Roku TVs are some of the finest streaming televisions on the market today – easy to use, packed with advanced features and innovations, and with incredible quality on all levels.
One of the nicest and most useful features of Roku televisions is the ability to stream audio to any Bluetooth wireless speaker or Bluetooth wireless headphones. This is not a difficult procedure, but what can be incredibly difficult – and incredibly frustrating – is finding out how to do it!
But don’t worry, that’s exactly what this article does – explain in simple and easy to understand steps exactly how to stream audio from your Roku TV to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones.
How to Pair a Roku TV to Bluetooth Speakers
Again, while we are going to discuss only one procedure here, it will effectively allow you to do two things:
What you will need:
- Roku TV connected to your WiFi network
- A Smartphone connected to the same WiFi network
- A Bluetooth speaker or Bluetooth headphones
- The Roku smartphone app
Before we get started, for this procedure to work you will need to download the latest Roku smartphone application.
- Click here for the Android version of the Roku Smart App
- Click here for the Apple version of the Roku Smart App
I should take a moment to explain exactly what we’re doing here. Roku televisions cannot be directly connected to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones, but they do have a slick feature called Private Listening which allows you to connect your Bluetooth speakers or headphones nonetheless.
Private Listening is intended to let you use headphones to listen to your Roku TV without disturbing others. What it does is stream the audio signal from your Roku TV to your smartphone, and then you plug headphones into the phone and can hear the TV.
If you have the smartphone paired to a Bluetooth device, like speakers or wireless headphones, it works the exact same way, but instead of the audio going to wired headphones it plays the sound through that Bluetooth device – absolutely brilliant!
So that’s just what we’re going to do, and here are the exact steps you’ll need to follow:
- Make sure your Bluetooth wireless speaker or headphones are connected (paired) to your smartphone.
If you’re not sure how to do this, I’ll provide some instructions below, and you can get to them by clicking on one of these two links:
- How To Pair Bluetooth Speakers/Headphones to an Android Phone
- How To Pair Bluetooth Speakers/Headphones to an Apple Phone
- Open the Roku mobile app on your smartphone
- On the navigation bar, tap “remote”
- On the next screen, tap the headphone icon – it will be the far right icon on the row just below the large purple navigation button, towards the bottom of the screen.
And that’s it! No, seriously, that’s all there is to it! Your Roku TV is now connected to your smartphone, and streaming its audio to that phone, and your smartphone will play that audio through your Bluetooth speakers or headphones.
- Remember to have the volume set at a reasonable level before you begin to listen – not too loud, especially since your wireless speakers or headphones may play at a very different level
- Also keep in mind that while this article is about how to pair your Roku TV to a wireless speaker or headphones, you can use the exact same method to listen to the television’s audio through wired headphones connected to your phone
- To turn wireless audio streaming off, simple press the headphone icon on the Roku smartphone app again, and you’re back to normal audio played through the Roku TV
How to Pair a Bluetooth Speaker / Bluetooth Headphones to your Smartphone
How to Find and Connect a Bluetooth Speaker or Headphones on an Android Phone or Tablet
- Swipe down from the top of your Android phone’s screen
- Find the Bluetooth icon and press and hold it until the Bluetooth page opens
- Make sure Bluetooth is turned on
- Make sure your Bluetooth devices is in Pairing Mode (which should happen automatically when you turn it on)
- Find and tap on the name of that device on the Bluetooth page you’ve just opened on your phone
- If you do not see your Bluetooth device listed, you may have to press one of the following (depending on your device):
- Connect New Device
- Refresh
- Enter any required passwords or pin codes
- Click Yes or Confirm for any ensuing pop-ups
How to Find and Connect a Bluetooth Speaker or Headphones on an Apple Phone
- On your iPhone go to Settings, and then to Bluetooth
- Turn Bluetooth on
- Make sure your Bluetooth devices is in Pairing Mode (which should happen automatically when you turn it on)
- Find and tap on the name of that device on the Bluetooth page you’ve just opened on your phone
- Enter any required passwords or pin codes
- Click Yes or Confirm for any ensuing pop-ups