Okay, I’m ready to tell the full story behind this toot.
I bought a Roku Streaming Stick because it seemed like a really good fit for an old “dumb” Samsung TV we were left in our main bedroom. I wanted something cheap, simple and accessible, with decent streaming support. As a bonus, this one could control the TV over IR, since the TV is too old to even have CEC*. *I Assume.
When I first turned it on, the screen reader worked. I had gotten a good layout of the remote from chatgpt, which turned out to be spot on, so I pressed Star four times, it started talking, and I was able to set the language and connect it to Wi-Fi independently.
Then the Roku downloaded a software update, restarted, and the screen reader stopped working.
From that point on, pressing Star four times just displayed “reconnect to the internet to launch screen reader” — even though the Roku was clearly online. I could see it connected on my network, it had downloaded updates, and it eventually reached the account sign-in screen.
Because the screen reader had stopped working, I couldn’t enter a Wi-Fi password again. I ended up creating a temporary open Wi-Fi network purely to get the thing online and prove that connectivity wasn’t the problem.
It still wouldn’t speak.
I factory reset it several times, tried different networks and spent far too long troubleshooting it.
Then I contacted Roku support.
Despite repeatedly explaining that the Roku was online and that the problem was specifically the screen reader, I got generic networking troubleshooting. I was asked to restart my router, try another network, and eventually asked:
“Do you have any family member or friend that can help you?”
That was what prompted my original toot, and I nearly gave up then, but I decided to try and be better and try and educate rather than be angry with them.
Another thing support kept asking for was the email address linked to my Roku account. I didn’t have one linked to the device, because I hadn’t been able to complete setup.
Yes, I could probably have created an account on another device and then used Seeing AI to help me get through the QR-code sign-in screen. But that completely misses the point. Why would I go through the effort of creating and linking an account when I still had no confidence that the screen reader would work once I got past setup?
I was eventually transferred to a “technical specialist”, who largely repeated the same script until the chat session just dropped. At one point I was asked to try a mobile hotspot after I had already explained that I couldn’t enter any passwords because the screen reader wasn’t working.
I then emailed Roku’s dedicated accessibility address with the full details.
No reply.
I sent a follow-up making it very clear that I wanted to know whether this was a firmware bug, whether the screen reader was actually supported in the UK, and whether there was any chance it had been region-locked for some ridiculous reason. Roku’s online guidance specifically referred to the screen reader being available on models sold in the US and Canada, and it wouldn’t be the first time accessibility features had been geolocked for no good reason (cheers Sony), and I got .. yup, you guessed it, nothing.
So the Roku has now gone back to Amazon.
And that’s what annoys me most: I actually wanted to like it. It ticked pretty much every box for that bedroom TV, and if Roku ever confirms that the screen reader issue has been fixed, I’d genuinely consider buying another one.
But I’m not keeping a product that made itself inaccessible after an update and then getting bounced around support while nobody actually addresses the accessibility failure.