Roku OS · remote, channel launch, volume, power
Roku remote app: control your Roku player or Roku TV from your phone
Roku players and Roku televisions have carried a local control interface for years and it is one of the more dependable ones in the house. MediaPond uses it for a full remote, for launching channels, and, where the channel allows it, for dropping straight into a particular show.*
How MediaPond connects to a Roku
The Roku answers on your local network as soon as MediaPond finds it, with no account and no Roku sign-in on the phone side. Recent Roku OS releases add a control mode that asks you to approve a new remote the first time, and when that appears the television shows a code which you confirm once in the app.
After that the connection is direct, and presses tend to land with the responsiveness of the plastic remote, which is not something every network remote manages.
Channels, and the thing inside the channel
MediaPond can launch any channel installed on the Roku, and where the platform and the channel allow it, open a particular title inside that channel rather than its home screen. You browse in the app, tap the episode, and the Roku goes to it.
If more than one service in your house carries the same show, your service preferences decide which one MediaPond reaches for, so the family tends to land in the same place instead of whichever tile happened to be on top.
Roku TVs compared with Roku players
On a Roku television MediaPond has the whole set, so power, volume, mute and the inputs sit alongside the remote. On a Roku player plugged into someone else’s television, MediaPond drives the player and hands power and input duties to whichever set it is attached to.
Either way the room stays the unit of control, so you are not picking a device out of a list before you can press pause.
At a glance
What Roku supports
- A full remote with D-pad, OK, back, home, replay, star and transport keys
- Channel launch, and deep links into a title where the platform allows it
- Volume, mute and power on Roku TVs and compatible soundbars
- The keys your particular model exposes, without dead buttons for the ones it does not
- Now Playing state in the room dock while a channel is running
- Text entry from your keyboard instead of the on-screen grid
Support covers the Roku models and firmware families MediaPond currently works with, under typical home network conditions. Manufacturers can change, restrict or discontinue the interfaces these features rely on, so what a particular unit accepts can change over time.
Does MediaPond need Roku’s own app or an account?
No. It uses the Roku’s local network control interface, so there is nothing to sign into and no trip through Roku’s cloud to press a button.
My Roku asks me to allow the remote. Is that normal?
Yes. Newer Roku OS versions ship a limited control mode that requires a one-time approval for each new remote app, so you confirm the code on the television and MediaPond is authorized from then on.
Can it control the volume of a Roku streaming stick?
A stick has no volume of its own, so MediaPond routes volume to whatever does, which is usually the television it is plugged into or the room’s speakers.
Also worth reading
- Apple TVtvOS · trackpad remote, now playing, seek
- LG TVswebOS · wake, power, input, volume, app launch
- PlexYour server, browsed and launched by room
Devices and services MediaPond supports · How a room comes up · Questions and answers
Not every device or streaming app supports direct launching. MediaPond makes a good-faith, best-effort attempt to open content in the right app, and falls back to opening the app itself where a direct link is not available. Availability varies by device, app, region, and your subscriptions.
Not in the stores yet
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