Roku Unveils Redesigned Home Screen

[MacRumors]

Roku today announced that its home screen is receiving its biggest redesign in more than a decade. The new home screen will begin rolling out to Roku TVs and streaming devices across the U.S. starting today, with more countries to follow later. The changes will appear automatically, with no software update required.

At the top of the home screen, a new "Top Picks for You" section provides recommendations based on your watch history and what is trending on Roku.

A new AI-powered "Quick Access" section surfaces the apps you use most, such as the Apple TV app. There is still a separate page containing a complete list of apps that you have installed on your Roku device if you need it.

New curated hubs called "Destinations" offer content organized by genres and moods, such as comedy, reality, movies, sports, documentaries, and more.

The menu on the Roku home screen now has a collapsed design with icons, rather than expanded text labels. Roku says this change provides a cleaner canvas for discovering content, but it also results in a large ad being shown persistently on the right side of the screen. Previously, the ad would only appear in certain views.

A new "Shortcuts" section provides quick access to features like Continue Watching, Sleep Timer, Save List, and more, all in one place.

If you are a fan of the Roku City screen saver, there is now an on-screen tile that you can select to view it at any time. You can explore the screen saver's iconic cityscape, plus access Daily Trivia and other mini-games.

Article Link: Roku Unveils Redesigned Home Screen

 

[carniesandrubes]

Yet another company that thinks they know what you want to watch better than you do.

Glad I ditched Roku years ago.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Looking forward to what’s in store for Apple’s punch back 🤛

Where/when is this ATV coming out?!? 🙃

last one came out in October, 2022!

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Avatar Roku! No, no, I did not mean that!

 

[trip1ex]

Old news? ...swear it's been like this for at least a few weeks if not a month+ on my Rokutv.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Yet another company that thinks they know what you want to watch better than you do.

Glad I ditched Roku years ago.

I’d rather have competition THAN no competition….even if I don’t like what they offer, the market itself (we the consumer) will determine if the offering holds value and respond accordingly thru purchasing or lack thereof

Competition is what drives innovation and lowers pricing, without it, you have monopolies which of course limit both pricing and innovation

 

[jhfenton]

I'm glad I cut off my Roku TV from the Internet after they pushed the Moana 2 popup video to our home screens. I bought an Apple TV 4K and set it to control the TV's power. I rarely see the home screen, but I wouldn't want this garbage.

 

[rishey]

so amazing

 

[CarAnalogy]

I just want the feature where it reliably goes straight to the Apple TV HDMI input rather than trying to dump me to the Home screen.

I already knew about this update. Wanna know how? Tried to use the Apple TV as usual and it forced me into an onboarding takeover. I don't even know where the native remote is and the on-device controls are so fiddly I wound up just unplugging it and plugging it back in. That seemed to shut it up for a while.

 

[Corefile]

I mean, I wouldn't use a Roku without ads so I am sure you can guess the rest.

 

[matthew12]

These have been on my TV for awhile now. Thankfully you can turn them off, but knowing Roku, they'll probably take that away eventually like how you could turn off the ads. I'll just switch full time to my Apple TV if they do that. At least my router has built-in adblocking so I don't see Roku ads.

 

[AppleTO]

A Pi-hole is a good way to get rid of all the ads on Rokus. That’s what I’ve been using for years.

 

[WilliApple]

OMG its the iconic screensaver that the home menu takes place on!!!

 

[jinnj]

I'm glad I cut off my Roku TV from the Internet after they pushed the Moana 2 popup video to our home screens. I bought an Apple TV 4K and set it to control the TV's power. I rarely see the home screen, but I wouldn't want this garbage.

I did the same thing when I heard they are testing a new system to inject ads into your streaming videos! Also my Roku TV works a lot faster when the streaming is done from a different device.

 

[abhalliwell]

This was the “update” that made me immediately drive to the Apple Store and buy an Apple TV. The Home Screen is now visually 80%+ ads and runs more slowly. Nope, not having it.

I unplugged the TV’s Ethernet connection which caused the front LED to start flashing due to no internet. I think that’s most easily solved with a piece of electrical tape.

 

[dampfnudel]

Yet another company that thinks they know what you want to watch better than you do.

Glad I ditched Roku years ago.

My Roku Ultra (2024) sits right next to my 3rd gen Apple TV 4K. I use both equally and I have no issues so far with Roku’s business model. I’m okay with the advertising and to be honest it’s probably preparing me for what Apple may eventually do as they explore new revenue streams including ads in their apps.

 

[NLLV]

I had to upgrade from my 8 year old Ultra and bought an AppleTV 4K. I am free of endless spam and ads finally.

 

[jeffhayford]

The Plex app update, and the three ad boxes at the top of the old Roku OS was enough for me to get rid of it. Glad I did, this is so much worse.

 

[macdaddy43]

I have begun to loathe my Roku tvs I purchased years ago. I will not be buying them again and have slowly started to replace them with Apple TVs when they bite the dust.

 

[noraa]

When people ask why I spent $130 on an Apple TV instead of $30 on a Roku - this right here is why.

 

[ikramerica]

Old news? ...swear it's been like this for at least a few weeks if not a month+ on my Rokutv.

They have Beta forced it on all our Rokus over the last few months, and we have turned it OFF with a 1 star feedback because it is so obnoxious.

I regret owning Roku devices, after preferring them for years. roku:

-constantly add garbage to the home screen that you have to opt out of
-take over your theme with their sponsored themes
-throw 1/3 screen splash advertisements for R-rated content on the home screen

This means that on our kids tvs with parental controls turned on, you see advertisements for serial killer shows because Roku doesn’t give an F.

 

[ikramerica]

This was the “update” that made me immediately drive to the Apple Store and buy an Apple TV. The Home Screen is now visually 80%+ ads and runs more slowly. Nope, not having it.

I unplugged the TV’s Ethernet connection which caused the front LED to start flashing due to no internet. I think that’s most easily solved with a piece of electrical tape.

You can reset the TV and never join a network or sign in with Roku and then your TV becomes dumb and your Apple TV takes over. And no more flashing LED.

 

[ikramerica]

Yet another company that thinks they know what you want to watch better than you do.

Glad I ditched Roku years ago.

And they don’t think you want to watch what you are already watching.

Amazon Prime has shifted “Continue watching” down to the 3rd, 4th or FIFTH row depending on their mood.
Peacock has it on the 4th row.
HBO pushed it to the 4th row.
Disney+ has it on Row 2, which is fine I guess.

 

[Rogifan]

I have begun to loathe my Roku tvs I purchased years ago. I will not be buying them again and have slowly started to replace them with Apple TVs when they bite the dust.

Interesting. I never use my Apple TV box and only use the TV app when there’s something specific to TV+ that I want to watch. I’ve had no issues with my Roku TVs.

 

[ignatius345]

When people ask why I spent $130 on an Apple TV instead of $30 on a Roku - this right here is why.

Same. And I’ve been using the same ATV for like 3 years and still going strong, so that “extra” cost was forgotten long ago...