Roku

Roku app is a companion for your Roku TV box, delivering its experience to your phone partly, as well as making it the most advanced remote for your device. Download Roku for iOS or Android and enjoy it for free with your TV box!

Design 5/5

This app is meant to imitate the original Roku remote, and partly it does. In regular remote mode, it looks like a simplified hardware remote, with a cross-shaped joystick and the most basic buttons for power, play/stop, backwards/forwards, and so on. Other tabs look rather like a Roku TV interface with channels and videos available, transferred to your smartphone, on a contrasting dark background.

Usability 5/5

First of all: this isn’t a Roku substitute for your phone. It’s a companion app, and it makes handling a Roku console easier. As it’s been said, the app makes your phone another remote for Roku (the two devices need to be connected to the same local network). This network-based approach even doesn’t make you point at the console when operating. With this app you can use your phone keyboard as the input for your console and thus simplify the search for anything you know by name. It takes your comfort to a new level.

With this app you can also use a Roku console as a media between your phone and your TV. Connect to it and stream your photos, videos, audios to the TV. They will look better on the big screen, and your device remains in your hands.

Finally, you can preview channels and on-demand videos on your phone screen. It lets you, say, watch channels when in bed, away from your TV, or in case you don’t want to turn it on. The phone is a poor replacement for the TV, but it’s something.

Features 5/5

Along with the musts above, the app is also capable of editing available channels on your TV. Through syncing, its settings apply to your console. Another great feature you may need is “silence”, letting you send the audio to the headphones connected to your smartphone. There are many reasons for that: maybe there is someone sleeping near, and maybe, you want to enjoy the panorama when watching a concert.

In-app purchases 5/5

None at all. Seriously. You have already bought Roku, you have subscribed to the channels you wanted, have the rest for free, and here we are. The app, with all its perks, it just a bonus to what you have already paid for. The application is updated frequently, with new features and new models support added.

The Bottom Line

Roku app is the perfect companion for the eponymous consoles. It’s irreplaceable if you have lost or misplaced your original remote, but even if it’s not the case, you’ll benefit from connecting your phone and your TV streaming console. Keyboard and voice input, visual channel choice, and other features make control much easier and faster.

• Graphics 5
• Gameplay 5
• Controls 5
• Replay Value 5

Pros

Channel preview;
Remote control features with a familiar layout;
Selecting channels and videos easily;
Completely free;
Compatible with most phones.

Cons

Not necessary if you prefer the good old sort of TV experience.