Roku Voice Remote Pro review: The best $30 you'll ever spend to upgrade your Roku TV experience
Toss your old Roku remote. This one is backlit, rechargeable and voice-powered.
One reason I'm such a big fan of Roku TVs and streaming devices: the remote. It's logically designed in ways that Amazon, Apple and other TV/streaming remotes are not. That said, there's always room for improvement, and the Roku Voice Remote Pro offers several small but meaningful upgrades — all for what I consider a pretty reasonable price. Indeed, at just $30, this qualifies as a nifty little impulse buy. It would also make a great gift for a TV-loving Roku user. (Looking at you, dads and grads.) But are there any shortcomings? Any reasons to steer clear? Here's my Roku Voice Remote Pro review.
VERDICT: As long as you won't miss having a wired headphone jack, the Voice Remote Pro makes a fantastic upgrade for any TV-loving Roku user.
- Inexpensive
- Easy to set up
- Perfectly backlit buttons
- USB-C rechargeable battery
- 3-month battery life
- Voice features include "find my remote"
- Incomplete printed instructions
- No audio jack for wired headphones
- Voice recognition isn't always great
- Pre-set shortcut buttons might not match your favorite services
This is the second version of the Roku Voice Remote Pro, which was already a pretty great upgrade. It's compatible with virtually all Roku devices, including all Roku TVs, most Roku streamers (except really old ones) and Roku soundbars. (By the way, if you're an Amazon Fire TV user, there's a similar upgrade available: the Alexa Voice Remote Pro.)
For testing purposes, I paired it with a Roku Streambar Pro — which I consider one of the best soundbars you can buy — which in turn is connected to a Hisense U7H TV.
Read more: The best streaming services for TV, movies, sports and more
Roku supplies a tiny three-step quick-start guide. All you do is restart your TV or device, then press two buttons on the remote to put it in pairing mode. My Streambar Pro detected it immediately and, presto, setup done. Well, almost: The guide also walks you through configuring the remote to control your TV's power and volume.
Curiously, though, there's no mention of charging the remote, which is done by plugging the included USB-C cable into the bottom. (You'll have to provide the powered USB Type-A port for the other end.) The guide displays a link and scannable QR code for accessing Roku's help page, but that doesn't cover charging either. Nor did I find any information explaining what the various buttons do. Most of them are obvious, and certainly familiar to any current Roku user, but on the whole I think this is all a little less novice-friendly than it could be.
Roku Voice Remote Pro: What's new
The first-gen Voice Remote Pro had a rechargeable battery as well, but relied on a micro-USB port for charging. The switch to USB-C was inevitable, and while it may seem a minor thing, it's undeniably welcome. Arguably even better, Roku promises a 50% increase in overall battery life, meaning approximately three months of use before needing to recharge.
This is Roku's first backlit remote, and that is without question my favorite change. When you move the remote, press a button or issue a voice command, the keys light up brightly and colorfully. It's maybe a bit ironic that the remote is so well designed that I've rarely had trouble operating it in dim lighting — I can find the important buttons by feel — but I still love the backlight.
Speaking of design, the size and layout of the remote are mostly unchanged, with volume and mute buttons cleverly located on the right side, a power button centered alone at the top and a slightly offset purple directional pad — all items that, once again, are a cinch to find by feel. Near the bottom: four streaming-service shortcut buttons. Mine are for Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus and The Roku Channel, but apparently they can vary depending on region and other factors. Alas, you're stuck with whatever they are, even if they're for services you don't use.
Gone are the two programmable shortcut buttons (which were inconveniently labeled "1" and "2," making it hard to remember what does what). In their place: a Guide button that opens Roku's live-TV menu and a "launch" button (represented by a rocket icon) that brings up an onscreen shortcut bar. This four-slot menu can be customized to quick-launch two items of your choosing: a streaming app, one of Roku's own services, a closed-captioning menu and so on. The other two shortcuts — search and connect headphones — can't be modified.
I can't say I love this particular change, as I'm not interested in the live-TV offerings and I don't like trading a one-step shortcut for a two-step. That said, I never bothered with the "1" and "2" buttons on the older remote, either.
The more significant change is the loss of the headphone jack on the left side; you can no longer plug in your favorite wired headphones for private listening. You can still use headphones (or earbuds), but they have to be wireless and they have to be paired to your Roku device (or your phone, if you use the Roku app). Much as I loved the wired jack in principle, I almost never used it. But if you're going to mourn that loss, the Voice Remote Pro might not be for you.
There is something that replaced the headphone jack: a switch for turning off hands-free voice controls, in case you have privacy concerns over the remote actively listening for commands. Those commands, invoked by first saying "Hey, Roku," can range from "turn on the TV" to "play Bridgerton on Netflix" to "find my remote". In that last instance, the remote will beep loudly — assuming the microphone was able to pick up your voice.
That microphone is tiny, with nowhere near the listening power of, say, an Amazon Echo speaker. Thus, I often found I had to speak pretty loudly for it to respond. And you also have to wait a couple beats after saying "Hey, Roku" to issue your command, which I found a little awkward. Our other voice assistants (Alexa, Siri, etc.) don't require a pause.
Roku Voice Remote Pro: Should you buy it?
That's a pretty minor quibble, though. On the whole, I like the Roku Voice Remote Pro a lot. Backlighting: great. USB-C charging: great. Battery life and price tag: also great. They're all little things that amount to a worthwhile upgrade, especially if your current Roku remote lacks voice controls and a rechargeable battery.
At just $30, it's also a no-brainer gift idea for someone who owns Roku gear.
