Roku Jailbreak – How to Run Kodi on a Roku

You’ve heard of jailbreaking your phone, your Firestick, your Chromecast, but can you jailbreak your Roku? Doing a Roku jailbreak is not really a jailbreak at all. But don’t worry, you can still use Kodi through your Roku and do all sorts of neat Roku hacks.

Why You Can’t Actually Do a Roku Jailbreak

Jailbreaking is a term that people use to describe opening up a device’s operating system to customization. The problem with a Roku jailbreak, in this case, is that Roku developed its own operating system.

There are just not enough people out there who want to fuss with that for fun. It’s pretty tricky and not useful. (Like how learning to fuss around in the Android OS would be helpful.) So the only way you can customize your Roku is to take advantage of its screen sharing feature.

How to Install Kodi on Roku (Sort Of)

So to install Kodi on your Roku, you’ll need another device for streaming media, like an Android phone or Windows PC. You will have to install Kodi and the Kodi add ons that you want onto that device. Then you’ll be able to cast the tv shows or other media to your TV via your Roku.

Sounds complicated? It’s not bad. Once you get it set up, it’ll be easy. Just follow the steps and if you get stuck, leave a question in the comments.

• Turn on your Roku
• From the Home screen, go to Settings, then to System
• Go to the “Screen mirroring mode” menu, both “Prompt” and “Always allow” will work, but selecting “Always allow” will make your life easier.

That’s all you have to do on your Roku. The next steps involve setting up Kodi on either a Windows PC or an Android device.

Cast From an Android Device

You can use your Android phone or tablet to run Kodi then cast the stream to your Roku. It’s an extra step, but sometimes how you watch a movie is more important than what you watch.

Make sure you have set up your Roku correctly in the steps listed above, otherwise your cast won’t work.

On your Android phone, make sure you have the latest version of Kodi installed too. It’s important to keep it up to date. That way everything continues to work smoothly.

• On your Android device, got to Settings
• Each device is different, so you’re looking for a section that says “Connectivity options” or something similar. There will be an option in that section for screen sharing
• Tap the screen sharing (can be called screen mirroring) option
• A list of devices you can cast to will pop up, select your Roku device
• Open up Kodi and enjoy!

Cast from a Windows Machine

A casting from your computer is also easy, even without an HDMI cable. You need to have Windows 8 or higher. If you want to use Kodi, you should also have Kodi for Windows installed.

• Click the square speech bubble on the bottom right of your toolbar
• Choose “Project”
• At the bottom of the menu, there is an option to “Add a wireless display”
• Find the display connected to your Roku from the list of options.
• Follow the prompts through the setup process
• Open up the projection options from the Project menu and choose your Roku display.
• Open up Kodi and enjoy!

But Wait, I’m an Apple Fan!

So what do you do if you want to use your Roku to watch stuff from Kodi, but you have a MacBook and an iPhone? Don’t worry. You can get in on the fun too. There is also an app for iPhone that lets you pick streaming videos from your phone and cast it over to your Roku.

• Go to the App Store and search for “Video & TV Cast for Roku”
• Select the app from developer “2kit consulting”
• When you open up the app, you may see an error notice at the top, ignore it.
• On the bottom part of the screen, you can scroll down to a google search bar.
• Using the search bar, type in your favorite streaming website address
• Select the tv shows or movies that you want
• When you tap play on the video, the app will cast (in fullscreen) to your Roku

It’s easy to do, you just don’t get Kodi or Terrarium TV.

Roku Hidden Channels & Private Channels

Roku does include more options than just what you see in the Roku Channel Store. They have Private Channels (officially they call these Non-certified Channels.) These are channels that you won’t see in the store (hence hidden channels.) You have to use a code to add them to your Roku.

There are a ton of hidden channels. Keep in mind that if you have problems with one of them, Roku Support won’t help you. Sometimes the channel producers stop supporting their private channel and it’ll go dead.

You can add hidden channels through the Roku website, you just need the channel code. There are a ton of lists for Roku hidden channels. You can find everything from news, to anime, to adult content.

To add channels once you get the code, use the following steps.

• In your internet browser type “my.roku.com/account/add” this will take you to the add channel page
• Log in (if you don’t have your login saved already)
• Click “Add channel with a code”
• Enter the code
• Click okay on the warning about private channels

Important Note about Piracy and Roku Non-Certified Channels

Hypothetically, if you were to stream pirated content, you could do so over a VPN and avoid conflict. With Roku, they know what channels you’re watching. There is no way to mask that. As part of their private channel warning, they tell you that they’ll ban you from adding private channels in the future.

Important Note: We do not support piracy or copyright violation in any way, shape, or form. Information is for educational purposes only.