Roku mobile app

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MikeR2
Newbie

Looking for app support for controlling my roku device

My Roku app does not recognize my device. This does not allow me to use the remote in the app to control my device. I tried uninstalling/installing the app and restarting my device. All connected to the same network. 

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RokuNimfa-C
Retired Moderator

Re: Looking for app support for controlling my roku device

Hello @MikeR2

Greeting from 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. Let us help you get connected. If your Roku device is missing from the discovery screen, check that your phone or tablet is configured properly.

  • Is your phone or tablet connected to the correct Wi-Fi network? From the Home screen on your Roku device, go to Settings > Network > About to see the name of the network your Roku device is connected to and compare it to the network your mobile device is connected to.
  • Are you using an Apple device, if so, is your device permitted to access other devices over Wi-Fi? If you have an iPhone or iPad and it is running iOS 14 or higher, you must grant "Local Network" access to allow the Roku mobile app to see and connect with your Roku device.
  • Is your mobile device connected to a VPN? Some VPN applications route all traffic through the virtual network causing your Roku device to not to be visible.

To help you further troubleshoot, you can visit our support page: How to connect the Roku® mobile app to your Roku device over Wi-Fi®

Let us know how it goes. 


Regards, 
Nimfa

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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Looking for app support for controlling my roku device

@MikeR2 there are network requirements for the Roku app to find your devices. First, the network must be using a private IP address range specified by RFC 1918. Here's the IPv4 information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has directed the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to reserve the following IPv4 address ranges for private networks:

RFC 1918 name IP address range Number of addresses Largest CIDR block (subnet mask) Host ID size Mask bits Classful description[Note 1]

24-bit block10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.2551677721610.0.0.0/8 (255.0.0.0)24 bits8 bitssingle class A network
20-bit block172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.2551048576172.16.0.0/12 (255.240.0.0)20 bits12 bits16 contiguous class B networks
16-bit block192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.25565536192.168.0.0/16 (255.255.0.0)16 bits16 bits256 contiguous class C networks

Any network using IPv4 addresses outside these blocks are considered public, and the Roku app will not work on it. Most home networks use an address from the 16-bit block (usually 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x), but the addresses used are configurable and someone might had configured them wrong.

The next requirement is that the network is not using any sort of security block that keeps connected devices from seeing each other. This sort of security is found on semi-private networks, such as hotel WiFi, college student networks, or even home networks that are labeled as "guest" access. It's also something that might be enabled on an otherwise acceptable network. You would need to check your router settings to see if this is the case on your home network. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

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