Roku mobile app

[RokuMary-F]

Hi @TBoro,

Thanks for the update regarding the issue with the Roku mobile app not appearing on your device.

We appreciate all the troubleshooting steps you've done and we're glad that you are able to resolve this issue. Your post might also help other users that might also experience the same issue.

Thanks for choosing Roku. Have a great day!


Best regards,
Mary

[Sammysprinkler]

Rebooting the router does nothing, there is obviously a bug that needs fixed in ios apple needs to get this resolved because almost everyone has a roku or firestick and if anyone is like me they lose the remote, and resort to using their smartphone to control those devices 

[RokuNimfa-C]

Hi @Sammysprinkler, 

Welcome to the Roku Community. 

The Roku mobile app is a free application for iOS and Android devices that turns your mobile device into a control center for your Roku streaming player or Roku TV. If you encounter an issue when you tried to connect the mobile app to your Roku device. refer to this link for recommended actions: How to use the Roku® mobile app to control your Roku device without a remote

Does this help? Keep us posted. 


Regards, 
Nimfa

[Needsomesun]

I purchased a new iPhone 14 Pro last week and since then, my Roku iphone app no longer works as a remote control.  The app on my husband’s older iPhone works fine. We lost the remote control last year and the other remotes from our other Roku TVs in the house do not work on our Roku. 

The advice provided by Roku on April 6 is not working. I’ve reviewed recommendations and reset my iPhone, but the fix still does not work. I can also assure you my phone’s wifi is connected to my home account, yet the Roku app still is not working. 

Within the last 5 years I purchased a Roku. Adapter and 2 Roku TVs for my home. We had such a great experience, that I purchased 2 Roku TVs for my mother, 1 Roku TV for my mother in law, and a Roku sound bar device for my son at college. That’s 7 Rokus. We are loyal customers and would appreciate your support. 

This Roku app problem has existed since the iPhone 14 dropped almost 6 months ago, yet the problem has still has not been resolved by Roku. Please reward your customers loyalty by immediately providing us with free Roku remote control replacements.  Please provide iPhone 14 owners with a link so we can provide you with our addresses so you can send us the new remotes. 

Thank you in advance.

[bigbox]

I set up wireshark to watch traffic on my wifi network, and filtered on UDP port 1900, which is used for SSDP discovery.  I observed M-SEARCH requests being generated by many of my local network nodes, and my Roku devices responded to those requests.

The iPhone 14 did NOT generate SSDP M-SEARCH requests when the app started, or when "Devices" was selected.  Or when it was dismissed and restarted.

Something is preventing the iPhone from sending SSDP M-SEARCH requests.  Could it be a port binding problem?  I saw several developer comments in other forums that indicated they were using a hard coded port to send requests.  When they moved the outbound port, or made the proper calls to grab an unused port it worked.  This was for other Apple apps, BTW.

Or is it something worse?  Like a new security setting in IOS 14?

Again, SSDP is great when it works, but there is no workaround in the app when it fails.  It should be possible for users to manually configure the Roku IP address for situations like these.

[RokuNimfa-C]

Hi @Needsomesun @bigbox, 

Thanks for reaching out to the Roku Community. 

Could you try to perform the suggested step posted by @TBoro that resolved the issue you are seeing? Keep us posted on how it goes and any additional information you may have to share with us.


Regards, 
Nimfa

[bigbox]

Hello @RokuNimfa-C 

@TBororeset their phone.  I will not do that.  In a previous post I stated that it is an unsafe hack, which should not be the recommended solution. 

My guess as to why it sometimes works is timing - maybe the Roku app manages to claim the necessary resources before some other app does.  Also note that my hardwired Roku 2 was still visible for a time after I upgraded my iPhone 13 to iPhone 14.  It is not visible now.  My Roku Express was never visible after upgrade.

I think that the information I posted about the network traffic is conclusive.  There is a problem with the app.  Really, a glaring neon arrow pointing at the app, saying that the app is not sending SSDP M-SEARCH requests when it is in the failed state.  Your developers should be able to debug this quickly now.

Hardware: iPhone 14 Pro, IOS 16.3.1, Roku 2 (hardwired), Roku Express.

[TazmanRocks]

I just purchased a new iPhone 14 Plus since I retired and now need to provide my own phone. After opening the Roku app on my iPhone 14 Plus it cannot connect to any of my Roku devices (I have 5 different Roku devices; 3 Roku TVs, one Ultra). My iPhone 14 Plus was on 16.4 and has since been upgraded to 16.4.1. When I first added the Roku app it was v9.09. It has since been upgraded to 9.10. I have tried removing and re-adding the Roku app many times, but it still will not discover any Roku devices even though they are all on the same network. Just to prove that it is not a Wi-Fi issue on my home network, my iPhone 14 Plus can successfully use air play to send to all of our Roku devices, thus proving it is not a home network issue. The Roku app works fine on my iPad Pro 11 and my wife's brand new iPhone 12 (just upgraded her old iPhone SE with a T-Mobile offer for 50% off). My wife's had all data transferred from her old iPhone SE and the Roku app works fine running ios 16.4.1. This seems to either be an issue with the Roku app on iPhone 14's (many complaints about this in the forum and on Google), or that since the Roku app is 9.x and has never successfully discovered any Roku devices on my home network.

PLEASE HELP!!!

--Scott

[TazmanRocks]

I do not see a "manual connect" option in the 9.10.31 Roku app on my iPhone 14 Plus. Please advise...

[TazmanRocks]

I already have "private wi-fi address" turned off. The issue with my iPhone 14 Plus discovering Roku devices on my home network has not been resolved. However, it can connect via air play to all 5 of my Roku devices! This proves it is not a home network/wi-fi issue and is an issue wit the Roku app on iPhone 14's as mentioned by hundreds of Roku users. Wiping and restoring an iPhone is a horrible solution that has not worked for many!