Roku mobile app

Discover troubleshooting and helpful tips for the Roku mobile app. Learn how to use the Roku remote on your phone, add channels, privately listen, and more.
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DTM54
Binge Watcher

Re: Roku Android app causing excessive battery drain

jessycatherine,

Please read the thread before responding.

I've already pointed out three times that battery optimization prevents the app from working as needed and is unacceptable.

I and others have already pointed out that the app is up to date, and already stated the Android versions we're using, which are compatible.

If the problem were with the device's Wi-Fi, there would be problems with more than just this one app, and the Roku app doesn't even use Bluetooth. The problem is clearly in the app, not the phones.

Your comment about notifications makes sense. However, I already have notifications entirely disabled for the app, so it's not that.

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Globe
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku Android app causing excessive battery drain

Tried the Roku app for the first time last night as the battery drain when plugging headphones into the remote is beyond insane, changing batteries every other day, when before using without headphones the batteries would last like a year.

I understand that the remote uses a built in sound amplifier or something which is responsible for the high drain, but at least I have a ton of rechargeable batteries.

The app continues to drain long after the headphones are disconnected from my phone (Pixel 5a). I unplugged my phone this morning when I got up and noticed within a few hours the battery has dropped by close to 20% without even using it! No headphones attached. The culprit? The Roku app!

What's really annoying is that you have to go into settings>apps and literally force close the Roku app to shut it down. Very few apps behave this way, so I'm uninstalling it because I can't risk it killing my battery if I'm out and forgot to force close it even when no headphones are attached.

As a previous customer commented, please stop passing the buck to anyone other than yourselves, this is a Roku app that is having the same issues on multiple different brands of Android phone, iPhones etc, so it's pretty obvious the fault lies firmly with the app.

Continuing to push customers away is unprofessional and ensuring they will look for alternative streaming devices in their future purchases. 

I'm writing directly to Roku HQ detailing that their paid support agents are not helping customers and passing them blame literally everywhere else except the app. What is the point of having support reps when they do not help, not even to proactively pass information along to the app dev team. Of course I understand that I'm likely wasting my time and getting a canned response about how they care about customers and will look into it.... Reality is that support reps are likely very low skill call center phone jockeys with limited scripts they can refer to, so it's hard to blame them too. The problem is far deeper, and one that suggests Roku has very little interest in customer support beyond this flimsy facade.

You can be better than this!

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Globe
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku Android app causing excessive battery drain

Here's just an example of just how nefarious this app is.

As you can see I had a full charge on waking this morning. I've barely even touched my phone, but I forgot to force close the Roku app last night after watching a show using headphones on my phone.

I unplugged the headphones last night before going to bed and charging my phone, so there should be no reason why the app should be using battery 6 hours after I last used it, especially with no headphones attached.

As you can see it's just silently demolishing my phone's battery, and this is even with changing Android app settings from optimized to strict.

I have no choice other then to uninstall the Roku app and use the remote from now on when using headphones, keeping a bunch of charged batteries handy for that battery hog too!

Latest version of Android on my Pixel.

Roku Android App Battery Destroyer 

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Terabyteman
Reel Rookie

Roku iOS app causing an excessive battery drain

Since up updated  Roku app to Version 9.8.0 on 10-3-23 on my iPhone running iOS 16.7 this app is draining the battery and causing the phone to get really hot when using Roku app as Roku remote control mode.

I end up having to fully close Roku app to get phone to cool. 

Phone app Version 9.8.0 Needs to be fixed !!!

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RokuEuniceL
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Roku iOS app causing an excessive battery drain

Hi @Terabyteman,

Greetings from the Roku Community!

We're glad to assist you with your problem with the Roku mobile app that is causing an excessive battery drain. We'd like to know more about it so we can further assist you. May we ask if you are using private listening on the Roku mobile app? Have you tried uninstalling the Roku mobile app and reinstalling it to see if the issue occurs?

We'll be waiting for your response.

Kind regards,

Eunice

Eunice L.
Roku Community Moderator
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GuyFromMars365
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku Android app causing excessive battery drain

Roku is consistently causing excessive battery drain. How does Roku end up consuming 10% battery in less than 1 minute while YOUTUBE consumes 2.9% in 14mins. To compare, Youtube consumes 0.2% or 50x less power. Make that make sense. 

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sherwin
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku iOS app causing an excessive battery drain

This is happening to me on an iPhone 15 Pro Max since the update to iOS 17.1.1 in private listening mode (with Airpods Pro). It drains around 30% of the battery per hour. Previously, it was just a couple percent.

I'm using what it says is the latest app version - 9.9.0.8757707.44 with a TCL Roku TV model G103X.

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RokuCarly
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Roku iOS app causing an excessive battery drain

Welcome, and thank you for posting here in the Roku Community, @sherwin!

We acknowledge your concern regarding the draining issues with your smartphone when using the Roku Mobile app. No worries. We'd be more than happy to assist you with this. 

Would you mind providing us with a video or screenshot as evidence so we can assess your concern better? Also, a screenshot of the Battery usage of your iPhone 15 pro max under Settings > Battery > scroll down to show how much battery percentage you are using and select Show activity. 

We'll be anticipating your response as we are more than eager to investigate this further.

Thanks,
Carly

Carly Y.
Roku Community Moderator
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sherwin
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku iOS app causing an excessive battery drain

I'm not sure what you mean by "Would you mind providing us with a video or screenshot as evidence so we can assess your concern better?" so I did a screenshot of the app in use.

Here are links to that screenshot and the battery use screenshot:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/beacuxe583p2cvvndityr/IMG_6578.PNG?rlkey=9k8e59wqyrbr9rfnwhn22s35r&dl... 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/u13xkcsvml7g4zhdoyjph/IMG_6577.PNG?rlkey=oqa9nd5x06hb6ey4qccvjpcrw&dl... 

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RokuCarly
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: Roku iOS app causing an excessive battery drain

Thank you, @sherwin!

We appreciate you for providing us with a photo as a reference. 
We'll request additional reinforcement from the appropriate Roku team to further investigate this matter. Kindly provide us with the "Show Activity" category by selecting that option to fully show us the data. 

We'll be looking forward to your response!

Best regards,
Carly

Carly Y.
Roku Community Moderator
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