Common reasons your Roku TV can turn on by itself and how to fix it
If your TV has randomly been turning on and it has a Roku attached to it, it could be your Roku's doing. Check these settings.
A growing number of Roku TV users have recently encountered a perplexing issue: their television inexplicably powering on during the night, even when they swear they turned it off before going to bed. Many owners of Roku TVs and streaming devices have been startled awake by the sudden activation, with no apparent cause. The problem surfaced after the release of Roku OS version 15.3 in August 2026, though not all affected devices were impacted by this supposed bug.
The update, which did not include autoplay features or power management changes, has been the primary suspect in these occurrences, though the reasoning remains unclear. One potential explanation involves the HDMI-CEC feature, which links various A/V components via HDMI cables and allows for remote control. If a glitch occurs within this chain, it could lead to a random power-on.
Other possible reasons include the Fast TV Start setting, which keeps the TV's OS running in the background and may cause phantom power-ons in conjunction with the OS 15.3 update. Unfortunately, Roku has not officially identified the root cause of the problem, leaving users without a guaranteed fix. However, several troubleshooting steps can be taken to address the issue: updating the Roku TV's OS to version 16 (released in October), disabling the 1-Touch Play (HDMI-CEC) feature on both the Roku TV and other connected devices, and disabling Fast TV Start.
Users can also opt to unplug their TV each night or use a smart plug to automatically cut power, although these solutions may not be ideal.
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