How to Access Roku Secret Menu and Hack Your Roku in 7 Steps

Your Roku has been keeping a secret from you. Most users don’t realize that there’s a Roku secret menu (called the Roku platform screen) hidden in their streaming devices.

Nicholas H Parker from BuyEssayClub assumes that this menu has a ton of powerful tools that are mostly used by technical support, but now we’re going to put the power in your hands and show you how to access these secret settings on your Roku.

We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the Roku secret menu (and even some things you shouldn’t know).

And as a bonus, we’ll show you how to use the settings to get even more powerful performance from your Roku streaming stick.

Related:  Do you have a Firestick?  Did you know you can install “secret” apps on Firestick?  Check out my Firestick Jailbreak video on Youtube.

Warning: As you know, great power comes with great responsibility. With that in mind, we advise you to be cautious while using the Roku secret menu screen. This is because these secret menu screens are powerful, and there’s a reason they hide some of this stuff from most users

How to Access Secret Menus on Your Roku Device 

So, you’re here because you’ve now heard of the Roku secret menu. While not many people know of its existence, it can be a highly important tool to have in your belt should any issues arise with your Roku. Luckily, we have the complete guide on how to access the secret menus on your Roku device. 

A good option is to get a virtual private network for anonymity and protection on the Internet. VPN can change location and hide your IP address, geolocation and online activities.

In this section, we’ll discuss with you the reasons for accessing the Roku secret menus and the general idea of how to do so:

Why do I want to access the Roku Secret Menu?

It’s not necessarily a secret for any reason, but the secret menu features could be super useful. For example, you can learn a lot more about the inner workings of your Roku should you type in the appropriate Roku remote codes. 

The secret menu involves a couple of different screens, each serving a different purpose. You’ll want to access these screens so you can find out info about your Roku’s network, change some hard-coded settings for the better, or factory reset your device. 

There are many more possibilities, but those are just a few that might help you out in a pinch.

Do I have to jailbreak my Roku TV to access the Secret Menu?

The lucky part about the Roku secret menu is that you don’t have to do anything drastic to access it. Many of our readers have asked us, can you jailbreak a Roku TV to access its secrets? And, thankfully, the answer is no. 

If you want to jailbreak your Roku device, just note that most people do that to access unsupported apps, for which you’d usually require a VPN to browse safely on. We only recommend jailbreaking if you’re doing so with a concrete purpose.

To jailbreak your Roku isn’t a super easy task, so you’d want to refer to another article to help you through the specific process. 

What is the best way to access the Roku secret menus?

So, now that you know that you don’t have to jump through many hoops to access the secret menus and features of your Roku, we’ll let you know the easiest way to view them. It’s super simple—Roku secret codes! 

On your Roku remote, you can enter a good amount of secret codes to check out the mysterious secret menus, full of settings and customizable features to ensure you get the best entertainment experience. 

The codes might seem lengthy at times, but this is so that the secret menus won’t be accessed by accident—you’ll really have to pay attention to the Roku remote o that you don’t accidentally navigate away from the page you were last on! 

In the next section, we’ll detail some of the most useful codes you can enter into your remote that will open up a new world of Roku settings. The best part? You don’t need to have any coding experience, as the secret menus are user-friendly and meant to be discovered.

Roku Platform Secret Screen

There’s a lot to unpack in the Roku platform secret screen, so we’re going to get to the main event right away, and then walk you through the most useful things you can find there. To access the Roku secret menu, press the following buttons quickly in this order:

1. Press Home button (to get to the Home screen)
2. Then press the Home button 5 times
3. Press the Fast Forward button once
4. Press Play
5. Then Rewind
6. Play one more time
7. Fast Forward

IMPORTANT:  If you’re not using a VPN, your personal data is at risk when you use your Roku and every other device you own.

After all of the menu scrolling stops you should find yourself looking at a screen that looks something like this:

If you’re looking at something similar, then congratulations! You found Roku’s secret platform support menu! Now let’s take a look under the hood together.

Roku Secret Menu – Main Screen

You don’t even have to start exploring the menus on the Roku secret screen to find it useful. Right away, you’re able to get some really valuable information that affects your Roku speed and performance.

Check Roku Temperature and Fan Speed

Keeping your Roku cool as a cucumber is critical to getting good performance. If your Roku is constantly overheating, you’re going to get slower speeds, which will result in bad streaming speeds and worse Roku streaming quality.

At normal idling speed, your fan should run at about 25%, but you shouldn’t be concerned if it’s running a little faster after you’ve been using it for a bit. The most important thing to watch is the temperature bar at the top right of the Roku secret menu home screen. If it’s green, that means you’re in good shape.

Since the temperature updates in real-time, you can move your Roku around (set something on top of it and notice how that raises the temperature) to see where is the best place to keep your Roku cooled down.

If you struggle to keep it at temp, you can also consider investing in a USB fan from Amazon.

TIP: Put your Roku in a place where it will be cool and have plenty of airflow. Otherwise, it overheats and fails.

Check Roku IP Address

This is really useful when you’re setting up the wireless network in your house. Take a look at the top left corner of the Roku secret menu platform screen to see your Roku IP address.

TIP: You’ll notice the IP address is hidden in the image above. For security purposes, make sure you never share or post your IP address in a public online forum or with anyone you do not trust.

Important: Roku Security Warning

You’ve optimized your streaming device from the Roku secret menu, and now you’re interested in getting free streaming content from a great 3rd party app. Or even if you’re interested in getting free, region-blocked content on Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube that is currently being kept from you! You can also access health and fitness channels that feature solutions such as Shark Tank Weight Loss on your viewing device.

Paid subscription streaming sites will block certain content depending on where you are. Downloading a VPN like IPVanish will allow you to trick streaming services into thinking that you’re streaming from different regions, thus unlocking region-blocked content! If you’re paying for a service, we think you should get everything that the service offers.

In fact, there are tons of great benefits of using a VPN that most people don’t know about. If this sounds like it would improve your streaming life (and it’s definitely improved ours), use our link to get our reader discount on the best, most reliable VPN available.

If you need a little help installing a VPN in your Roku, we’ve got just the thing. Our guide will walk you through how to install a VPN on any device. You won’t even need a Roku secret menu to do it!

Roku Secret Menu – System Operations Menu

This is a powerful part of the Roku menu, and we’ll go through a few of the functions you need to be aware of here.

System Reboot

If you need to reboot your Roku without unplugging it (sometimes it’s too much trouble to get to those hard-to-reach plugs), then this option will allow you to restart your Roku device.

This is especially useful if your Roku apps malfunction or becomes glitchy.

System Suspend

Some users have used this as a fix for reported loud fan issues with Roku. This will send your Roku into a deep shut down mode, which will silence the idling fan, which can be annoying for some people.

We recommend being cautious about this, as overheating can permanently damage your Roku. If you have loud fan issues, we recommend you contact Roku customer support rather than disable the fan.

Disable Network Pings

This is a security concern for some folks, and it also has the potential to slow down your Roku by adding extra processes. We recommend you turn this off.

Many users report that turning this off fixes their Roku not connecting to WiFi issues. If you’re having trouble with your Roku WiFi connection, take a look at our guide:

Roku Not Connecting To WiFi

Enable Selecting All Resolutions

This Roku secret menu section allows you to see all the different resolution capabilities of your Roku streaming device. In general, Roku will automatically adjust streaming resolution and quality to suit your internet connection.

Roku Secret Menu – Disabled Travel Connect

Roku Travel Connect is a function that lets you connect your Roku to hotel screens while traveling.

Do you know those sign-in public networks in hotels, airports, or college dorms? Well, Travel Connect is how you connect your Roku through these public WiFi networks. If you’d like to disable this functionality (for security purposes), you would do that through this portion of the Roku secret menu.

Roku Secret Menu – WiFi Remote Menu

When we warned you about the danger of using the Roku secret menu, this was the section we were most strongly referring to. At the risk of making it sound like a dare, we’re going to recommend you especially do not touch the following sections:

1. Firmware OTA (Over the Air) Update
2. Audience OTA Update

Firmware updates deal with the very foundational operations of your Roku streaming device, and for this reason, it is very dangerous to adjust or alter your firmware or update settings. This can absolutely have a catastrophic impact if it goes wrong.

The less dramatic items on this menu will allow you to get information about or troubleshoot your Roku remote. You’ll find the following sections in the secret WiFi Remote Menu:

1. Audio Menu
2. Reboot the Remote
3. Get Remote Info
4. Keep awake (until reconnect)
5. Enable Pairing Mode
6. Alert Menu

If you have a broken Roku remote or are having Roku remote problems, we strongly recommend taking a look at this guide for help before you start using this menu:

Lost Roku Remote? Can’t Connect to WiFi? No Problemo!

Roku Secret Menu – WiFi Secret Screen

Are you ready? This is where the real magic happens on the Roku secret menu.

From here you can check the health of your WiFi connection in real-time at a much high level of detail than in the regular Roku menu. Before we get into that, let’s talk a little about the setting categories in this section.

WiFi Resets

This is another section of the Roku Secret Menu that’s better off left to the professionals. Odds are if you poke around in here too much, you’ll end up doing more harm than good, so we’re going to leave it at that and move on.

WiFi Radio Controls

There’s some real magic you can do here. From this secret Roku menu section, you can adjust the configuration of your WiFi antennas, so that you’re able to get a strong connection to your router or modem.

With a stronger connection, comes better speed and higher quality video so plays around with these settings and see how it impacts the Antenna 1 and Antenna 2 strength on the main Roku WiFi Secret Screen.

WiFi Power Level

This Roku secret menu section seems really straightforward on the surface. It only has three options available:

1. Low
2. Medium
3. Full

You would more power is better, right? But sometimes more isn’t more. Sometimes it’s too much. Too much signal can overwhelm your router and give you worse performance.

Test it out and compare it to WiFi secret screen to see what gives you the best performance!

Roku Remote Secret Codes 

So, after the last section, you should now have a pretty good understanding of what the Roku Secret Menu can do for you. There are so many reasons you might want to use the menu, and luckily there are super easy ways to access it right from your Roku remote! 

Something interesting about the Roku secret menu is that it’s not technically singular. Each code that you enter is basically a shortcut that will take you to a different menu, depending on which function you want to access. For example, the Bandwidth Menu secret code is different from the Developer Menu one.

In this part of the article, we’ll explain each Roku remote secret code that we currently know of. After each code, we’ll detail a quick explanation of what you can do once you access that certain secret menu. Remember, there are lots of secret menu tabs that each serve a different function!

How to enter secret codes on Roku Remote

So, before reading the list you’ll want to know the basics of entering your secret codes. The one important thing to note here is the list of buttons involved. 

Before you start, locate these buttons on your remote: the up/down/left/right buttons on the directional pad, and also the Home, fast-forward, rewind, play/pause buttons. These buttons are all you need to know before typing in codes, as each one requires you to press a distinct sequence involving them. 

No code is the same, since there are many different possibilities with eight buttons.

So, let’s get into the ones we currently know work in 2022!

List of Codes to Access the Secret Menus

Secret Screen 1

If you want to know the hardware info of your Roku, you should enter the secret Roku code for Secret Screen 1. This will tell you basically the make, model, MAC Address, and more important info you could use in many technical situations.

Code: Home 5x, Fast-Forward 3x, Rewind 2x.

Secret Screen 2

The second Secret Screen is another general settings screen that lets you customize your Roku experience. Here, you can enable/disable scrollable ads, change your Home banner, edit screenshot settings, and more.

Code: Home 5x, Up 1x, Right 1x, Down 1x, Left 1x, Up 1x.

Vital Roku Information

If you’re more into the technical side of your Roku TV, you could use the third option, which is basically a screen with crucial information about your Roku displayed on it. 

Here, you can see how hard your Roku is working. You can monitor its temperature here to prevent overheating. View the System Operations menu if you want, where you’ll find a list of all your apps and updated versions. 

Code: Home 5x, Fast-Forward 1x, Down 1x, Rewind 1x, Down 1x, Fast-Forward 1x. 

Useful Wi-Fi Data

If you were ever to have a Wi-Fi problem with your Roku device, this secret menu is where you’ll find every last bit of information you need to get your connection back up again.

Here, you’ll see all your advanced Wi-Fi connection information, including the ability to run a speed test whenever you please. This way, you’ll always know if your Roku or Wi-Fi signal is the issue. It’s always good to know in case your speed drops inexplicably.

Code: Home 5x, Up 1x, Down 1x, Up 1x, Down 1x, Up 1x.

Channel Info

Like every Roku user, you probably have installed a few, if not many Roku channels over time. So, if you want to know any information about the individual channels you’ve installed, you can access this secret menu with just a few button clicks.

Code: Home 3x, Up 2x, Left 1x, Right 1x, Left 1x, Right 1x, Left 1x. 

Bandwidth Manager

If you are using your Roku in a household with many internet connections to the same router (i.e., lots of different devices), you could limit your device’s bandwidth usage. This way, it might slow down your Roku a bit but let your laptop or phone perform a bit better. 

Bandwidth is a limited resource that your Roku consumes, so use this menu in a pinch. 

Code: Home 5x, Rewind 3x, Fast-Forward 2x.

Developer Tools

This secret menu is pretty niche, but we’ll list it anyway in case you need to know about it. Many developers make apps that are supposed to work on a Roku. So, they can access this secret menu to open the Dev Tools.

Basically, they can use this Roku menu to test out their apps on the operating system before their release. 

Code: Home 3x, Up 2x, Right 1x, Left 1x, Right 1x, Left 1x, Right 1x.

Roku Rebooter

This Roku secret menu is pretty straightforward. By entering this Roku secret code, you can easily find a way to factory reset or restart your Rokku device. This factory reset can be super helpful in some situations!

Code: Home 5x, Up 1x, Rewind 2x, Fast-Forward 2x.

Hack Roku Speed From Secret Menu

Now that you’re familiar with all the ins and outs of the Roku Platform Secret Screen on the Roku secret menu, we’re going to show you how to harness this knowledge to have a faster streaming Roku with higher video quality!

Test Router Speed

The first thing is first. We need to know what is the maximum speed your home network can provide. No matter how many Roku settings we optimize, we’ll never be able to go faster than your router and your internet service provider will allow.

To test this from your computer or smartphone:

1. Move near the WiFi router or plug in via Ethernet
2. Go to a speed test site
3. Perform the test from the instructions on the screen

If your download speed is anything less than 3mbps, we strongly recommend upgrading your router or your internet package with your ISP. If you’re at 9mbps or above, then congratulations! You should be able to stream in full 4k quality without any problem.

VUDU Roku Network Speed Test

Now that we know what we’re working with you want to get a baseline for what kind of speed you’re currently getting to your Roku. The good news is that you can perform a speed test on your Roku right from the VUDU streaming app!

First, download the free Vudu app to your Roku, then:

1. Open the VUDU App from your Roku Home screen
2. Select Browse from the main VUDU menu
3. Scroll over to My VUDU
4. Then select Info & Settings
5. Select Network Speed Test
6. And then select Start Test from the test screen

You’re going to need 4.5 Mbps or higher to get full 1080p HD. Again, if you have anything less than 3 Mbps, your performance may be spotty, and anything at 9 Mbps or over will get you all the streaming quality your eyes can handle. More is better!

Optimize Settings

Now you know what speeds you’re currently getting from your Roku streaming device and you can start making adjustments to optimize your Roku streaming experience.

Optimization is really a process of trial and error, but there are some key factors that you’ll want to make adjustments to. We’ve covered them all in the summary of the Roku secret platform menu, above! Make adjustments to:

• Roku and router placement
• Antenna settings under WiFi Radio Controls
• WiFi Power Level settings
• Roku temperature and fan speed

As you adjust these settings you’ll be able to see their impact displayed in real-time from the WiFi Secret Screen. Watch the signal strength bar and try to get it as far into the green as you possibly can.

Once you’ve made adjustments, go back and test your results on the VUDU Network Speed Test again, and see what improvements you’ve made.

Congratulations! You’ve harnessed the power of the Roku secret menu and improved your Roku streaming speed and quality.

Bonus: Best Alternatives to Roku

Now let’s take a look at alternative Roku streaming devices.

1. Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite

The basic Fire TV Stick Lite might be the one for you if you haven’t decided to give up on your old HD TV and prefer Amazon’s Fire TV interface.

 It doesn’t have all of the frills and fancies of its Max sister, but it’s still extremely competent, supporting HDR10 and 10+ as well as Dolby Atmos. In addition, you can have the same new UI as its more expensive siblings, as well as the full suite of Fire TV applications. 

The sole criticism of this Lite variant is that it lacks dedicated volume buttons and cannot operate your TV, unlike the Max and the ordinary Fire TV stick. However, Alexa voice inputs are supported with the remote.

2. Nvidia Shield TV Pro

The Nvidia Shield TV Pro is the greatest (and maybe only) Android TV box for individuals who want to do more than watch movies.

The Shield TV Pro’s capabilities and adaptability are unmatched by any Roku streamer. Plus, the Shield TV Pro comes with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage, which is more than most other video services. 

Although the storage capacity is smaller than the 500GB available on earlier Pro versions, those models employed a sluggish hybrid mechanical HDD. Second, you could use the Shield to keep playing from a number of sources, like GeForce Now and Steam Link, when linked with a gaming controller (available separately).

3. Amazon Firestick TV 4K Max

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max boasts minimal hardware advancements over its predecessor. However, the whole experience has vastly improved in real-world use. The applications load quickly, and switching between them is simple on the Max. 

Amazon has almost every video service you can think of, and because Fire OS is Android, you can conveniently install APKs to get even more apps. 

If you already have an Amazon account, a Fire TV Stick is a no-brainer, as it will operate with your Echo speakers and many other Alexa-enabled smart home devices.

The new remote also has specialized volume keys as well as the ability to manage your TV and soundbar. However, the trademark quick controls may not be to everyone’s taste. Amazon recently updated the Fire TV UI with better Alexa features, and the upgrade was compatible with devices dating back to 2016. Thus, compatibility issues weren’t a concern with this gadget. However, the new design seems crowded as advertisements and promotional content have taken over.

Further Reading

If you want to find out about other secret Roku codes and menus, look at our article:

Roku Not Working? These 3 Steps Fix 99% of Issues