Remotes

[Aburke]

I have an external Roku that I bought 3 years ago. Last night, the remote seemingly stopped working. I thought it was batteries but those have been changed. Ironically, the remote works for the Roku in the master bedroom fine, but still won't connect with the main Roku player in the living room. To complicate matters further, I have the Roku app on my phone and can use the app remote to connect with the living room Roku.

Can someone tell me why the original device and the remote that came with it will no longer connect? Both devices (remote and player) seem to work on their own or with other Roku products, but not together.

[Strega2]

It sounds like the IR receiver in the Express may have failed – or just got covered up?

The Phone app uses RF/Wi-Fi since few phones have IR emitters, and unlike IR, RF will pass through objects so a covered Express won’t bother it.

[Tivoburkee]

The cell phone app doesn't use wifi/rf nor IR. It uses IP, the internet. 

[Strega2]

You mean it uses the cellular network instead of Wi-Fi???