Roku recently announced its new OS 10 update that’s still rolling out to Roku devices, including its streaming players, TVs, and audio/streaming soundbars. It’s features are mainly related to its Roku Voice, upgrading its Apple Airplay and Homekit integration, and updating the Live TV Guide with the favorite channels option that should’ve been on there since day one, in my opinion.
However, even though the new features are necessarily needed, I wouldn’t really consider them big features, except for the pop up voice search results while in a channel. I consider that feature major.
Roku had an opportunity to make its 10th version of its OS a big milestone. These are the features I think Roku should’ve added then, and hopefully adds in its next major update.
Upgrade The UI
I know for a fact that people who have grown tired of the old UI would agree with me, while those who love the channels-first UI would disagree. But I believe Roku needs to change its UI and this concept for it from Reddit is something Roku should’ve went for.
Roku CEO Anthony Wood said in 2018 that The Roku Channel’s home screen would eventually be the new Roku UI.
“It might not always be called the Roku Channel. It might be called the home screen.”
Roku CEO Anthony Wood
Almost four years later, Roku hasn’t given any more hints towards a UI change since. But Roku has been ramping up The Roku Channel’s content offerings by acquiring more shows, buying Quibi shows and movies and rebrand them to “Roku Originals,” and plans to make their own originals.
This would’ve been a perfect time to release a new UI update, from a business perspective, because Roku could’ve used it to really give viewers an opportunity to check out their new original content, along with other things that The Roku Channel has, including what’s in the Live TV guide.
From a consumer perspective, it would be good to have a new UI that let’s you explore your shows easier than ever. For example, if you were watching something on Hulu, maybe instead of going into the channel to find the show, maybe Roku can tell you what shows you were watching on Hulu from the home screen and let you watch it from there.
Maybe instead of having to scroll and then clicking right, or OK, to find a section of the home screen, you can scroll up and down for the category and when you find the section, you can immediately do what you need to do from the section instead of having to click OK first. Things like that Roku can have in its new UI. Just take the concept from Reddit that I shared and imagine it working. You’ll get the point.
Profiles
Yes. I know Apple TV and the Fire TV have it. Why can’t Roku have it as well?
Roku could’ve added this feature in OS 10. You can have different profiles and on one profile, you can have the channels you want, your my feed, the shows you watch on the Roku Channel or others, recommendations, and more separate from other profiles. You could also have your favorite Roku UI theme and it can be separate from others as well, and it can really be a personalized Roku profile.
You can also have guest mode integrated into the profile feature instead of having it hidden in settings. And that feature won’t have to affect your Roku with regards to having to sign into every channel again once guest mode is disabled.
Kids Mode
Roku should’ve added a Kids Mode as well. It could’ve been accessed from the Roku Profile and from there kids would be able able to access the content that’s appropriate for them by integrating TRC’s Kids and Family with all of the TV and Movies they offer.
It can also integrate with other channels Roku has by integrating content from PBS Kids, Nick Jr., Noggin, and more. And then, depending on if you pay for HBO Max, Starz, and more, it’ll unlock even more content in the Kids Mode.
Roku can also enhance parental controls and make sure that the Kids Mode can be locked so the young ones can’t accidentally leave it, or try to leave on purpose, with a pin code you can set up on the Roku website.
Roku Reminders
Roku has a feature where you can be reminded when a show or a TV special airs. But the feature is only usable when the current home screen has ads for the show that can let you use the feature to remind you when it airs.
Roku should enhance the feature and not only use it from advertising, but also when you want to watch a show live or on-demand.
Roku can ask Live TV services to add its Roku Reminder feature into it so when you want to watch a show or a movie live, you can go to a show or movie detail and click if you want to be reminded when the show is about to air. Roku can also integrate it into its UI search feature and you can find the show from your voice and add it to reminders.
Roku can also integrate it with My Feed so when you want to keep track of when a new episode gets added to your streaming service, Roku can remind you that the new episode has been added, instead of having to scroll to the My Feed to get the notification of it.
And then, of course, you could manage your reminders from the home screen or at Roku’s website.
Enhance The Live TV Guide
The TV Guide that TRC and Roku TV has, first of all, should be added as a shortcut and integrated into the home screen of Streaming Players and Soundbars.
The Roku Channel partners with Pluto TV and Xumo to offer some channels into the guide. They should expand the partnership and add even more channels from both free services into the guide. Then, they can partner with more services like Tubi’s Live News, Philo, and more and add their channels into the guide.
Then, those channels should be broken down into categories of genres and favorite channels consumers can add to really make it into a personalized experience. The Live TV can also be added to the Roku Kids Mode so that kids can have one of their own with TRC Kids channels, and more from Pluto TV, PBS Kids, Hulu, etc.
Expand Roku Voice
My last feature Roku should add into the next major update is expanding commands you can use with the Roku Voice and its remote.
There should be more commands Roku offers. For example, if you ask Roku “What’s the Weather?” it’ll tell you that the command is not supported. But if you ever heard of a channel called WeatherNation, it’s an app that offers you a look at the weather in your area, with a seven day forecast and weather alerts. So why can’t Roku partner with WeatherNation and take those features from it and make it a usable voice command? Even if it can launch a shortcut to the channel, it’ll still be a useful voice command.
Roku can also add other features, like a timer. When you ask for the clock, it works. But when you ask it for a timer, like 5 minutes, it can’t do it. Which I find kinda weird. If Roku can tell you the time, then it should go all the way out with timers. Should it add alarm clocks too? I suggest it probably should, but only on Roku TVs, because it has a Fast TV start feature and you can use it to listen to music even when the TV is off. So Roku might as well go all the way out with that as well.
There’s also soundbars out there that can let you use other voice assistants like Google or Alexa. So if Roku can partner with Apple for Airplay and Homekit, they can partner with Google (when they sort their beef with YT TV), and Amazon to bring their voice assistants to their soundbars and give consumers an option to pick their voice assistant of Roku Voice, Google Assistant, or Alexa.
Don’t get me wrong. Roku Voice is a great feature. But simple features like that can make it even better.
Conclusion
Roku has a great platform, the OS is great as it is right now, but the OS 10 update could’ve been way better. Hopefully, if Roku reads this, they consider at least adding some of the new features that I suggest and maybe it can be way better next time.
What do you think Roku should also add in its next update? Do you agree with my wishlist? Let me know in the comments below.
Rokuing Now 