How to Hide Channels on Roku

There are times when you don’t want people to see what you’re watching on your Roku device, such as when there are children in the room. Luckily, it’s easy to hide channels on Roku by giving them an innocuous name and hiding the channel away in your Roku account. Here’s how to do it in simple steps!

You can hide or remove channels you no longer use from your channel list. For example, if you have several sports channels installed, but are only interested in a particular one, you can hide all of your other sports channels. Hiding channels also gives you more room for new channels and features in your Channel Store.

What you need to do to hide and unhide channels on Roku

First, log into your Roku account online. Next, click My Account and then Manage Account. On your Manage Account page you should see a list of all your active channels and payment details. At the top of that list you will see a section titled Account Management where you can click hide or remove from all devices. To add or re-add channels to any device simply access that device and scroll down through its channel store until you find an option for either adding a new channel or adding channels.

 

In another way, to hide channels on your Roku, head into your device’s settings menu. The exact process will depend on your individual setup, but you should be able to find a specific section called private channels or something similar (this varies depending on which model you own). Access it, and then scroll through until you find any channel that isn’t a big name. Uncheck any boxes next to those channels and they’ll disappear from your home screen—without affecting any of their functionality.

 

View hidden channels

If you’re running out of room and aren’t interested in adding any more subscriptions, it may be time to hide some channels. With hundreds of different entertainment options available, there’s a good chance that you’ll have at least a few channels that you don’t watch. From here, if you want to add a channel back into your viewing rotation, just click it from your My Feed list or go directly to Channel-Store and find what you want.

Hide unwanted channels

One of the coolest features of Roku is that it allows you to watch TV shows and movies from a variety of different sources, like Amazon Instant Video, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Netflix, MLB.TV and more. But not all channels are created equal. If you want your kids (or others) to be able to stream content without being able to access inappropriate or adult-themed content, then you can use private filters or parental controls in order to hide certain channels from their list of options when they browse for something new. You'll have complete control over what's available via your Roku network.

 

Why we should hide channels on Roku

We’ve already covered how to hide channels from your streaming devices before, and it’s still one of our most-read posts. So with Roku being one of our favorite streaming devices for cord cutters, we decided that it was time for an update. There are a couple of reasons you might want to hide channels on your device. First off, there’s a little matter of clutter that can be quickly added up as you add new apps and channels (we have 14 active apps at last count). The second reason is more practical — when you add channels from outside sources like Xfinity Stream or Amazon Instant Video, they won’t show up on your channel store home screen unless you install them separately.

 

Add new channels

It’s easy to add new channels using Roku, but you might have some more specific needs. Perhaps you have a subscription service that provides several channels that don’t fit in with your typical viewing preferences. Or maybe you want an additional way to watch local programming without having it clog up your usual channel lineup. That’s where hidden channels come in. Hidden channels are specific versions of traditional channels that don’t appear by default—but they can be easily added through a couple of quick steps. We'll show you how!

 

Resetting your device

There are a few reasons why you might want to hide channels, but they mostly have to do with protecting your privacy. Your device is capable of storing hundreds of channels, some of which might not be entirely kosher. If you think someone is snooping around or if you’re embarrassed by what’s in your streaming queue, hiding your channels is easy and effective. When you remove a channel from view, it remains saved in your account for 30 days. After that time frame expires, it will be deleted permanently; all that info is wiped from Roku’s servers—it really does disappear forever.

 

Last Word

If you don’t watch much TV, or if you simply don’t want your kids seeing certain channels and programming (like adult-oriented entertainment), then Roku has an easy solution: hide channels. It’s a feature buried within every Roku device, but it’s straightforward enough for any viewer to access. And, since there are plenty of family-friendly streaming services on offer—Netflix and YouTube, for example—it can be useful in filtering out content that doesn’t fit your household. The process is simple, so let’s get started!