Set a sleep timer for your Roku TV
Falling asleep in front of the TV and waking at four in the morning to a glowing screen is a solved problem. Roku Remote counts down and switches your Roku TV off when it reaches zero.
Start a timer
- Tap Sleep on the remote screen.
- Choose how long: 15, 30 or 45 minutes, or 1, 1½ or 2 hours.
- The countdown starts. It shows in the app, and on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as a live countdown.
- From the Lock Screen you can add 15 minutes, if the film is better than you expected, or cancel the timer entirely.
- When it reaches zero the TV switches off.
Leaving the app
While Roku Remote is open it keeps the screen awake and switches the TV off itself, at the moment you asked for. If you leave the app or lock the phone for a long stretch, iOS may suspend it before the timer ends; the app plans for that and posts a notification at the deadline with a Turn Off TV button, so one tap still does the job.
That is a real difference from the TV's own sleep timer, which needs nothing from your phone. If you want the TV to switch off whatever happens to your iPhone, the TV's timer — under Settings › System › Time › Sleep timer on the TV — is the one to use.
Roku TVs only
A sleep timer switches off a television. A Roku streaming player has nothing to switch off, so on one the app says so and offers nothing: use the TV's own sleep timer, or the TV's remote, instead.
FAQ
- Can I set a time rather than a duration?
- The choices are durations, from 15 minutes to 2 hours. Adding 15 minutes from the Lock Screen is there for the stretch after that.
- Does it stop playback first?
- It sends the TV's power command, which switches the TV off. Whatever was playing is left where it was, as if you had pressed power on the remote.
- Will it drain my battery?
- While the app is open it keeps the screen awake, which costs what a screen costs. Locking the phone hands the job to the notification instead, and that costs nothing.
- Why did I get a notification instead of the TV switching off?
- iOS had suspended the app by the time the timer ended — on a locked phone that is normal. Tapping Turn Off TV in the notification switches it off without opening the app.
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.