Roku Remote cannot find my Roku
Roku Remote finds TVs by announcing itself on your Wi-Fi and listening for answers, and by trying the addresses on your own subnet as a fallback. Both need the iPhone and the Roku to be on the same network and allowed to talk to each other.
Work through these in order
- Check the Wi-Fi network name on your iPhone against the one on the Roku (on the TV: Settings › Network › About). They must match. A guest network will not do, and mobile data certainly will not.
- Check the permission: iPhone Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network, and switch Roku Remote on. Without it iOS silently drops everything the app sends, and the list stays empty however long you wait.
- Wake the Roku. Press a key on the physical remote, or switch the TV on, and search again.
- Switch Wi-Fi off and on again on the iPhone, then search again. This clears up the case where iOS joined a different network than you think.
- If your router has client isolation, AP isolation or a guest mode covering your devices, switch it off for your own network.
- If none of that works, add the Roku by its IP address — a direct connection does not depend on discovery at all.
Cases that look like a bug but are not
- A Roku on Ethernet while the iPhone is on Wi-Fi: fine, as long as both are on the same router and the same subnet.
- Two routers, or a mesh set up as two separate networks: the devices genuinely cannot see each other. Join the same one.
- A VPN on the iPhone: it sends the app's traffic out to the internet, where your TV is not.
- A work or hotel network: these usually isolate every device from every other on purpose. The IP address route is the only one that works, and sometimes not even that.
Still nothing
Email us with your Roku's model, the iOS version on your iPhone, and whether adding it by IP address worked. That tells us whether the problem is discovery or the connection itself, which is most of the way to an answer.
FAQ
- It found the TV before and now it does not.
- The address it saved has probably changed after a router restart. Open the picker and let it search again, then reserve a fixed address for the Roku in your router if it keeps happening.
- Do I need to switch anything on on the TV first?
- Not for discovery. Control by mobile apps on the Roku matters for sending commands, and that is the next guide.
- Why does the app ask for local network access at all?
- Because it talks to your TV directly rather than through a server. That permission is the whole mechanism — and the reason nothing you do needs an account.
Roku Remote is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Roku, Inc. Roku is a trademark of Roku, Inc.
The remote you never lose
Roku Remote gives your iPhone a touchpad, a keyboard for searching and signing in, your channels, private listening through your headphones and a sleep timer. It finds your Roku on your Wi-Fi — no account, and nothing through our servers.
Coming soon to the App Store for iPhone.