Roku setup

[NewsView]

I had all my ROKU devices behave like they went through a factory reset, deleting everything except for YouTube, Netflix and then adding things I didn't have like Spotify. 

I re-configured my ROKUs and a week later same thing. I navigated to my Purchase History but when I try to click the link to view the purchase, the website reports that there has been an "error" so I can't obtain screen savers and other content I have purchased in the past.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering how long before all my ROKU (Ultra 4800 series) will "lose" the tiles (channels) despite the fact that I installed a microSD card to presumably back up my contents.

I'm guessing this has to do with a faulty update. It's not that my tiles turn into shadows. They're just not there and restarting the ROKU or going over to the left side menu and clicking around doesn't make it come back. Needless to say, it's a pain to keep on setting up the ROKU, signing back in to subscription apps and rearranging the Home Screen.

I'm located in the USA. The problem first appeared about 12 days ago. Anybody else have this issue or know of a way to re-download my purchases from ROKU itself since grabbing it from the website isn't working either?

[Anonymous]

@NewsView  This is a guess but, it sounds to me like either your ROKU account has been compromised or it might be your WIFI network has been compromised and someone is using the ROKU remote app to do it. So, if it was me, I'd change the password on both and see if the problem goes away.

[atc98092 · Accepted solution]

The Ultra 480x models no longer have an SD card, so if your Ultra has a slot it's not that model. 

Using an SD card has actually caused issues similar to this with other models. Also, the SD card is not used to "back up" anything on the Roku. It's simply a memory expansion for storing channels/apps if the device memory is filled. But it's not necessary, even if you have more channels than storage space, as the Roku device will simply offload the least used channel to make room for a new one to be used. It adds a slight delay to load the new channel, but beyond that does nothing for the performance of the device. 

[NewsView]

Thanks, but the microSD card whether it functions as a backup for my channel preferences does not answer the question of what's going on and shouldn't be marked "resolved".

The issue is that the Home Screen contents abruptly disappeared on me 2x about 10 days apart. The only thing I was left signed into after it happened a second time was Amazon Prime. Netflix needed sign in, other items I don't use (Spotify) showed up but essentially it looked like a factory reset occurred.

It was suggested that maybe I got hacked but this would be a strange presentation of that. Nothing else has shown evidence of being compromised, which presumably would have happened if I needed to change my network password. Plus, I have antivirus software that scans my network and reports if any unknown IPs show up. 

I have lost my ROKU purchase history for wallpapers and the like and can't get them out of my ROKU account because when I click the items out of the summary of purchases the website reports an error. So either way, ROKU needs to step up and help.

Supposing someone was using the remote app to do this, how would it be done? (What app, specifically?) Why would ROKU create an app like this if it could be used against other people's accounts? (I should probably also add I have never shared my ROKU account with anyone.)

Setting aside the possibility that my ROKUs were remotely wiped, has there been any update in the past 10-12 days that could be glitching? After Googling this issue I found that there were similar reports of Home Screen contents resetting after faulty updates a few years ago. I don't typically pay attention to the updates and when they are issued but for reference when is the last time (date) ROKU released one?

[atc98092]

I have no idea who marked my response as a solution. I was only pointing out what purpose the SD card has and how it occasionally causes issues. 

An account hack could not remove channels from your device. Channels can be added from the web site, but removals can only be accomplished on a device. 

I agree Roku should assist you with previous purchases that have disappeared from your account.

The official Roku app is provided by Roku. It has no specific security for connecting to devices on the same network, but it cannot connect to a device that isn't on the same private network. The only way someone could use the app to remove channels from your device is to be able to see the screen as they use it as a remote. It can only act as a remote to control the device, and cannot make changes to the device without interacting with the display. 

Roku is in a slow rollout of OS 13.0. I can't say if that might be the source of your issues, but I haven't seen any other similar reports from it. Roku continually updates what is referred to as "middleware" that can impact the way the OS operates. Perhaps something there might have been the issue. But only Roku could identify that. If you can create an Issue report (press Home 5 times quickly, then Back 5 times quickly) and post the report ID number here, Roku could investigate the report data.