The next best thing to the Pro remote is Roku's Enhanced Voice Remote. You set the shortcuts using your voice (e.g., "Hey Roku, open HBO Max), wait for the command to work, then press-and-hold the shortcut button until you hear a success tone. Roku never explicitly states what apps will show up on your remote, only that "channel shortcut buttons may vary."Įither way, it also includes two programmable shortcut buttons for any app you want. Buy from Amazon: Roku Voice Remote Pro (RCS01R) for $29.99įrom the looks of it, the remote features Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Sling as the channel shortcuts, but there is a newer model you might get instead that has Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, and Hulu as the app buttons.
In fact, Roku claims that it works with "all Roku TV models, Roku audio products, and most Roku players." There's a new Roku Voice Remote Pro (model RCS01R) that might just be compatible with your TV or player. You don't have to stick with the same Roku remote you have for your Roku TV or streaming player. Mainly updating your remote to a newer one or one that has the quick app shortcut buttons you want. If you don't want to take apart your Roku remote, there are other options you have. Buy on Amazon: iFixit Essential Electronics Toolkit for $24.99.If so, iFixit has a few guides on different Roku remote disassemblies you could follow. Since not every Roku remote is the same, the process may differ compared to mine. The only real hack you can perform on your Roku remote when it comes to those quick shortcut buttons is disabling the defunct app button from being pressed or lessening the chances you would accidentally press it. (Note: those links all go to replacement controls for your Roku TV brand.) Option 1: Disable Buttons You Keep Accidentally Pressing When we're talking about "Roku TVs" below, we mean TVs with Roku's OS loaded on them made by manufacturers such as TCL, Hisense, ONN, Insignia, Sharp, Hitachi, Phillips, Sanyo, Westinghouse, Element, JVC, RCA, and Magnavox. When we're talking about "Roku players" below, we mean Roku's lineup which includes the Roku Express, Express+, Express 4K, Express 4K+, Streaming Stick, Streaming Stick+, Streaming Stick+ Headphone Edition, Ultra, Ultra LT, Premiere, Premiere+, SE, Smart Soundbar, Streambar, and Streambar Pro. And just because Roku's never going to let you reprogram its featured app buttons on its remotes doesn't mean you can't make your Roku experience less frustrating. One big example is that the HBO Now button will open HBO Max since Now no longer exists. However, some seemingly defunct app buttons redirect to their replacement apps, so that's a start. That would obviously make those deals it secures with each featured streaming app less profitable.
If it did, even if it were just for useless buttons for defunct apps like Blockbuster and Rdio and soon-to-be Google Play, there's a possibility that people would figure out how to use that to hack into the other buttons and change them to custom defaults. Unfortunately, Roku does not offer any way to reprogram or customize its remote control buttons. So, is there anything you can do to change those defunct buttons on your Roke remote? That sort of thing.Streaming media companies like Netflix and Hulu make deals with Roku to have their apps featured on Roku's remote controls, but there's an inherent flaw with this model: the buttons become useless if the app no longer exists. You might need to add some delays in there as well in order to allow the roku to process the button presses. Enter selects the app in question (which should be youtubeTV). Down moves it to the 2nd row, first column. Left moves the cursor from the menu (home/setup/search/etc) into the apps. Home, home gets you back to the homescreen (if you're already in an app) then resets the iconlist to the top again. Then create a macro that does "home, home, left, down, enter" You have to be a little creative about the placement of the icons on the screen though.įor example, if you wanted youtubeTV as a hardbutton, you could set the youtubeTV as the first icon of the 2nd row on your homescreen. Having said that, I have created macros on the harmony that somewhat work as hardbuttons.
ie Neflix, Amazon, Hulu, Pandora, RDIO, VUDU, Blockbuster, etc.īasically if Roku hasn't created a hardbutton code for it, the Harmony can't replicate it. The only available options are for the buttons Roku has made on other remotes - so only the companies that have paid for the advertising on the official remotes, in other words.