How Roku Voice improves your TV streaming experience

Gone are the days of scrolling through channels, trying to remember if that deep-sea creature doc you wanted to watch is on Netflix or Max. Instead, easily find the entertainment you love with Roku Voice—just say it to stream it. And you can do more with Roku Voice than you probably realize. So, we put together this handy how-to on what your voice can do. Let’s get talking. 

Say it to stream it with Roku Voice

It’s incredibly easy to start streaming using Roku Voice. If you already know what you’re looking for, simply hold the microphone button on your Roku Voice Remote or Roku Voice Remote Pro and say “play” plus the name of the movie, show, or channel you’re looking for (for example, “play Weird”). Or if you want to see a visual list of search results, try “find,” “show me,” “search for,” or, “with the power of my voice I declare that thou wilt stream,” (no guarantees on that last one).

When you voice a command with a type of entertainment—like Live TV, or a specific sports team or league, live news, or genre—Roku Voice makes the perfect streaming selection appear on your screen.

What does “perfect selection” mean? Say your favorite team’s name and you’ll see every game—plus when and where to stream it, whether it’s on a channel you subscribe to or one you can access for free on your Roku device. Say, “show me cooking shows,” and see everything from The Great American Baking Show to Emeril Tailgates. And there’s more than meets the eye…or ear? Roku Voice lets you control music channels, podcasts and more with commands like “play classic rock,” (or any other genre, artist, or song), “next,” “skip,” and “replay.”

Easy access to all the bells and whistles 

Wait—what did they just say?! Clear things up with captions. Just say, “turn on captions.” If you’re feeling fancy (or just don’t want to see the captions all the time), you can also say, “turn on captions during replay.”

Does your setup include speakers to surround you with sound? Use the voice command “check speakers” to make sure you’re getting the optimal surround sound streaming experience.

You can also use Roku Voice to add channels to your home screen by simply saying the channel name (new ones are constantly being added to the  Roku channel store).

Hands-free remote. Hassle-free streaming.  

For all you pros out there, you can easily stream hands-free. Just move the slider on the side of your Roku Voice Remote Pro, then say, “Hey Roku” to start using voice commands. And if the couch cushions get hungry again, “Hey Roku, where’s the remote?” will guide you back to your beloved voice remote. 

But wait, there’s more! 

If you have a Roku TV, you get a whole new level of control. Your Roku TV gives you access to even more voice commands compatible with any voice or Voice Remote Pro. Use voice to easily turn your Roku TV on and off by enabling Fast TV Start   in your Power settings. And never again will you press the source button too many times and land on a screen of snow—now you’ve got voice commands like “switch input to HDMI 3” and “switch to Blu-ray player.” 

There you have it. We’re willing to bet that your Roku Voice Remote does more than you ever imagined. And thanks to your  Roku device’s automatic software updates, you’ll get to enjoy the latest features and functions as soon as they’re available. Every time we find a new way to make it easier for you to stream the entertainment you love, you won’t miss a beat.

Ready to start streaming? Check out what’s on The Roku Channel.