Roku’s TV remote is intentional innovation in action 

When I think about what makes Roku special, the same phrase always comes to mind: intentional innovation. It perfectly captures how we think about creating products and experiences — we’re not interested in overloading our products with bells and whistles just to say we have them. Instead, we look at our offerings through the eyes of our customers (including our own employees, who are some of our most passionate users) so we can keep the Roku experience simple and best-in-class.

To understand what intentional innovation looks like in action, you don’t have to look any further than that Roku remote in the palm of your hand. As the gateway to how you experience any streaming advice, your remote is essential. When it works well, you don’t have to think about it at all. When it doesn’t work well, you’re all too aware of it as an obstacle and a source of frustration.  

Roku decided early on to build a remote that would be a true extension to the TV viewing experience. We agonized over ergonomics, fit, and finish to ensure it would be comfortable for people of all ages and abilities to use. We designed an interface so intuitive it could be navigated without even looking down. The result is a device that can be found today on millions of coffee tables—and under countless couch cushions—around the world. 

When a customer picks up one of our remotes, they only see a few buttons. Each one was carefully selected to make streaming easier—navigational controls (like the D-pad, OK, Home, and Back), transport buttons (Play, Rewind, Fast Forward), and channel shortcuts to the most popular streaming apps. We could have added more buttons that controlled more niche features, but cluttering the design would have cost us both simplicity and ease of use.  

While this interface has largely stayed the same over the years, our remotes are anything but static—innovation is continuous. The inside of every Roku voice remote is incredibly complex, almost like a minicomputer. We regularly tinker “under the hood,” prioritizing incremental improvements that make the remote snappier and more responsive. We also regularly conduct consumer research and use a robust employee beta test program to better understand which features work well, which need improvement, and which are missing completely. Over the years, this process has helped us add valuable features, including rechargeability, hands-free voice, and Remote Finder. The latest features will roll out with a new premium Roku remote, available with the new Roku Pro Series TVs coming to stores this spring.  

When I look at our remotes, I see a perfect marriage of technological sophistication and user simplicity. That’s what intentional innovation is all about, and it’s the north star for our design team. We refuse to get distracted by the latest trend. Instead, we keep our eyes focused on the people who matter most: our customers.