Like your average American family we have a few TVs in the house. Of course we have DVDs and Bluerays, and the players to go with them. But today its all about going digital, right? So over the last few years we have made the push to go digital and away from discs. Enter Roku. We have a few Rokus, a Roku 1 and two Roku sticks.
Let me start by saying I love our Rokus. It is a great device (overall). Sure there are a few things I would have done differently but we are happy with them. Then lets bring in the remote. The Roku 1 remote works flawlessly. Zero issues with the IR remote. The two other Roku Stick remotes however, are a piece of fucking shit. Both of them equally. The sticks were purchased about a year apart so they are not the same batch either. The remotes are even slightly different from one another. The original is fat and glossy while the newer one is slim and matte. Both of them however, never fucking work. We consistently have to re-pair them to the Roku. About. Every. Single. Day. No joke, and because the remote doesn’t work we have to use a phone to do it. Or power cycle the entire thing, cause thats a quick thing to do. I have found a quicker way to get the damn thing to work – removing a battery for a second seems to wake it back up, most of the time.
Yeah, i know i can use my phone as a remote and you know what – that is completely unfucking acceptable. If i wanted to be stuck tethered to my phone I would have saved money and bought a Chromecast. But I didn’t because I wanted a Roku, and specifically i wanted the physical remote. I guess asking for the remote to actually work was a bit much.
The little bit of research i have done leads me to believe that it is an issue with the remote itself not the Roku. It seems that remote goes to sleep. How stupid is that. Lets make a remote that sleeps so it doesn’t work. Genius right there. Not sure if it is Bluetooth or RF, and I really don’t care. Although I’m guessing some sort of RF otherwise we could pair the phone and not rely on wifi.
The design is so poor that the remote will actually cease to function right in the middle of using the damn thing. Great sleep function Roku, really awesome, lovin’ it. On top of all that, the thing eats through AAA batteries like they’re going out of style.
Stay away from the Roku streaming stick and their craptactular RF remotes. I am all for Roku (1, 2 or 3), but these sticks can go in the fucking garbage. Not to mention TV USB ports don’t supply enough power so you still need cables and dongles. Whats the fucking point of the stick again? If you get the MHL stick version you dont even get a remote (they make you rely on your TV remote), yeah cause everyone still actually uses it – anyone with cable TV has 3″ of dust on their actual TV remote (because we cant use them). Manufacturers need to get their shit together.
And Roku, fix your shitty remotes.
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You are right!!!!
YEA I AM DISGUSTED WITH THEIR JUNKY SHIT ALSO.
Piece of shit….I agree!
Worst product EVER just because of the REMOTE!!!
I agree 100%
Same problem with Roku 3 remote.
I literally want to take the remote, throw it out the fucking window, then throw it in the street, douse it in gasoline and light it on fire. I would then walk calmly and get my car keys and run it over repeatedly. Roku, your remote is a worthless bag of twats.
If I had to buy another system, I love my ROKU, but would get a different one just because of their fucked up remote.
I agree the remote is garbage Who the fuck wants to change 40 fucking channels one at a time no numbers on remote Crap !!!!
Roku, your remotes are SHIT! The Quality Assurance leader for your company/manufacturer should be bludgeoned in the taint with a goddamn Garden Weasel. Go fuck yourself, Roku, you fucking cunts.
I googled “roku remote is a fucking piece of garbage” and it lead me here. I guess I’m not alone.
Suck my left nut Roku
This shit is total garbage! Fuck it! I feel conned by these son’s ofsons of bitches! The shit keeps rebooting every fucking hour. It goes to fucking sleep while I am in the middle of watching TV. Then it takes all motherfucking day long to reboot! Piece of shit crap! I’m going back to cable! It’s better to pay more for quality than to get cheap shit for cheap! Fuck Roku and whoever the dumbfuck is who came up with this rotten pussy technology!
I agree it is crap. My tv is wall mounted and very difficult to unplug the stick as suggested as an easy fix by Roku. This happens at least once a week. Unit was purchased in December and turned to crap within a few weeks. I now have to dedicate my tablet for this purpose as it’s the only way to reasonably watch Roku.
Hopefully competition will take advantage of Roku’s Incompetence and fill the gap.
Same thing here…….Gave up on the roku remote —it’s apiece of shit——–went to firestick and gave up on roky completly…
Internet searched “how come roku remotes suck” and came across this site. After a few laughs reading some of the comments, which I needed, thank you all. I feel much better, oh..and throwing that fucking remote right onto a coal fire. Just something so soothing about watching that piece of shit twist around and disappear like a cheap fucking fourth of july black snake in less than five seconds…..fuck you roku. Thanks for the batteries, assholes
I googled “goddamn roku remote” and found this therapeutic rant. Thought I’d share my temporary solution. I threw it. Then I threw it again. Then I put my combat boots on and stomped the shit out of it. What was left of it, I threw again and again and stomped again and again. I recommend taking the batteries out first, though. It made a disgusting, yet beautiful burnt electronics smell. Very short-lived pissed off relief. My roommate has one and is deployed, so I’m using his remote until he gets back then I’ll buy something else. I would have demolished his remote by now, but I have something against destroying other peoples’ property. Can’t wait to smash the roku itself in a few months.
roku remotes are fucking cancer fuck whoever at roku decided to cheap it on the remotes to try to scam their custies. stage 4 cancer for all roku employees.
Totally 100% POS!!!!! The first time I called roku tech support about it he just told me to buy another remote after I told him I thought the remote is just a cheap shoddy piece of crap. Great help roku tech!
Haha I google piece of shit roku remote and here I am. I can’t even connect to my roku because I need the damn remote to enter my new WiFi
Hell yeah! Love the truthful unadulterated smart-ass adult sarcasm and pissed-offed-ed-ness of this article and the people. I have a simple Insignia Roku from BB and I get this Mofo and I’m like “where’s all the goddam buttons?” Mute on the side? VOL on the side. When I can hold the TV to the side of my head like a phone AND watch it…THEN you can design it like a phone you fucking idiots. Oh, and…new, groundbreaking idea for the Chins in China and the fat white guys in USA commissioning BS technology that isn’t cool. You should “reinvent/ redisgn the current paradigm” a little at a time…NOT toss a quadriplegic 11 bowling pins and say, Piece Of Cake…you’ll figure it out! I use this goddam thing to scroll and watch reg over-air digital and it’s a CLUSTERFUCK! Where’s the numbers? Where’s the Guide? Why when I grab it too hard does shit start happen, Vol Up, Vol Down, Mute…? NO ONE does this, assholes. Didn’t then. Still don’t. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, and your not cool and your not ok. Fuck Roku.
All of the older IR remote type of Rokus worked perfectly. All the RF remote sticks (1080p) worked perfectly too. I am now on my second stick+ (UHD)… piece of fucking shit! I can pick up the remote and hit the power button 10 times and nothing happens… pick up the massive remote that came with my TV and hit the power button and the TV comes right on. Then eventually it says it’s connected. Last night for the thousandth time I turned it on with the TV remote and then it took 2 damn minutes for the remote to start working. Here’s the thing though… I’ve swapped remotes with a 1080p stick remote that works perfectly 100% of the time with that other HD stick. Pair it with the UHD stick+… garbage. I don’t get it. I just really don’t get it. Other than the stick+, I love Roku. But they can take the stick+ and shove up their ass.
I hate roku remote cant enen change a channel have to scan thriugh hundreds of channels
Chromecast much better
All I can say is the FUCKING RRMOTE DOESNT DO SHIT..PUT NEW BATTERIES. 4 DIFFERENT TIMES STILL DOESN’T WORK. WHO IS THE DUMBASS THAT REMOTE??? HE NEEDS TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL..FUCKING DUMBASS.Hiw bout a remote that works other then my phone??
Yeah, I also stumbled upon this after googling “why are Roku remotes fucking garbage”. Mind you, this came with a $1400-ish dollar tv my dad bought before he passed. Jesus fuck Roku, that amount of money and you can’t even supply a remote that isn’t as useless as a dry queef? Using the app for now, even though it makes me want to self immolate.
I will say after reading all of the comments I feel better. One thing I may have missed in the comments is to turn of the tv with their latest rechargeable primo supreme remote I have to push off and unplug the headphones or the tv comes back on. Then you can hear the audio of what you were watching still in the earbuds, TV is off. Expensive batteries will not last a week, why? Because it stays on.
I purchased two rechargeable remotes and they can’t be used for 3 days without needing a recharge. Then it drops the connection to the remote. You can turn on your tv but you can not do anything else. I can’t select an app, change the channel or control the volume. Now 15 minutes of wasted time and extremely frustrated because I just wanna relax. I have had 6 Roku system/remotes and 100% are all problematic. If there was an alternative I would have chosen it 3 years ago. The only thing that will make them make a remote with batteries that last a year and lights up is a total boycott of their inferior products. It’s shameful.
Gary Roehl
El Cajon, CA.
Aug 11th, 2023