Type on your Roku with your iPhone's keyboard
Entering text on a TV means steering a cursor around an alphabet, one letter at a time, with everyone watching. The Roku accepts text from the network instead, so anything you type on your iPhone arrives in whatever field is focused on the TV.
Type something on the TV
- On the TV, put the cursor in the field you want to fill — a search box, an email address, a password.
- In Roku Remote, tap Type. Your iPhone's keyboard comes up.
- Type. Each character is sent as you go, so the TV keeps up with you.
- Use the keyboard's own delete key to correct a mistake, and its return key to submit.
What it is good for
- Searching, where a long title takes a dozen swipes on the TV and a second on a keyboard.
- Signing in to a streaming app, including the email addresses and passwords that are miserable to enter with a D-pad.
- Wi-Fi passwords and any other long string of mixed characters.
- Dictation — tap the microphone on your iPhone's keyboard and speak, and the words go to the TV.
Where it will not help
A few apps on the Roku draw their own keyboard and ignore text sent from the network, and some payment or PIN fields deliberately accept nothing but the physical remote. There is no way around either from a remote app — use the on-screen keyboard for those.
FAQ
- Is typing a password this way safe?
- What you type goes straight to the Roku over your own Wi-Fi. Roku Remote does not store it, and it never goes to us — there is no server to send it to. It is as private as your home network.
- Nothing appears on the TV when I type.
- The TV has to have a text field focused. If the field is not highlighted on the TV, the characters have nowhere to go. Tap into the field with the remote first.
- Does typing need PRO?
- Yes. The keyboard is one of the three things Roku Remote PRO unlocks, along with private listening and the widgets.
- Can I paste text?
- Yes. Paste into the field the way you paste anywhere on iOS and the whole string is sent.
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.