Features, settings & updates

[tomwhite]

Best cure for this? Get a new Chromecast and go to the Settings>Accounts and set it to Apps Only Mode. Much cleaner than what Roku is offering now.

[Prisoner428]

Christmas and tax season is around the corner. Instead of using roku products to build a home theater I think we will be going a different route. How annoying would it be if you sit down to watch the newest motion picture only to search for all your apps.

Is Amber Heard in charge here? Why else would you give me the option to customize my home screen then take a steaming dump on it? When people threaten to drop you as their television provider you need to realize it's not just that one person. It's a generational mess up.

Our kids are old enough to see that you only care about smearing your feces logo on things. You think they, as adults, want a Roku? It's not just you Apple, Samsung, Amazon, ect. The more companies take customization control away the more people are going to want televisions that just televisions. Don't forget Pc is still a thing.

If we want a customizable experience we will find a way. You are just a service to hold streaming services. You are not fooling anyone. Your Roku TV is just the free internet TV I get in my area anyways. You're a TV, not a cellphone. Stop screwing customers like you are a name brand cable service. 

[wcastle]

PLEEEEASE add the option remove features like this.
Don't care if they are enable at first.
I will evaluate and decide but give me the choice.
We already have 2 search function (one more than we need), we don't need me.
If not getting viewership, it's not because we don't know about content, we're just not interested in it.
More ADs won't change that.

[Joeaug]

Good comments here, but remember the decisions to force these changes in to the interface come from the CEO-level and not the programmers thinking on their own this would "look nice'. This is to generate revenue and to push you in to interacting with Roku-generated content...even if you've removed the Roku Channel.  I would guess that more intrusive things will be coming too. FireTV just rolled out mandatory full-screen ads on start-up for example.  Maybe we'll be lucky and they'll let us pay for the privilege of having fewer ads - just like all the other streaming services 😪.

I will say one thing for Roku though, at least they have let this conversation continue.  Apple would have removed it long ago - I've seen that happen.

[Joeaug]

Anyone else wonder why there have not yet been any moderator-bot canned responses from Roku posted yet?

[Joeaug]

And I don't have the time right now, but some of you who do should start spreading the word on this to sites like Slashdot, Ars, and the streamer-fan sites...

[rawlsrules]

Of course it is a "business" decision. It is a competitive field. We get it.

It is, nonetheless, the wrong decision; i.e., the wrong "business" decision.

[rawlsrules]

One hopes.

[rawlsrules]

Why would they?

[SmilingBob]

For anyone with a pihole or router than can domain block/black list, there is a way that you can at least get rid of the images, but the boxes are still there as placeholders.  Redditor "toms_reddit" posted about how blocking a Roku image domain (images.sr.roku.com) effectively gets rid of the pics in the boxes, but not the boxes themselves. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Roku/comments/188opat/how_to_get_rid_of_these/

I know it isn't much, but it's a start.  Would be nice to figure out how to get rid of the whole thing, but that probably isn't something we can do with a pihole.  I spent awhile this morning going through every secret menu and trying various things, but nothing worked.  Yet.