Help & guides

Everything about controlling a Roku from your iPhone: getting connected, the keys and the keyboard, private listening in your headphones, the sleep timer, the widgets — and what to check when the TV will not answer.

Browse by topic

How to use your iPhone as a Roku remote

Your iPhone and your Roku on the same Wi-Fi is all it takes: open Roku Remote, pick the Roku it finds, and the touchpad, keyboard, channels and volume keys are there.

Connect your iPhone to your Roku TV or player

How Roku Remote finds a Roku on your Wi-Fi, what to do when there are several, and how to rename or remove the ones you have added.

Add a Roku by its IP address

When your network blocks device discovery, type the Roku's address in by hand. Find it on the TV under Settings › Network › About, then add it in the picker.

Touchpad or D-pad: choosing how you steer

Swipe to move and tap to select, or keep the arrow keys you know from the plastic remote. Both are in Roku Remote, and you can switch whenever you like.

Type on your Roku with your iPhone's keyboard

Searching for a film or signing in with the on-screen grid is slow. Open Type in Roku Remote and use the keyboard — and the autocorrect and dictation — you use everywhere else.

Open any channel on your Roku from your iPhone

The Channels tab lists everything installed on your Roku, with a search box. Tap one and it opens on the TV — no walking across rows of tiles.

Switch HDMI inputs and power your Roku TV on or off

Jump to the games console on HDMI 2, come back to the Roku home screen, and switch a Roku TV on and off — all from the remote screen.

Volume, mute and playback controls

Volume up and down, mute, instant replay, rewind, play/pause and fast forward — what each one does on a Roku, and when the TV ignores them.

Private listening: the TV's sound in your headphones

Send your Roku's sound to your iPhone and listen through your headphones while the TV's speakers stay quiet — for late films, noisy rooms and sleeping households.

Private listening connects but there is no sound

Sound that never arrives, stutters, or lags behind the picture is nearly always the network between the Roku and the iPhone. Here is what to check, in order.

Set a sleep timer for your Roku TV

Fall asleep to a film and let the TV switch itself off. Pick 15 minutes to 2 hours, watch the countdown on your Lock Screen, and add 15 more or cancel from there.

Roku widgets on your iPhone's Home Screen

Arrows, OK and power in a small widget; your recent channels, volume and play/pause in a medium one. Press a button on the Home Screen without opening the app.

Roku power and mute in Control Center

Add Power and Mute to Control Center on iOS 18 and later, and a remote button to your Lock Screen, so the TV goes quiet in one swipe.

Roku Remote cannot find my Roku

An empty list almost always means one of four things: the wrong Wi-Fi, a missing local-network permission, a router that isolates devices, or a Roku that is asleep.

My Roku is found but it does not respond

When the app sees your Roku but nothing happens on the TV, the Roku's “Control by mobile apps” setting is nearly always the reason. Here is where it lives.

Allow local network access on your iPhone

iOS asks once whether an app may talk to devices on your Wi-Fi. If Roku Remote was refused, nothing it sends ever leaves the phone — here is how to switch it back on.

What Roku Remote PRO unlocks

PRO unlocks private listening, the iPhone keyboard for typing on the TV, and the widgets and Control Center buttons. What the plans are, and what the free trial covers.

Restore or cancel your Roku Remote PRO subscription

Moving to a new iPhone? Tap Restore. Want to stop? Cancelling is done in your iPhone's Settings, and Apple handles refunds — both are two-minute jobs.

What Roku Remote stores, and what it sends

No account, no analytics, no ads: your Rokus and settings live on your iPhone, and the app talks to your TV directly over your own Wi-Fi.