Roku is a popular brand known for its streaming devices and Roku TVs, but their smart home products go beyond home entertainment. Roku has a smart home ecosystem that includes smart security, smart lights and wall plugs, and the control is all tied into the Roku products you have, know, and love. The best part? All Roku’s smart home products are priced competitively, making them worth looking into for anyone building out their smart home.
The system includes video security, lighting, and wall plugs, but lacks a thermostat and a smart home hub—though it could be argued that the Roku TVs or streaming devices combined with a TV serve in lieu of a smart home hub, as they work much the same way. Roku also works with third party products, which is a major plus.
In this article, we explore the different products available within Roku’s smart home ecosystem, separate from home entertainment, that allow you to create a fully integrated smart home with Roku.
Roku Home Smart Security
The Roku smart home security system consists of five cameras. All feeds from these can be viewed on your Roku TV. There are two indoor cameras and three outdoor cameras. The indoor cameras are aptly named Roku Indoor Camera SE and Roku Indoor Camera 360° SE. The outdoor cameras are called Roku Outdoor Camera SE, Roku Outdoor Wired Camera SE, and Roku Floodlight Camera SE.
All the cameras are 1080p resolution with color night vision, have motion and sound detection with customizable zones, two-way audio, instant notifications, the ability to streak to your Roku TV or Player, and voice control via Alexa and Google Assistant. They also connect over a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network.
The Indoor Camera SE is $26.99 and comes with all the features above with no extras. The Indoor Camera 360° SE is $39.99 and adds 360° horizontal and 93° vertical tracking to its feature set.
The outdoor cameras are weather resistant. The Outdoor Camera SE $73.99 and is battery-powered, while the Outdoor Wired Camera SE is wired and costs only $49.99. You’re paying extra for convenience of placement.
The Floodlight Camera SE, the last in the series, is $99.99 and adds dimmable, motion activated floodlights to the camera.
Roku offers its own video doorbells, a wired and battery-powered version, just like its competitors—Ring and Google Nest.
The Roku Video Doorbell and Chime SE is $79.99 and uses the wiring of your current doorbell. Like the security cameras, it has 1080p video, color night vision, motion and sound detection, instant notifications, two-way audio, and you can stream to your Roku TV or Player and control via Alexa or Google Assistant. It also has head-to-toe aspect ratio.
The Roku Wire-free Video Doorbell and Chime SE is $99.99 has everything the wired version has, but it has 1440p video instead and it is, of course, powered by a rechargeable battery. This video doorbell can be powered by your current doorbell’s wiring, too, which makes it somewhat unique from other battery-powered video doorbells.
Roku Smart Lighting
The Roku smart lighting selection consists of two types of bulbs—color and white—and two lengths of colored strip lights. These connect over 2.4GHz Wi-Fi as well. With both, you can adjust the brightness and temperature, create, and save custom presets, set your own schedule, or set sunlight match, vacation, or sleep modes.
The smart bulbs can be controlled with Alexa or Google Assistant. The Roku Smart Bulb SE (white) comes in a 4-pack for $23.99. The Roku Smart Bulb SE (color) comes in a 2-pack for $17.99 and has a white tunable light option.
Roku’s light strips are a nice addition to the smart home lineup. These also have adjustable brightness, contrast, and temperature, allow you to create custom schedules, and has sleep mode and away mode. You can control them with Alexa and Google Assistant. These can sync to your favorite tunes.
There are two sizes, the Roku Smart Light Strip SE in 16 ft. is $22.99 and the 32 ft. is $44.99. Keep in mind that these are indoor only—they do not have the weather resistance required for outdoor strip lighting.
Roku Smart Plugs
Smart plugs are a fantastic way to make your “dumb” household items smart. By plugging these into the wall, and your chosen electronic into the plug, you can control it with your phone! It’s one of the easiest ways to get into the smart home game, along with smart lighting.
The $13.99 Roku Indoor Smart Plug SE (2-pack) allows you to power devices remotely, create and save custom schedules, sync multiple plugs, set vacation mode, and control with Alexa and Google Assistant. The $14.99 Roku Outdoor Smart Plug SE (2-pack) does all of that, for your outdoor electronics.
Roku Smart Home Starter Kit
If you like the sound of these smart products and want to grab a few of them, Roku does offer a Smart Home Starter Kit you may want to check out before you purchase individual products. The Starter Kit comes with one Indoor Camera SE, two color Smart Bulbs, and two Indoor Smart Plugs, for only $58.97. This is a great option to start, and you can build out from it if you want to add some outdoor products or any of the others.
The Roku App
The Roku app, of course, is where you control it all. While everything can be controlled via voice assistants, you’ll need the app to set everything up and customize things to your liking before those voice assistants will know what to do with your devices.
In the app, you’ll be guided through setup processes, able to manage your devices, and group them—say, by room, or by outdoor space, such as the front of your house or back patio.
It’s likely you already have a voice assistant—most likely Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant—and the whole Roku ecosystem, including the home entertainment line, can be controlled via these assistants.
So, if you’ve got a Roku TV or Player, are thinking of getting one, and want an easy-to-use, no-hassle smart home, Roku’s smart home products may just be what you’re looking for.You can create schedules and custom rules for your smart home devices, so they switch to various settings at specific times, go into vacation mode, turn on or off, or whatever else you want them to do. The app also allows you to customize those settings so you can change the color of your lights or set the motion detection zones of your cameras.
When it comes to the cameras, you can monitor your home via the app from anywhere in the world, so you will always know what’s going on at home when you’re on vacation or a business trip.
You can pull up the live stream video feeds for your video doorbells or Roku cameras, and chat using the two-way audio. That can be useful for talking to delivery people, friends, and neighbors, or scaring off people who shouldn’t be on your property. You’ll get motion and sound alerts when these devices detect motion, so you’ll always be in the know.
Your Connected Smart Home with Roku
Roku’s smart home products make it possible to run a smart home entirely with one ecosystem, including home entertainment. If you already have a Roku TV or Roku Player, you can get soundbars or wireless speakers, and add these smart home products to have a completely connected Roku smart home.
