On-TV alerts for motion events might seem like a no-brainer for Roku’s growing line of security cameras, but it’s a trick Roku cams haven’t been able to pull off. That’s about to change, though.
Starting soon, Roku streaming players and TVs will gain the ability to display real-time alerts when your Roku security cameras sense activity, a long-awaited feature that fills a gap in Roku’s budding smart home ecosystem.
Also coming soon is a carousel that will cycle through live camera feeds on your TV, along with a web view for your cams.
All three new features are due this winter, according to Roku.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best security cameras.
Previously, only Roku video doorbells offered on-TV notifications, while motion alerts for Roku security cameras were relegated to mobile devices.
You’ll be able to manage the camara alerts from the Roku settings menu.
Besides the motion alerts, Roku devices are also getting a Camera Carousel, which will be accessible from the home screen.
The carousel will be able to cycle through live feeds of your Roku cameras, either highlighting feeds where activity has been detected or rotating through each camera according to a pre-set time interval. You can also opt for a combination of the two settings.
Finally, the Roku Smart Web View will let you keep tabs on all your Roku camera feeds from a web browser, similar to the web views offered by Ring, Google’s Nest, and other security cam manufacturers.
The new security cam features are free for all Roku users, and all Roku smart home devices are supported, including the Roku Floodlight Camera, Video Doorbell, Wire-free Video Doorbell and Chime, Indoor 360 Camera, Outdoor Wire-free Camera, and the Indoor and Outdoor Wired Camera SE.
Besides its free smart home features, Roku also has a paid subscription plan that offers 14 days of video storage, smart detection (including for people, packages, vehicles, and pets), event filtering, no cool-down period for motion events, and other benefits.
The Roku plan costs $3.99 a month for a single camera, or $10 a month for all your Roku cams.
Roku began bolstering its line of streaming players and TVs with smart home products back in 2022, with white-label devices manufactured by Wyze.
We reviewed Roku’s Home Monitoring SE security system last year, and while we praised its low price, we dinged it for the lack of on-TV alerts for security cam motion events. With the pending update, the latter point should become moot.
