You can now control a Roku device using your Apple Watch.
Roku released an update to the iOS mobile app that adds a watchOS version of the app to Apple Watch.
With the app installed on an Apple Watch, Roku users can control various aspects of the Roku experience from their smartwatch.
Here’s some of the benefits of downloading the Roku app on your Apple Watch:
You can use your Apple Watch as a remote and control a Roku device. The remote features exactly the same controls found in the iOS smartphone app.
You can use your Apple Watch to launch channels on the TV by tapping the channel name on the watch. Channels are naturally listed by recency. In other words, in order of the channels you mostly recently watched.
With the app downloaded on your Apple Watch, you can also make use of voice commands to control the Roku experience. For example, after tapping on the voice icon you can issue commands to switch HDMI inputs, search for specific titles, or launch a specific app on the TV.
The watchOS version of the app also acts as a lost remote finder. When you can’t find the remote, you can activate a feature on the Apple Watch that sends a signal to the Roku remote causing it to play an audible chime.
The lost remote feature on Apple Watch currrently only works with the Roku Ultra and select Roku TV models.
How to download the Roku app on Apple Watch
If you’re looking to control the Roku experience from your Apple Watch, then getting started is fairly easy.
If you have Automatic App Install turned on, then all you need to do is update the iOS Roku app on your iPhone to version 6.1.3 or newer. Once the iOS mobile app is updated, the Roku watchOS app will be installed on the Apple Watch.
Automatic App Install is a feature on iOS that lets Apple automatically install a smartwatch version of an app already installed on an iPhone.
To download the watchOS Roku app on Apple Watch this way, the Roku app needs to already be installed on an iPhone. You can download the Roku iPhone app from the Apple App Store.
If an iPhone doesn’t have the Automatic App Install feature turned on, then it needs to either be turned on, or the watchOS app will need to be downloaded manually.
How to manually download the Apple Watch Roku app
If you already have the Roku app installed on your iPhone, but Automatic App Install is turned off, then you can manually download the Roku watchOS app by following these instructions:
- Open the “Apple Watch” app on your iPhone
- Tap “My Watch” and then scroll down to “Available Apps.”
- Look for the Roku app and then tap “Install” to download the watchOS version to Apple Watch.
How to manually download the Apple Watch Roku app from the App Store
If you don’t already have the Roku app downloaded on your iPhone, but want to download the watchOS version on Apple Watch, then here’s what you need to do:
- Open the “Apple Watch” app on your iPhone.
- Tap “App Store” and then tap “Search.”
- Enter “Roku” and then tap “Get” to install the watchOS app on Apple Watch.
