Learn how to stream by way of a VPN on Roku

The Roku sensible TV platform is an accessible approach to watch your favourite streaming content material in a centralized location – both built-in to TVs, or by including reasonably priced dongles or mini bins, just like the new-for-2024 Roku Ultra, to older televisions. (Search for an Engadget evaluation of that mannequin quickly.) One massive benefit of the Roku platform is that it is all the time getting free software program updates to maintain it present — just like the cool new characteristic that turns your TV right into a form of digital artwork museum by displaying famous paintings as a screensaver. Nevertheless, Roku is much less adept relating to fixing one frequent frustration of the streaming age: The lack to entry in style reveals, films and sporting occasions due to geographic restrictions.

Utilizing a VPN is a standard approach to deal with this difficulty, however not like Hearth TV, Apple TV and different rivals, Roku programs don’t have native VPN help. However that’s not the tip of the story: You may nonetheless use a VPN to entry a wider vary of programming by way of a Roku — you simply want to make use of a workaround. We’ll present you the way.

The advantages of utilizing a VPN

In relation to streaming, a VPN has one most important profit: altering your IP deal with — the distinctive quantity that identifies the overall location of the machine and community you are utilizing to entry the net. A VPN tunnels your connection by way of its servers to obfuscate your IP, making it appear to be you’re watching from elsewhere. Because of this, a service like Netflix will see your location as, say, the UK versus the US. You’ll then have entry to a distinct set of programming. For instance, you want Max to stream Buddies, The Massive Bang Principle or Rick and Morty within the US, however they’re all accessible on Netflix within the UK.

VPNs have a number of different advantages associated to privateness and safety. VPN servers have military-grade AES 256-bit encryption, which means they’re safer than connecting to the Web usually. So, because you’re shopping the Web by tunneling by way of the VPN, your Web service supplier can’t see all your shopping locations (and promote your viewing habits to knowledge brokers).

The simplest manner to make use of a VPN on Roku

Though Roku doesn’t natively help VPNs, there are just a few workarounds. You may, as an example, set up a VPN on your home’s router. That lets you shield the entire community and each machine that connects to it, conserving everybody in your family nameless on-line. However it could additionally trigger confusion while you need to entry native companies — and it requires a really high-level of technical information, and solely works with sure routers.

As a substitute, we advocate a far simpler technique: connecting a VPN to your Roku by way of AirPlay or screencast. To do that, subscribe to a VPN and set up it in your smartphone or laptop computer. Then, stream content material on that machine and AirPlay or screencast it to your Roku TV. The icon to do that ought to appear to be a TV with Wi-Fi rays.

AirPlay screencasting - YouTube — Engadget

We choose this technique as a result of it’s less complicated general. You may entry any geo-blocked content material in your smartphone or laptop computer first after which forged it in your sensible TV.

You can also make certain your Roku mannequin is AirPlay-compatible by checking this resource on Roku’s site. If it isn’t, you possibly can all the time simply straight patch your cellphone or laptop computer to the TV utilizing an HDMI cable or an appropriate dongle.

Selecting the very best VPN

When you’ll be utilizing a cellphone or laptop computer as the last word supply in your VPN-routed streams, that truly offers you a wider listing of companies from which to decide on. Though every VPN has the identical primary functionalities, their worth and additional options fluctuate. Earlier than deciding which one is true in your wants and the gadgets you’ve gotten, take a while to have a look at what every one provides and see what different customers should say. Begin by testing our listing of best VPNs — and pleased streaming.