Roku makes monitoring security cameras a little easier

By Phil Nickinson Published October 15, 2024

The Roku Smart Home camera webview. — Roku

Roku today announced updates that will bring even tighter integration between the platform’s operating system and smart home features. And in case you’d missed it, Roku got into the smart home game in 2022 as it partnered with Wyze first for cameras, a doorbell, and lights, and later for a full-home security system.

New features being announced today include:

Automatically cycle through camera feeds on your television, using motion detection to intelligently display the correct camera.
Additional notifications on the television when an event is detected. (You’ll need to turn this on in settings.)
You’ll be able to watch all your camera feeds from a website, on a computer, or on your phone or tablet.

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That’s the good news. The bad news is you’re going to have to wait for the new features for a little while. Roku says they’ll be available via a software update this winter.

The Roku camera carousel as seen on a Roku TV. — The Roku camera carousel will focus on where it sees motion and display on a Roku player or Roku TV, including with notifications. Roku

The slate of devices that will be compatible with these features include all Roku Smart Home camera and doorbells — that comprises the Floodlight Camera, Video Doorbell, Wire-free Video Doorbell and Chime, Indoor 360 Camera, Outdoor Wire-free Camera, and the Indoor and Outdoor Camera SE.

You’ll of course also need a Roku TV or Roku player for any of this to work together. (And that includes the newest model of Roku Ultra, which was just announced this fall.) And while you’ll still need a Roku Smart Home subscription for more detailed things like detecting people, packages, vehicles, pets and the like — and for storing video clips — you won’t need it for the camera carousel and notifications. If you do opt for the subscription, though, it’ll cost $4 a month or $40 a year for up to two cameras, or $10 a month or $100 a year for up to 99 cameras.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Phil spent the 2000s making newspapers with the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, the 2010s with Android Central and then the…

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