Roku OS 9.3 brings improved performance, voice assistant support and more

Roku has announced its latest software update for its streaming players and Roku-powered TV sets.

“The Roku OS continues to get better with a specific focus on delivering better performance, new content and more ways to find it,” said Lloyd Klarke, Director Product Management at Roku. “With Roku OS 9.3, we’re enhancing Roku Voice in Canada with increased natural language understanding, additional media playback controls and fun features like the ability to find Hollywood hits using movie quotes.”

With Roku OS 9.3, the company put an emphasis on increasing performance. This means that boot times should be quicker and faster channel launch times and overall more responsive Home Screen.

Roku’s devices have had voice remotes for a few years but Roku Voice adds the ability to speak more natural phrases such as “Show me comedy movies” or “I want to watch action films”.

Roku Voice is available on the Streaming Stick+ and Roku app and also supports media playback controls such as “fast forward” and “pause”.

While voice assistant support has been available in the US, Roku is adding Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa support to control your Roku players and Roku TVs in Canada.

With your Amazon Echo or Google Home devices, you can control media playback and search for entertainment. If you have a Roku TV, you can change channels, switch inputs, volume up/down and switch your TV on/off.

Roku’s mobile app on Android and iOS will also be getting a redesign, giving users access to Roku Search, switch between Roku devices and a shortcut to the remote control screen.

The redesigned app will also include quick access icons to launch channels from the remote screen.

Roku OS 9.3 is set to roll out to select Roku players in April. All Roku TV models (such as the TCL 6-series) will be getting the 9.3 update in phases over the next few months.

Source: Roku