You sit down to watch something, only to realize you don’t know where your remote is. All hope is lost.
When you lose your phone, you can ask someone to call it, but your remote can’t do that. Or can it? If you own a Roku 4 or Roku Ultra streaming box, there’s a built-in speaker on the remote. With the push of a button, you can cause it to make a sound so you can find it and get back to what’s really important: sitting on your butt watching TV.
How to Find Your Roku Remote
The button is on the Roku itself:
Press that button and your Roku will find the remote, then make a sound for you.
Follow your ears until you find your remote. Once you do, press any button to stop the sound. Don’t lose it again! (You will.)
Unlike most TV remotes, which use infrared, the Roku Remote connects to your Roku using Wi-Fi. This allows the Roku to communicate with the remote over fairly long distances. So even if you left your remote across the house, you can probably still find it as long as it’s within range of your Wi-Fi network. (Though barriers that interfere with Wi-Fi may also interfere with the transmission.)
We tested this feature all over a three story townhouse, and the only place we couldn’t trigger the remote from was inside the fridge. Our advice: if you can’t hear the remote, check the fridge.
How to Change the Sound on Your Roku Remote
By default, the sound is subtle. If it’s not loud enough for you, there are a few other options, including a whistle or even Ride Of The Valkyries. To change the sound, head to Settings > Remote.
Here you can change the remote finder sound to a few pre-set options.
Pick something and your Roku will send the sound to your remote. This will take a few seconds.
That’s it! Sadly there’s no way to add your own sounds, but something here is probably loud enough for you. Hopefully you won’t be using this feature so often that the sound annoys you. If you do, you have other problems we can’t help you with.
