Auxility Remote for Roku TV
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CHANGE ROKU INPUT

Change Your Roku Input Without Hunting for the Remote.

Only a Roku TV has inputs to switch. Auxility Remote jumps straight to HDMI 1 to 4, the tuner or AV — and the free D-Pad still reaches the same input tiles.

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Works over Wi-Fi · no pairing · no original remote required

The short answer

Input switching only exists on Roku TVs. A streaming stick or player has a single HDMI output and nothing to switch, so the question does not apply to it. On a Roku TV, Auxility Remote can jump straight to HDMI 1 to 4, the antenna tuner or AV, which is faster than walking the Home screen tiles — that direct switching is a PRO feature. Most Roku TVs also open the Inputs menu from a button on the chassis.

Changing input is the single most common reason people hunt for a remote, and it is also the control most likely to be missing from a replacement remote. What complicates it is that half the devices called "a Roku" cannot change input at all, because they are the thing plugged into an input rather than the television owning it. This guide splits those two cases and gives the routes for each.

Diagnose it

Input problems by device and symptom

The right fix depends entirely on whether your Roku is the television or something plugged into it.

What you seeMost likely causeWhat to do
TV stuck on a blank HDMI input, no remote to handThe television needs an input change, which is a TV-level command.Use the app on a Roku TV to jump straight to the right HDMI input, or press the panel button on the chassis, which opens the Inputs menu on most layouts.
No input options appear anywhere in the appThe device is a streaming stick or player, not a Roku TV. It has one output and no inputs.Change input on the television with its own remote or panel buttons. The Roku cannot switch a source it does not own.
The input controls are there but tapping them opens a paywallDirect input switching is a PRO feature.Either upgrade, or navigate to the Home screen input tiles with the free directional pad, which reaches the same place more slowly.
You reach the tiles but the console is not among themThat input is disabled or unnamed in the television settings.On the Roku TV, enable and label the input in settings so it appears as a tile. Unused inputs are often hidden by default.
Panel button changes volume instead of inputRoku TV chassis layouts are not standardised — yours may be a multi-button or joystick control.On a three-button control the middle button opens Inputs; on a joystick, nudge left or right; on a labelled column, use the INPUT key.

Step by step

How to fix it: Change Roku Input.

Each step takes seconds. No original remote, no pairing code, no account required.

  1. Establish what kind of Roku you have

    If the Roku OS is built into the television, you have a Roku TV and input switching applies. If it is a stick or a box plugged into an HDMI port, the television owns the inputs and the Roku is simply one of them — no input control exists on the Roku at all.

  2. Connect the app to the TV

    Open Auxility Remote on the same Wi-Fi and select your Roku TV. The app reads what the device reports about itself, so TV-only controls appear only where they can actually do something rather than as buttons that fail silently.

  3. Switch input directly

    Use the input controls to send the television straight to HDMI 1, 2, 3 or 4, to the antenna tuner, or to the AV input. This is one command rather than a walk through the Home screen, which matters when the screen you are looking at is blank.

  4. Or use the Home screen tiles for free

    Press Home with the free directional pad, then navigate to the input tiles and press OK on the one you want. Slower than a direct jump, but it costs nothing and works on any Roku TV.

  5. Fall back to the panel button if the TV is off the network

    On most Roku TV layouts the chassis button opens the Inputs menu. Check the bottom centre behind the status indicator light, or the back panel near the lower right or left corner, and feel along the edges if nothing is visible.

Why a streaming stick has no input to change

A Roku Streaming Stick, an Express or an Ultra is a source, not a display. It produces one video signal and sends it down one HDMI cable into one port on the television. There is no second source for it to switch between, so the concept of changing input simply does not exist on those devices.

This causes real confusion because "my Roku" means two entirely different products. If yours is a stick and you want to reach the games console, the television has to make that change, and the Roku is genuinely unable to help. In that case the panel buttons on the TV or its own remote are the only routes, and the app is not the answer.

Direct jumps versus walking the tiles

A Roku TV accepts input selection as a direct command: go to HDMI 2, go to the tuner. That is a single instruction, and the television switches immediately without anything needing to be on screen first. It works even from a blank input where the Home screen is not visible, which is exactly when you need it most.

The free alternative is the scenic route: press Home to bring up the Roku interface, navigate across to the input tiles, and press OK. It reaches the same destination and costs nothing, but it needs the Home screen to render first — which is a problem if the television is currently showing a dead HDMI port and you cannot see what you are navigating.

The panel button does more than you think

On most Roku TVs, the physical button on the chassis is not just a power button. Roku documents four layouts, and on the single-button, three-button and joystick versions, pressing or nudging it opens the Inputs menu rather than toggling power. On sets with a labelled column of buttons, there is a dedicated INPUT key.

That makes the panel the genuine last resort when the television is off the network entirely and no app can reach it. The catch is finding the buttons: Roku does not standardise the position, and some Select Series televisions have only a power button and no control cluster at all, in which case this route does not exist.

Input switching by device

Roku TV (TCL, Hisense, onn., Philips, RCA, Sharp and others)
The only device class where input switching exists. Direct jumps to HDMI 1 through 4, the antenna tuner and AV are available, and the chassis button usually opens the Inputs menu as a backup.
Roku Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick 4K
No inputs at all. The stick is itself an input on your television, so switching away from it means asking the TV, not the Roku.
Roku Express and Express 4K+
Same as the sticks — a single HDMI output and nothing to switch. The app deliberately does not show input controls here rather than offering buttons that would do nothing.
Roku Ultra
Also a source device despite being the most capable player in the range. Its extra ports are for networking and storage, not for video sources to select between.

Technical reference

Input switching: the technical picture

The exact commands, the device test that gates them, and where the panel-button fallback sits.

Technical detail for this guide. You never need any of it to use the app — it is published so the page can be checked against the real behaviour of the device.
Detail Value
Input commands available InputHDMI1, InputHDMI2, InputHDMI3, InputHDMI4, InputTuner (antenna) and InputAV1, sent as ECP keypresses.
Device gate The app checks the is-tv flag the device reports about itself and only offers input controls when it is true. Streaming sticks and players treat these keys as no-ops.
Related TV-only keys ChannelUp and ChannelDown are also TV-class only, for the same reason — a player has no tuner to step through.
Tier PRO, and gated at the service level rather than only in the interface, so widget and voice routes are covered by the same rule.
Free equivalent Home, then the directional pad to the input tiles, then OK. Same destination, more keypresses, and it needs the Home screen visible.
Panel-button fallback Four documented Roku TV layouts: single button (press to open Inputs), three-button (middle button), joystick (nudge left or right), labelled column (INPUT key). Some Select Series sets have a power button only.
Panel placement Not standardised. Roku suggests the bottom centre behind the status indicator LED, or the back panel near the lower right or left side.
Devices covered Input switching applies to Roku TVs only (TCL, Hisense, onn., Philips, RCA, Sharp, Westinghouse). Streaming Stick, Express and Ultra have no inputs to switch.

Common questions

Change Roku Input — your questions answered.

Can I switch HDMI inputs on a Roku TV from my iPhone?
Yes, on a Roku TV. The app can send the television directly to HDMI 1 through 4, the antenna tuner or AV, which works even when the current input is showing nothing and you cannot navigate visually. Direct switching is a PRO feature; the free directional pad reaches the same input tiles via the Home screen.
My Roku is a streaming stick. Why are there no input controls?
Because a stick has no inputs. It produces one signal into one HDMI port, so there is nothing for it to switch between — it is itself one of your television's inputs. The app hides the controls rather than showing buttons that would silently do nothing. Changing source has to come from the television.
Do I need the original remote to change input?
No. On a Roku TV the app sends the same commands the remote would, over your network. Failing that, most Roku TVs open the Inputs menu from the button on the chassis, which needs no remote and no network at all.
Where is the input button on my Roku TV itself?
It depends on the model, because Roku does not build most Roku TVs. There are four documented layouts: a single button that opens Inputs, a three-button control where the middle one does it, a joystick you nudge left or right, and a labelled column with an INPUT key. Check the bottom centre behind the status light and the back panel corners.
One of my HDMI inputs does not appear as a tile. Why?
Unused inputs are often disabled or unlabelled in the television settings, which hides their tile from the Home screen. Enable and name the input on the Roku TV and the tile appears, after which both the app and the remote can reach it normally.

Free download

Take control of your Roku in seconds.

Auxility Remote replaces the remote over Wi-Fi the moment your iPhone joins the same network. No pairing code, no account, no original remote needed.

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An independent app by Auxility, Inc. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Roku, Inc. Roku is a trademark of Roku, Inc., used only to indicate device compatibility.

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