Remotes

[Anonymous]

I'm new to Roku.  I bought 5 devices for 5 televisions - two of the devices are Roku Express 4K+, the remaining 3 are Roku 4K Streaming Sticks.

On a regular basis, the remotes will go dead.  Dead, meaning pressing any button does nothing.  The navigation, audio volume, and even the power button does nothing.  You'll be watching a program, try to lower the volume, and the remote does nothing.

This occurs with both remote types.  On different televisions.  And all batteries are good.  Unplugging power and rebooting does nothing.

80% of the time, the remotes work fine.  Setup was checked and rechecked.  The units simply stop working seemingly randomly.

Before I return the units, does anyone have any idea what is going on?  Roku support can not be reached.    Thanks in advance.

[Emissary35]

There are so many topics about remote problems here it's absolutely ridiculous. If you do get a response here from a moderator all they will do is ask for your serial number. Tell you to re-pair the remote, change the batteries, restart your Roku.

Basically everything that is common sense that everyone does before coming here. At best they'll send you a replacement remote but it will likely still have problems because the design of these Roku remotes are absolute garbage.

I myself just got a replacement remote the other day for a malfunctioning remote that wouldn't pair and I'm already having problems, the replacement remote is giving me battery popups on the screen while watching even though my batteries are fine.

My advice would be if you can return your Roku devices and get a refund don't wait, do it now! The fact that this is happening to multiple remotes on multiple Rokus on different TVs is an absolute joke! Get your money back and purchase something more reliable, I have no problems with my remotes on my Fire TV devices, I would recommend them if you haven't tried them.

[RokuJohnB]

Hi @Anonymous,

A warm welcome here in the Roku Community!
We understand you're having a problem with the Roku remote. We're happy to assist you further. Please be advised that one of the most common reasons why a Roku remote may stop working is dead or faulty batteries. So, the first step is to check if the batteries are charged and placed correctly. Open the battery compartment on the back of the remote and replace the old batteries with new ones.

You may also check out this support article here.

Let us know how it works, and we will continue to assist you further.

Kind regards,

John

[Anonymous]

You asked for me to let you know how it goes. 

I bought another identical Roku unit, and returned the defective unit.  The new one works without issue so far.  That's on one of 5 televisions.

On other televisions, the devices fail about once in every 50 uses.  You try to turn on the television and nothing happens.  Or, you're watching television and the unit stops responding.  It goes dead.  I tried to watch an NFL playoff game.  I'm paying for Hulu live streaming but my Roku device is holding my TV hostage.

In any other business, a product this poorly designed/manufactured would be recalled.  I also consider the support from Roku as part of the problem.  Telling me to check the batteries after telling you that was the first thing I did means this:  Bad product + bad support.  I am so sorry not only that I chose Roku, but I equipped my whole house with them.

For the record, the only thing that seems to work to get some use out of my television when Roku goes dead is to unplug the power to Roku, remove the batteries -- effectively rebooting the device.  Running through the set-up of the device (dozens of times!) has no effect.  Rebooting works about 10-20% of the time to unfreeze the device.

Roku: You should put a cable plug on the device to allow users to access their streaming apps as a last ditch when the unit freezes.

That is to help future Roku customers.  I'm getting rid of this junk.  Lesson learned.  I deserve this for not doing more research.

[RokuCarly]

Thank you for the added information, @Anonymous.

We completely understand your input and sincerely apologize for the experience.

Roku remotes are designed to go the distance, but there are a few things that will drain a remote a bit faster...

• Congested Wi-Fi network around the device--the reason for this is that most remotes will use RF to connect to your Roku player and constant reconnection will use more battery.
• Viewing lots of short-form content, like YouTube, where a streamer could go through a few hundred button presses in an hour.
• Using the voice command feature is also one of the reasons as this will use more of your network connection.

By the way, we also offer the Voice Remote Pro, which is a rechargeable remote with private listening, voice search, and voice commands, two programmable shortcut buttons, and a lost remote finder, and you'll never buy a pack of batteries again. 

We hope this information helps you understand how the Roku remote works. If you need further clarifications, please don't hesitate to let us know and we'll continue assisting you from there. 

Best regards,
Carly

[RokuCarly]

Welcome to the Roku Community, @Laredo9!

We appreciate you reaching out for support and we'd be more than happy to help you with anything. 

Kindly provide us with more precise information about your remote issue, so we'll be able to assess your concern better and provide you with the most accurate resolution.

We'll be looking forward to your response!

Best regards,
Carly

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply.  I didn't actively pursue a further response.  As it turns out, I received a notification e-mail that this was responded to.

It's been at least 6 months since I reported remote issues, and here is the resolution....the time-tested, verified resolution.  Hopefully it will be useful to others that experience issues with those pesky Roku remotes.

I accepted personal responsibility for rushing out and buying Roku remotes for the entire house without doing research.  I'm not disappointed with Roku, I'm disappointed with my myself for being careless.  I will do better.

Second, I bought Amazon Fire streaming sticks and replaced them -- with no other equipment changes whatsoever (router, televisions, locations).  The Amazon sticks have not failed on any of the 5 televisions in 6 months.  That rules out interference, WiFi issues, batteries, TV HDMI connector -- it rules out all explanations.  Amazon (a company I do not like doing business with!) is doing something Roku is not doing.  Their units work, in my experience.  Without failure.

Ironically, I like the Roku UI far better.  The clean, simple layout sans preview ads that Amazon throws at you is far better with Roku.  I did not throw away the Roku remotes.  I keep them plugged in and occasionally use them, and have observed them to continue to freeze up.  When that happens, I switch back to Amazon.

Straight talk:  Roku needs to focus on making a more stable reliable product before adding more bells and whistles or embarking on new paths.  And if Roku can't do that they should increase the Marketing budget.  I found out -- to a certainty -- that the Amazon product performs far better.