Roku is giving its users a chance to try experimental apps before they become part of the wider platform, with a new programme called Roku Labs. Unlike more closed beta schemes, the programme is available to any Roku owner directly from the home screen.
Roku Labs launches with four apps in development. Backdrops Studio lets you customise your Roku background with your own art and images, while Roku Immerse offers another way to create custom screensavers. There’s also Roku Weather, a dedicated weather app, and Roku Stocks, which does exactly what you’d expect by bringing stock tracking to the platform.
The idea isn’t just to let users poke around with unfinished software. Roku says feedback from people using these apps will help shape how they’re developed in the future, so what starts as an experiment could eventually become a regular part of the Roku experience.
Roku also has a few other changes in the pipeline. Over the coming months, it plans to roll out its updated home screen layout to users in Mexico and Brazil. Voice controls are also getting a weather-focused addition, letting users ask Roku for a forecast, while an updated search experience will explain why certain content appears in a particular order.
And if tinkering with apps isn’t enough, Roku is opening up some of the software behind its hardware, too. The company is open-sourcing Roku LT OS, the operating system used to power its remotes and smart home products.
The development kit will be available for free, with Roku also planning a video training series to help people get started and build their own projects.
For now, Roku Labs is the more immediately useful part of the announcement. There’s no waiting for a special invitation or signing up for a developer programme; if you own a Roku device, you can access the experimental apps from a Roku Labs tile on the home screen and have a look at what’s coming next.
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