Andrew Heinzman
Roku now acknowledges that some customers, especially those using older streaming sticks or smart TVs, are unable to stream content from Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and other services. The company apologizes for “the inconvenience” and is pushing an update (or an OS downgrade) that should solve the problem.
Just as customers suspected, the new Roku OS 10.5 update is causing apps to freeze and crash on some streaming sticks and smart TVs. Roku confirmed as much in a blog post and asks that customers manually update their streaming sticks.
Unfortunately, Roku’s fix is rolling out slowly. At the time of writing, Roku Ultra models 4660, 4661, 4662, or 4670 (and Roku TV models 7XXX) can install the update—and funny enough, it’s actually an OS downgrade.
System update got you down? We're aware of a small set of users on older Roku TVs or Roku Ultra who are experiencing issues after the OS 10.5 release and are working quickly to resolve. See our realtime updates here: https://t.co/fZYqfsgNBS
— Roku Support (@RokuSupport) November 22, 2021
We should also note that this update probably won’t fix YouTube TV on Roku devices. That’s because YouTube TV is having trouble on all platforms, so Google may be dealing with an internal problem.
To manually install a Roku update, navigate to “Settings,” enter “System,” go to “System Update,” and check if an update is available. Keep in mind that this update may not be available for your device just yet.
