 4K streaming stick did not communicate with the Roku 3 box. Yes, the Roku mobile app worked to control the older Roku 3 box. I considered purchasing a new remote but, with no information about what's not working (the box's IR receiver, or the remote), decided not to spend the $. -FC

[Flyingcircus317]

Portalogem, thank you so much for the extensive post and information, this is very helpful.

Wish list: Roku's support reps get updated diagnosis scripts and trained properly to cut through the basic cr*p, and get to useful solutions quickly. It would save Roku so much money and decrease customer frustration. /rant  -FC

[Portalogem]

Here is a good post on why the WIFI remote that came with your Roku Streaming stick doesn't work with the Roku 3 device due to it not being compatible with it. I now wouldn't suggest that you get a basic IR remote for your Roku 3 since if Roku decided to no longer support that aging device, this remote wouldn't be of any use to you since it's not compatible with your streaming stick. Update: I recently found out that this was true at one time with the 3821, 3820, 3811, 3810, 3800, and 3600 Roku Stick streaming models, but if you have a newer streaming stick, then according to the Roku website, this "Roku Players Remote" would work with it. 

Those older streaming sticks don't use infrared to communicate with the remote due to its usual location behind the TV, which would otherwise make IR remotes difficult if not impossible to use; however, if you do have one of these older streaming sticks and ever decide to purchase a new voice remote that uses both WiFI and IR signals, this would be compatible with both your streaming stick and Roku 3 device. To verify this, if you decide to go to the Roku website and look at remotes in accessories, the website will show you if that remote is compatible with both of your devices.