This Roku mode ensures my Real Housewives addiction stays a secret

Summary

Enable Guest Mode on Roku to prevent unauthorized purchases and tampering with your recommendations.
Easy process to turn on Guest Mode through settings; requires entering a pin for activation.
Guest Mode allows access to free content while preventing account usage, convenient for gatherings.

Getting a new streaming device is nice, especially if it means you get to leave your sluggish smart TV user interface behind. Roku is a major player in the streaming market, and whether you pick up a streaming stick or a Roku Ultra, there’s a lot to like. What you might not like, however, is people coming onto your device without your knowledge and making purchases you didn’t authorize.

Roku Ultra (2024)

Dimensions: 4.9 x 5.0 x 1.0 inches
Connective Technology: Bluetooth® streaming, 802.11ax dual-band MIMO Wi-Fi 6 (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz), 10/100 Base-T Ethernet
Brand: Roku
Audio outputs: Digital stereo over HDMI, DTS Digital Surround pass through over HDMI, Dolby Atmos decode via HDMI (with compatible speakers)
Integrations: Works with Roku Smart Home, Apple AirPlay and HomeKit, Google Home, Alexa
Wi-Fi: 802.11ax dual-band MIMO Wi-Fi 6 (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz)

If you enable Guest Mode on your Roku, you don’t have to worry about anybody messing with your apps or making purchases. Roku devices are home to many tips and tricks, and this is just an example of one of the more underrated ones. This is it ensures your recommendations aren’t completely destroyed by somebody watching something you’re not interested in. I’ve seen first-hand how fast algorithms can change, and I would hate for somebody to ruin mine after spending so much time getting to where I want it.

The Roku Ultra might be better than the Apple TV 4K for movies

Movie lovers will love the Roku Ultra.

How to turn on Guest Mode on your Roku

A simple, but beneficial, process

To turn on Guest Mode, you have to turn on your Roku and navigate to the settings. From there, select Guest Mode and toggle it on. You have to enter your Roku Pin at this point. After doing that, you’ve successfully activated Guest Mode, and now your Roku is safe from any tampering with your payments and algorithm. Resetting your Netflix algorithm is possible, but it’d be better if you didn’t have to do that thanks to somebody messing around.

Guest Mode doesn’t completely lock your Roku down as it still lets people use the free content available on the device. This includes live TV, music, and any of the apps you can install. The main thing it does is stop people from using your account to do things like make purchases. Everyone knows how kids can be, so it’s a nice safeguard against that.

It’s a nice feature to have when hosting a gathering where you can’t always keep an eye on what’s going on with your TV. Hopefully, you’re keeping guests entertained enough so they don’t have to head over to your TV and start watching things, but you never know how things might go.

When the party clears out, and you want to go back to your regular Roku viewing experience, follow the same steps to toggle off Guest Mode. The whole process takes just a few seconds, so it’s really no trouble to set up, and since it requires entering a pin, nobody can turn it on or off without knowing your pin.

I bought a Roku Ultra over an Apple TV 4K for a very good reason

I left Apple behind and went with Roku.

You can turn on Guest Mode online too

You don’t have to be at your Roku

Pocket-lint / Roku

If you don’t have time to get to your Roku, you can quickly enable Guest Mode online. This process might be even simpler than logging onto your physical Roku device because you can do it from anywhere. All you have to do in this situation is sign into your Roku account at https://my.roku.com/account, go down to My streaming devices & TVs, and then select your Roku, and turn on Guest Mode. You have to enter your Pin for this, as usual, so as long as you have that ready, you can enable Guest Mode from your phone.

You can turn it off the same way you turn it on, so there are no concerns about having Guest Mode stuck on or anything. The only thing you have to make sure of is selecting the correct Roku device if you have many of them in your home. There’s no worry about this when you do it directly from the device, but from your phone or tablet it can be an issue. The workaround here is to ensure everything is properly named, like your living room Roku actually being in your living room. If that’s all set up, then feel free to toggle this mode on and off as you please.