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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FamilyD
Channel Surfer

Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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iPhone 12. The Roku Mobile App updated to 8.0.0 and iOS updated to 15.0.1. Since then, I have not been able to use private listening via the Roku Mobile App. Prior to this it had been working fine for years. When I tap the headphones (private listening) button in the app to enable private listening, the TV shows the headphone icon in the upper right, but with no number next to it. That was odd, because in the past, tapping the headphones (private listening) button in the app would display a headphone icon in the upper right WITH a “100” next to the icon. It makes me wonder if the absence of that number is an indication that something is wrong within the Roku Mobile App or the Roku stick itself? I also wonder if the timing of these two updates (Roku Mobile App and iOS) is just a coincidence or somehow related?

Has anyone else experienced this issue and potentially a solution for it? Thanks in advance.

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Jcarter
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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Update:  I found a work-around on Reddit.  I was able to get my private listening audio to work on my phone by changing the Audio settings on my Roku device from Auto to Stereo. 

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FamilyD
Channel Surfer

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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FYI: I've tried Private Listening with both the wireless Apple AirPods Pro and with wired Apple EarBuds. Both of these work in every other app and situation, just not with the Roku Mobile App Private Listening and they had been working as recently as yesterday?

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FamilyD
Channel Surfer

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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UPDATE

I have tried for two consecutive days to get Private Listening to work through the Roku Mobile App on iOS 15. I've shut down all devices involved (iPhone, TV, Roku Stick). I've waited almost a full day to continue trying to get this to work. It is my belief, without any other contrary evidence, that Private Listening via the Roku Mobile App is broken in iOS 15 and will remain that way until the Roku Mobile App is updated or iOS 15 is updated.

To reiterate, I have been using Private Listening in the Roku Mobile App on the same iPhone under iOS 14 and 13 with no issues for over a year and the day after I update to iOS 15 (and the Roku Mobile App updates to 8.0.0, though I don't know specifically when that happened), the Private Listening completely stops working.

Hopefully Roku will comment on this and provide some confirmation and potentially some information about when this functionality will return.

In the meantime, if there is anyone running iOS 15 with the Roku Mobile App and is still able to use the Private Listening functionality with no issues, I would like to know as that could show a potential path to resolving this without waiting for Roku or Apple to update software. Thanks.

RokuDanny-R
Retired Moderator

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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@FamilyD

Thanks for the post.

We would be more than happy to investigate this issue further.

Can you please provide us the following information:
-Roku device model, serial number, device ID, and software OS/version (these can all be found in Settings > System > About)
-does this issue occur on a specific channel? if so, what channel and what version/build is the channel (this can be found be selecting the channel on the Home screen and pressing the * button)
-tracker ID when this issue occurs (when you see this issue occur, press the Home button 5 times, followed by the Back button 5 times)
-steps to reproduce the issue you are seeing

Once we have that information we will be able pass it along to the appropriate team to look into.


Thanks,
Danny

Danny R.
Roku Community Moderator
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FamilyD
Channel Surfer

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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Hello Danny. Thanks for the response. Following is the info you requested.

  • Model: 3810X - Roku Streaming Stick+.
  • Serial: YH0065986925.
  • Software: 10.0.0, build 4209-50.
  • Device ID: 21309686925.

Q: does the Private Listening issue occur on a specific channel?
A: No. I tried again this morning, with wired EarBuds (to eliminate the variable of wireless AirPods) and Private Listening does not work anywhere with the Roku system. I can see when I tap the headphone icon in the Roku Mobile App that the headphone icon shows up in the upper right on the Roku in the TV, but there is no number next to it (normally it says "100"). I also know that the Roku has an audible 'click' while navigating the main menu. That click is no longer there while I have Private Listening enabled in the Roku Mobile App, neither in my wired EarBuds nor on the TV.

Q: can you get an Issue Tracker ID?
A: this Private Listening issue is always occurring and never not occurring since it started this past week. I did perform the steps you asked for and got the following...
- Tracker ID: 25-401-131.

Q: steps to reproduce the issue?
A: Here you go...

  • Turn on TV.
  • Turn on Roku Stick.
  • Launch Roku Mobile App on iPhone.
  • Plug wired EarBuds into iPhone.
  • Tap on 'headphones button' on Roku Mobile App to enable Private Listening.
  • Roku on TV displays headphones icon in upper right, but with no number next to it.
  • TV sounds goes away.
  • No sound plays in EarBuds.
  • This is 100% Reproducible.

UNRELATED ADDITIONAL ISSUE?

Just yesterday, while using this Roku Stick with the TV audio (since Private Listening isn't working) I noticed a new problem. While watching a streaming show, the Roku will unexpectedly just go to a black screen for a couple of seconds, and then seem to restart and display the Home screen. This occurred three times within about 15 minutes. Two of the times were when using the Apple TV+ streaming service and one time was when using the Disney+ streaming service (I wanted to see if it was just Apple TV+, it was not).

We have had this Roku Stick for less than a year. Are these indications that this stick has a hardware issue? Please advise. Currently this Roku Stick is now UNUSABLE.

RokuDanny-R
Retired Moderator

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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@FamilyD

Thanks for the follow up.

I have passed along the information you've provided to the appropriate Roku team. Once more information is available, I'll be sure to update the Community.


Thanks,
Danny

Danny R.
Roku Community Moderator
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FamilyD
Channel Surfer

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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Thanks Danny. Any idea on when a response might come?

For some reason this forum requires at least 140 characters to post anything, though there is no place in the post editor that displays how many characters you're typing, so I'm not sure how long I have to keep typing in order to post this response. I guess I'll just keep typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing and typing until I feel fairly confident I have at least 140 characters.

Chloe748
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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I started having the same issue last night . I just started recently plugging in headphones into my Roku to hear better, and have doing that successfully for about a month. ( it drains the batteries like crazy though!) Now it suddenly stopped working. I plug the headphones into my Roku, the sound still comes out of my tv, and there is no icon in the upper corner of the tv. I can use the remote for other controls, just not the headphones. Any suggestions?

FamilyD
Channel Surfer

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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Hello Chloe.

Sorry to hear that your (physical) Roku remote is not working with the headphones you plug into it. That is actually a completely different issue than what this post is about. This post is about listening to a Roku using the Roku iPhone App and does not involve the physical Roku remote at all.

For information about using and troubleshooting the physical Roku remote, you might want to try the link below...

https://community.roku.com/t5/Remotes-Accessories/UPDATE-Did-your-Roku-remote-lose-volume-and-TV-con...

Aklindgren
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku iPhone App Private Listening No Sound

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I’m having similar issues with ios15 sound. It cuts in and out. Works with iPhone on ios14 and ipd os14 Roku 4 on Wi-Fi started right after update

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