5 modifications I made to immediately enhance my Roku Streaming Stick expertise

After utilizing a Hearth TV Stick for some time, I made a decision it was time to modify issues up in 2026 and just lately began utilizing a Roku Streaming Stick Plus. The final Roku machine I owned was a Roku Premiere, so it had been fairly some time since I would used one. However I’ve to say, I have been extraordinarily impressed with the expertise to date. Roku OS stays extremely user-friendly, and the 4K HDR streaming high quality has been excellent.

That stated, as soon as I unboxed my Roku Streaming Stick Plus and completed setting it up, I instantly made a couple of changes to enhance the expertise. That is to not say Roku would not do a superb job of robotically organising the machine, however there are a couple of tweaks you can also make your self that basically assist make utilizing your Roku Streaming Stick simpler and extra personalised.

So in case you’ve just lately picked up a Roku, and even in case you’ve had one for some time, listed below are 5 issues I did straight away that made my streaming expertise much better, and that you could simply do too.

Model: Roku
Working System: Roku OS
Downloadable Apps: 1000’s

A slim plug and play streaming stick that features 4K/HDR assist and features a voice distant.

Clear up the house display

The very first thing I needed to do after organising my Roku Streaming Stick Plus was clear up the house display — particularly by eliminating the menu objects I knew I would by no means use. Do not get me mistaken, there are some helpful choices on the Roku house display, like Reside TV and What to Watch. However there are additionally others that I do not actually need that simply find yourself getting in the way in which, like Sports activities, Weekly Trivia, and Featured Free.

With that in thoughts, if you wish to take away the menus you do not use and regulate the house display to your liking, Roku makes it fairly straightforward. Simply head to Settings > House Display screen. From there, you will see a few structure choices, together with the power to disable Advice Rows — which I selected to do to make attending to my apps faster — in addition to an possibility to alter the tile dimension if that is one thing you wish to tweak.

Under these structure settings, you will discover a listing of all the house display menu objects. That is the place you possibly can select which of them keep and which of them go. For instance, I needed to do away with Featured Free, so I hovered over it, chosen Cover, and increase, it was gone from my house display.

Take away undesirable apps

Preserve the apps you utilize entrance and heart

Preserving with the theme of cleansing up the house display, the following factor I needed to do was do away with some apps I knew I would not use.

By default, Roku installs a handful of streaming apps — like Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV — that robotically sit on your private home display. Personally, whereas I exploit Netflix and Disney+, I do not use Apple TV. And if I ever do sooner or later, it’s going to probably be via the Prime Video channel as an alternative, so I do not really need the standalone app.

To maintain issues tidy, I removed it and some different apps. Fortunately, Roku makes this extraordinarily straightforward to do. All you need to do is hover over an app, press the Star button in your distant (the button to the best of the microphone), and a menu will pop up with the choice to take away it. Choose that, and voilà, the app you need off your private home display is uninstalled.

To ever reinstall an app you have eliminated sooner or later, you possibly can simply try this from Roku’s Streaming Retailer by looking for it.

Change the wallpaper

You may change it to one thing aside from Roku Metropolis

With the house display sorted, I subsequent personalized the wallpaper theme on my Roku. By default, it is set to Roku Metropolis, which seems to be cool and is sort of vigorous, however I needed one thing a bit of extra minimal, so I modified it to a plain purple background.

If you wish to change the wallpaper in your Roku, simply head to Settings > Theme. From there, you will see all of the totally different choices out there, together with a “decaf” brown background, and a “graphene” black background. Moreover, in that very same menu, you possibly can change your Roku’s screensaver, so if you do not need Roku Metropolis showing when your TV is idle, you possibly can change it to one thing else, like a clock.

Join a Bluetooth audio machine

Take heed to your Roku together with your AirPods

If I am watching TV late at evening or whereas I am doing chores round the home, I typically use my Bluetooth headphones to take heed to it. Whereas the Roku Streaming Stick Plus initially lacked assist for pairing with Bluetooth audio gadgets, Roku added it in an update final 12 months. This implies now you can join Bluetooth audio gadgets, comparable to a pair of AirPods, on to your TV and take heed to exhibits and flicks via them quite than your TV’s audio system.

To pair Bluetooth headphones or earbuds together with your Roku, go to Settings > Distant & gadgets > Bluetooth headphones & audio system. From that display, you possibly can pair any Bluetooth audio machine together with your Roku. As soon as your machine is paired, it’s going to hook up with your Roku robotically everytime you allow Bluetooth on it.

Arrange the Roku cellular app

You should use your telephone as a backup distant

Lastly, one final trick value testing in your Roku is connecting it to Roku’s cellular app. It is out there on each iOS and Android, and as soon as linked, it enables you to management your Roku immediately out of your telephone. So in case your Roku distant is out of attain, has mysteriously disappeared into the sofa, or you possibly can’t seize it as a result of your cat is mendacity on you, you possibly can simply open the Roku app in your telephone to manage it.

The Roku app consists of all the identical controls because the bodily distant and even has its personal app drawer. Which means you possibly can shortly launch any app in your Roku immediately out of your telephone, with out even going to the house display. Moreover, you possibly can browse all of the exhibits and flicks out there on The Roku Channel within the app after which choose to play them in your TV. It is a cool secondary display on your Roku, and I’ve discovered myself utilizing it quite a bit for its sheer comfort.