Remotes

[racker65]

I just purchased a Roku Express 4K+ and installed it okay.  But using the voice command feature on the remote I can't get it to select a channel within Hulu.  It will call up Hulu but not the channels available in this streaming service.  I've tried "Hulu ABC7" etc. to no avail.  Is this something Roku will not do?

[RokuCarly]

We're grateful to have you here in the Roku Community, @racker65!

It is greatly appreciated that you've reached out for support and we're here to further assist you with the voice command feature of your Roku voice remote.

Although the voice command on your Roku voice remote follows anything you say, it may also be possible that this feature isn't supported inside a certain app on the Roku streaming platform. In this case, it might not supported by Hulu. 

To learn more about how the Roku voice command works you can refer to our blog about Roku Voice commands: The ultimate guide.

Meanwhile, have you tried pressing the search option first before utilizing the voice command of your remote to open the ABC 7 channel? We suggest trying this method to see if this will work. 

Let us know what you find out!

Best regards,
Carly

[BearCrazy1985]

I would like the voice remote feature on Roku to work on every streaming service to change the channel. It would help out people with disabilities and the elderly tremendously 

[RokuERey]

Hi @BearCrazy1985,

Thanks for joining us here in the Roku Community!

We would love to have that as well. Our voice remote feature currently has limited access when it comes to it. 

For more information on its functionality, you can visit our support page here: What voice commands can I use with my Roku streaming device?

But we'll take care of this feedback and flag the right team about this.

Thanks,
Rey

[BearCrazy1985]

Let's get it done!

[MR086]

This SHOULD NOT be about any particular app "compatibility".  When I am on any streaming app like YouTubeTV, and at their search feature, I just want to speak instead of pluck individual characters from the remote, and populate THAT search field with spoken words. Instead, whenever I press the mic button, it is "talking to" Roku, not the app that is waiting for individually selected characters to do a search within that app.  The voice command should just be to replace the individual character picking menus regardless of where you are doing it.  That would actually make life easier.  If I want to search ALL apps, I know to go to Roku home and do that there.  That works great, and is very useful, but the goal should be "how can we use voice to reduce all the individual character picking" - across the whole tv watching experience.  If you're saying these streaming services don't have voice-to-text code, or the code that works with Roku remote, just give it to all of them in a standardized format.  That is a win-win-win (for Roku, the streaming services, and the users).

[atc98092]

App providers are under no compulsion to make their app use voice commands within the app. Without making a new requirement for developers, Roku has no ability to force a developer to make voice work within an app. I have never created an app for a Roku, but I do have some experience with creating computer applications. Making something voice-enabled would be a lot of work, and might not be possible within the file size constraints that Roku places on apps approved for their platform.