Channels & viewing

[Unimpressed7]

ROKU- stop refuting the FACT that your platform automatically adds channels.  I have seen posts dating back to 2019 about the same (archived), and some people have incorrectly blamed a browser, dns, bad tv, and the planets' alignment, then essentially the thread gets locked and the Roku employee states "we didn't do that"....all are WRONG, WRONG.  

I have a Roku Express 4k+....there is no browser being used, no Roku tv "going bad", and so on.  I browse on a totally different device.  So "if" it has anything to do with a browser  (I am 99.9% sure it doesn't), then someone is spying on my network and that is sketchy, if not illegal.  

Here's the sequence of events that leads to random channel adds:  I power tv on (using Roku remote), click the Roku's home button, and randomly (maybe every 5-6 days)  one or more channels start downloading.  These are NOT channels I've ever had on any device.  The most frequent are Roku tv and local news channels' apps, but there have been completely random things like other competing streaming services - i.e., competitors to Hulu/Netflix/Prime.

I am in software myself, and plan to have all of the hidden menus reviewed/analyzed by a developer at my company because this type of behavior (installing without permission) is UNACCEPTABLE.   If we discover something of value (since Roku seems to be no help), I will update the post.

[makaiguy]

One possible cause of unwanted channels being accessed and/or added is the use of one of Roku's animated screen savers that scroll across the screen.  There are links to various channels embedded in these screen savers, and as they scroll different links become active.  If you press the Play or OK keys on the remote to exit the screen saver, it triggers whichever of those links happens to be active at the time.

To avoid this, press a different key to exit the screen saver, like Home or my favorite, the * key.

Or switch to a different screen saver that doesn't have this "feature".

[Anonymous]

Go change the password on your account, someone is logging in (with a browser) and adding the channels from the channel store (to your devices).

Analyze this...

[Unimpressed7]

Thanks for the reply.  It (the unauthorized install) happens as soon as I've clicked home button- I use side arrows once I'm on home.   I use one of the Roku screensavers- will try another (non-animated) just to test.  Fwiw, I've turned off nearly every "sales-y" feature in settings (more than a year ago) such as "my offers" bc some of the stuff feels like spyware.  It's also strange that it's installing local channels' apps...

Will report back after some time if the ss change fixes any of the downloads. 

[Unimpressed7]

Thanks for responding.  I seriously doubt that anyone is using my account, but will try it anyway.  I already changed it 2-3 months ago and would hope no one got it (only way would be a hacked Roku database, imo).  Then again, I 100% believe no one would tell us if it had been hacked.