When I found out my TCL Roku TV updated to OS 11, I immediately started trying out the Roku Photo Streams feature on my phone, but some of them were flagged as "inappropriate" when they certainly aren't (are bikinis really inappropriate?), and that I violated some "guidelines".
In that same error message is a link to a support article - https://support.roku.com/article/4638175490711 - but at the time or writing, it just goes to the support home page with no mention of any guidelines anywhere on the site or any articles related to OS 11.
What I wanna know is, what are these "guidelines" and why are my photos being automatically flagged?
Certainly this has be an error. Can't imagine there are guidelines what you can place on your own screen. (although, I do believe a feature of the Photo Streams is supposed to be able to share with others, so maybe?)
I haven't received the Photo Streams feature so can't try it for you. Maybe someone with this feature can offer some guidance. Or maybe @RokuDanny-R , @RokuKariza-D , or @RokuMary-F can provide some insight.
If this turns out not to be an error and there are some limitations of "acceptable images" that you are allowed to use and see according to Roku, and you want to customize your screensaver, you can try Photoview for Google Photos. Basically any photo in your Google Photos can be used as a screensaver or multiple photos for a slideshow.
(https://channelstore.roku.com/details/637cbf48183a52820a32e8a7a8ff865a/photoview-for-google-photos).
Otherwise, I guess only vacation pictures of skiing and parkas can be used as a Screensaver. No summer trips to the beach.
It almost certainly HAS to be a bug. One photo I've uploaded for testing wasn't flagged at first, but later was. Another one, which wasn't showing revealing, I think, ALSO was flagged.
Even if it's not a bug....look, I get not wanting to have nudity or anything like that being shown. I totally get that, and it's not something I'm interested in doing. But the fact that Roku thinks they MIGHT be explicit, just because it shows a little too much....I think really should be addressed.
But perhaps what's more concerning is the guidelines not being visible anywhere. When you first set it up (which, by the way, you can do at https://photostreams.roku.com), nowhere does it mention any kind of guidelines. Not even at the bottom of the page (at least, not on iOS). It's only mentioned if a photo is flagged.
Right now, it's like....
Roku: "This photo violates the Photo Streams Guidelines"
Me: "Well, what are the guidelines?"
Roku: "....."
Could it be picture size or file format rather than content?
@makaiguy @Tjoeb123 @AvsGunnar I have the new photo streams screensaver as of yesterday. You can upload any size picture. All pictures I uploaded were at least 3024x4032 taken with an iPhone 13 Pro. Some lower resolution pics too. You can upload 10 pictures. All 10 of mine are of my wife, kids and dogs. I had zero issues uploading the pictures. To test Tj theory I downloaded a picture of a woman in a bikini. I remove the picture of my dogs and added the bikini picture. I had no issues uploading the picture and adding it to my streams. All pics were added directly from my iPhone. I also did not use the Roku Mobile app. I merely scanned the QR code on the screen and logged into my account
It's worth noting that most of my photo library is of the anime variety; some of it being direct screenshots from my PS4 or PS5 games. (I can share some of them via PMs if need be)
I don't think it has anything to do with file size or dimensions, as, at least in my case, everything gets compressed to around 300-400KB when uploading.
Until Roku releases its guidelines, I guess I'll have to do some more testing to see which kinds of images are okay and which aren't.
You can find the "Community Guidelines" within the Roku Photo Streams app:
Open the Roku Photo Streams app (1.35.d643098f) from Home (look at the bottom of your installed app list), then press Options (*) for the "Community Guidelines".
Yes, the support page article should be there - perhaps @RokuDanny-R can look into that.
Hi @Tjoeb123,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention at Roku Community!
I have already escalated this issue to the appropriate team to investigate further. Once they provide me with an update I'll be sure to let the Community know.
We appreciate your patience for the time being.
Best regards,
Mary
Thank you both, @UserOfStreamers and @RokuMary-F .
However - and I may have to make another thread about this if needed - the Roku Photo Streams app is not opening for me on my Roku TV (TCL 55R615). When I open it it just stays on the Roku Photo Streams logo indefinitely, even after manually updating the channel (same version and build number as above) and checking for further Roku OS updates (11.0.0, Build 4193) and manually restarting (in the Settings menus; I haven't tried removing power yet)
Hitting * in this state does nothing other than make the SFX.
Sounds like a classic corrupt app install - try reinstalling the Roku Photo Streams app:
1) Remove RPS app 2) RESTART the Roku TV (Settings/System/Power/System restart 3) Reinstall RPS app