How To Connect Your Roku Device To Wi-Fi Without The Remote

In these days where every device comes with accessibility features to make phones and computers easier to navigate, there are many workarounds when one of your peripherals stops working or is missing. If you can't use your physical keyboard, you can activate the virtual keyboard on your computer. If you can't use your mouse, voice access can replicate much of its use until you find a fix. You can even use your phone as a universal remote without much effort. 

But that's a TV remote, what about your streaming devices like a Roku box? There is a Roku remote app for phones that you can easily use, but that requires your smartphone to be on the same Wi-Fi network as the Roku player. If you're moving a Roku device to a new place, or trying to connect it to a new network, then things get complicated. If you're trying to connect your Roku device to Wi-Fi without its dedicated remote, follow these steps.

The first and easiest step is to see if your Roku device has an ethernet port. If it does, then connect to the internet with an ethernet cable, and simply use the Roku app's remote control feature on your phone to manage the device. Another alternative is to get a universal remote, and use it with your Roku. If the Roku device doesn't have an ethernet port, and you don't have an universal remote, then follow these steps. You'll need two other phones or tablets.

1. On the first device, turn on the mobile hotspot. Here's how to do it in Android, and here is how to turn your iPhone into a hotspot.

2. Make sure your mobile hotspot's network has the same SSID name and the same password as the last network your Roku device was connected to. This step is crucial, and if you don't have this information, this won't work. We want to trick the Roku device into thinking it's connecting to the old network, and to do that we need the old network's information.

3. On the second device, which does not have the hotspot activated, download the Roku app.

4. Reset your Roku by unplugging it, then plugging it back in after a few minutes. This should make the Roku automatically reconnect to the mobile hotspot — tricking it to thinking it's using the old Wi-Fi network.

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5. On the second device, use the Roku app's Remote tab to update your network settings to your usual Wi-Fi network.