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cordcutternewbi
Streaming Star

sync apps

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I'm retired & researching cord-cutting.

I'm tired of paying FIOS $160/month!

There's a lot of hardware to choose from!

I've narrowed it down to Roku or Apple TV. I haven't decided on which Roku.

I live in an apartment & have 2 TVs. A 55" in the living room & a 23" in the utility room. I reckon that I want to have both Rokus on one account. I did read that if an app is added or removed from one device, it's added or removed from the other device if both Rokus are on the same account. Is that correct? If I move an app on the living room TV from, say the bottom of the grid to the top, is the same app on the utility room TV moved from the bottom of the grid to the top? Are the Rokus synchronized if both are on the same account? Can one create folders & put apps in a folder?

 

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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: sync apps

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You are correct that for multiple Roku devices all on the same user account, channels added or removed from one makes the change on all. However, the channel layout on the home screen is independent on each device. No, there is no ability to create folders at this time. 

To have true channel independence on both devices, they need to be attached to separate Roku accounts. Since there's no charge to create an account (just need a different email address) many people do this. 

Dan

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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: sync apps

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You are correct that for multiple Roku devices all on the same user account, channels added or removed from one makes the change on all. However, the channel layout on the home screen is independent on each device. No, there is no ability to create folders at this time. 

To have true channel independence on both devices, they need to be attached to separate Roku accounts. Since there's no charge to create an account (just need a different email address) many people do this. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Kudo.

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cordcutternewbi
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Re: sync apps

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Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm leaning more towards the Roku than the Apple TV. I tried out the Apple TV remote at a store & I didn't particularly like swiping my thumb up & down & back & forth. The remote has a glass cover on both sides. If the remote is dropped, one is out $60! I like the Apple TV home screen. The Apple TV remote doesn't have a mute button. Some of the Rokus do.

My FIOS contract expires in May 2021. I hope that I will have made a hardware choice before then. I have no doubt that I'll be paying FIOS $200/month if I renew the contract!

I wish that one had the option of synchronizing apps on multiple Rokus. Oh well, maybe a future software update will provide that option.

 

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makaiguy
Community Streaming Expert

Re: sync apps

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@cordcutternewbi wrote:

I wish that one had the option of synchronizing apps on multiple Rokus.


Again - all Rokus attached to the same Roku account will automatically receive the same apps/channels.  Add a channel to one, it's added to all, at the end of each unit's display grid.  [Exception: if you have an older unit whose hardware cannot run a newer app, that app will not install to that unit.]  What is NOT synced is the order of the channels in the grid - you can move apps around however you want on each unit, but there is no way to sync the order between units.

As said above, if you want different set of apps on different Rokus, this will require separate Roku accounts, identified with separate email addresses.  The downside of this is that apps with subscriptions paid via a Roku account will not carry over to the other account(s).  The way around this is to subscribe, not via the Roku, but directly with the particular streaming service's website, and then authenticate on each Roku with the streaming service's website login credentials.

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cordcutternewbi
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Re: sync apps

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What is NOT synced is the order of the channels in the grid - you can move apps around however you want on each unit, but there is no way to sync the order between units.

This is what I hope will happen in a future software update. I hope that owners will have the option of synchronizing apps on all devices on a single account.

 

Well, I reckon that answers my question in this post. Apps can't currently be synchronized across devices.

 

cmaterick
Newbie

Re: sync apps

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The answers that were provided and your summary here are exactly the opposite of each other. If all your Rokus use the same account, then the channels (apps) sync. The only thing that doesn't sync is the location of the channel icons on the home screen.

The only reason anybody is mentioning multiple accounts is because that is the only way to PREVENT your Rokus from syncing. Just ignore that part of the response as it's not what you are looking to do.

Emeralds67
Newbie

Re: sync apps on multiple devices

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In my experience, this is not 100% true...I have 3 Roku devices all with the same account and adding or removing channels has never synched on all 3 of my devices. Never. Not once. If I want my Rokus to all match and have the same channels, I have to manually change each Roku for each TV. 

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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: sync apps on multiple devices

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@Emeralds67 the only reason a channel won't install to match a user's account is if the channel isn't supported on that device, or the channel was added via the web interface but it's not actually supported in the geographic location of the device. I have always, 100% of the time, had all my existing channels install to a newly registered device using the same account. Add a channel to one, it's added to all. Remove from one, it's removed from all. Sometimes they won't appear/disappear immediately, but waits for the next update (scheduled or manual). Other times I've added a channel to a device, and within minutes it's on at least one of the others. 

What does not sync is the position of each channel tile on the home screen. It's not a bug, simply the way the Roku interface configures itself. And newly added channels are always at the bottom of the screen, even if you move a new channel to a different position on the home screen on the first device. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

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