On the internet, questions like “does Roku have a web browser,” “Roku web browser,” “Roku browser,” “web browser for Roku tv,” and “internet on Roku” are searched every day. So in this article, we’ll discuss all these queries and suggest you a list of 8 Free and Best Roku Web Browser.
So let’s start with what is Roku? Roku is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from various online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced in May 2008. Roku devices have been considered influential on the digital media player market, helping to popularize the concept of low-cost, small-form-factor set-top boxes for over-the-top media consumption. Roku has also licensed its platform as middleware for smart TVs.
As of August 2021, Roku has more than 55 million active accounts, according to its quarterly earnings report.
So let’s start with what is Roku? And all you need to know about it.
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List of 8 Best Roku Web Browser
Here is the list of the 8 best Roku web browsers.
Web Browser X
If you have a Roku device at home, then you might probably be aware of this offering. Being one of the only two browsers officially available in the Roku Store comes with its own set of benefits.
The biggest of which is the fact that it is fully compatible with the Roku Remote. Hence you could easily navigate between various sites right from your remote itself.
Likewise, some of its other handy features include:
- Clean, simple, and easy-to-navigate user interface.
- There are also some pre-saved news and sports websites that you could directly access with just a single press of a button.
- Along the same lines, it gives you the option to bookmark your preferred sites as well.
However, the biggest drawback with this browser is its inability to handle media content. Let alone the videos embedded in websites, it isn’t even able to play YouTube videos.
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Xfinity
Videos, songs, websites, or any online content you’d like to browse, you name it, they have it. Xfinity has a modernized interface making it easier for the users to adapt themselves to the platform. The entertainment service has regularly updated music set up with various genres to explore.
Though it promises to cover all sorts of usage, in an ironic way, the platform is quite complicated as it offers everything in a single place bringing confusion in the minds of the users.
Although it is a paid service, the pricing starts at $49.99/ month and increases up to $89.49/ month depending on the number of channels added, but the costs per channel are low
POPRISM:
Another moderately popular web browser for Roku users is Poprism. The browser promises to deliver all text-based content and delivers only that. It could be a total thumbs down because it does not support the already existing graphics in the website and shows the texts in a very clumsy unformatted manner.
There are many other things that the web browser certainly does not support, which include CSS, JavaScript, GUI, and even the images shown on a particular website. It has remote navigation enabled. If you are a very light internet user, it will work for you, but mostly not for others.
Lacking most of the basic features, it is evident that it cannot be sold as a premium; hence, it is free. It is also one of the two web browsers already existing in the official Roku channel store.
Web Video Caster
It has differentiated itself from its competitors by incorporating tons of TV shows and movies. Well, in some instances, it seems to even give a tough competition to Roku itself!
On a serious note, Web Video Caster is more than just your everyday browser. The ability to binge-watch series, watch Live TV shows and movies are just the tip of the iceberg.
Some of its other noteworthy features include:
- It supports all the popular video formats.
- It can automatically get hold of the subtitles file of the corresponding movie being played.
- If that’s not enough, it also gives you an option to download the subtitles of your choice via the integrated OpenSubtitles website.
- You could also create bookmarks for your favorites sites, view your Watch History, create a Home Screen shortcut for easy access, etc.
- Well, you could even cast your videos stored on your Android device to this browser.
So where’s the catch? Well, every good thing comes at a cost, and this is the case here as well. You would have to shell out some bucks to try out most of its feature set.
Media Browser
In our testing, the Media Browser was right there at the top with Browser X when it came to handling large and resource-heavy websites.
Then, to justify its name tag, it has done full justice to media files. Be it any audio, video, or images, it is able to handle all of them with some ease.
Likewise, most of its features are also focused on providing a media-enriched browsing experience. These include the likes of
- A Photo Slideshow feature to relive all your memories.
- Live TV streaming functionality
- The ability to remotely control the Media Browser using other apps from the same publisher.
- And quite recently, it has made its way over to the Roku Store. So you could directly download it from the store without searching for any third-party trusted site.
However, before you could use this browser, you need to install the Media Browser Server on your network. This might prove to be a little bit challenging, especially for non-tech savvy users.
The Roku Channel
Whether directly picking up the name of the device as your own branding will work or not, only time will tell. But one thing that seems to have worked out in its favor is its incorporation of various media services.
So be it for news, sports, music or live TV, you could view all of them under one root itself. Some of its other features that might prove to be useful includes:
- The ability to effortlessly stream all your favorite shows.
- The contents are directly taken from Yahoo, which gets regularly updated.
- As a result, you could expect the up-to-date provision of its services.
However, most of its offerings are behind a paywall. So you would have to empty your pockets in order to enjoy the full potential of this service.
Screen Cast via Android
As you might have noticed, as opposed to smartphones, Roku doesn’t boast of good quality browsers. Most of them could only carry out a few basic tasks. This is why we decided to share this method with you.
This workaround of directly casting your smartphone’s screen comes with quite a few advantages, such as:
- You could try out any of your preferred browsers on Roku, be it Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.
- Moreover, you don’t have to go through the hassle of the installation process.
- Pairing is quite easy as well. Just pick up your Android device, go to Settings > Connected Devices > Pair New Device and select Roku from the list. That’s it.
However, the biggest drawback is the fact that you could only cast an Android device and not an iPhone. This is because Roku uses Miracast which is only supported on Google’s OS. Moreover, casting requires a strong internet connection, otherwise, you would notice lags and pairing issues.
Chrome and Screencast
Neither of their web browser options are great, it’s all a bit ancient for most people, and so until Roku releases their own web browser, we are stuck with getting inventive with ways that we can browse the internet with Roku.
Most of us use browsers to stream videos and movies. There really is no point in having a browser if it can’t do this, it kind of defeats the whole modern concept.
This means that if you want to stream, the best way to do this through Roku is to use screen mirroring. This will allow you to cast or mirror your screen on your Android device and start streaming and surfing on that
You can also cast other browsers to Roku, and this will allow you to stream content this way. The only drawback by doing this is that it kind of depends on the other device, as it will need the help of this device so that you can cast the screen.
The best approach when using Roku is to simply mirror your screen and cast the browser to your computer or your phone and to your Roku device. It doesn’t really cost anything, and you get a good-looking browser that you can have full functionality on.
Does Roku have a Web Browser?
Though, Roku is the best digital platform that allows you to stream media content from several online platforms. But for browsing, Roku offers very limited functions and it doesn’t have any in-built web browser.
Maybe it sounds like a hitch to you but still, Roku doesn’t let you down in entertaining you?
Mainly there are two web browsers channels included in Roku: Reddit Browser and Media Browser. Both are incompletely featured web browsers.
The Media Browser lets you play music, movies, TV. It’s an internet video browser. Whereas on the other hand using the Reddit browser you can see posts on Reddit. This browser is not free.
So, to surf the internet you need to download the web-browsers. Here check the top 7 web browsers for Roku to enhance your experience and browsers the web easily.
FAQs
Can you Browse the Internet on Roku?
Roku offers you a wide range of entertaining media content including movies, TV shows, live sports events. Although, when it comes to browsing the Internet, Roku does not own a built-in native browser facility. In order to surf the Internet on your television set via Roku, you would need to install any additional third-party web browser on your device.
Is there a free web browser for Roku?
The above-mentioned web browsers for Roku can be used for browsing the Internet on your Television. You can pick Web Browser X, as it’s a free web browser for Roku, and use it without paying an additional subscription fee.
Can I get Google Chrome on my Roku?
Google Chrome web browser is not supported by Roku. However, to enjoy a Google Chrome-like browsing experience on Roku, you can try screen mirroring instead. You can install the Google Chrome mobile app on your smartphone, and then cast your device on to the television to browse the Internet on a big screen.
How Do I Cast my browser to Roku?
As Roku does not have a native web browser of its own, you can either use third-party web browsers that are mentioned above or use screen mirroring to cast the browser.
Conclusion- Roku Web Browser
These are probably the best Roku Web Browser for Roku TV and device. If you’re having any queries or if we are missing any point, just put it in the comment section, and We’ll send a response real soon.
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