What to Do If Roku Remote Gets Wet?

You’re enjoying a nice cup of tea while settling in to watch a movie or a 24h cable news outlet. Your Roku Remote is here somewhere, under the cushions. Now you have to get up to reach it. As you do that, your chamomile tea refuses to cooperate and decides to spill, not only on your couch but also on the just recovered Roku remote.

After the panic that ensues and you stop being annoyed with yourself, it’s time to examine your options. There are a few and hopefully one of them will do the trick.

Homemade First Aid Kit

In order to save your Roku remote, you can try these instant steps that are basically a natural reaction to any major disaster involving the spillage of liquid on any of your devices:

Step 1. Wipe It off

Grab a clean cloth, preferably cotton, and try soaking up every bit of excess liquid. Make sure to reach every nook. Try shaking the remote a bit in order to get even more liquid out and then wipe it off with the cloth.

Step 2. Remove the batteries

Probably the most intuitive thing to do is to remove the batteries immediately. Batteries do not short-circuit so you can just dry them (if they’re wet) and even clean them under the tap before drying.

Step 3. More Drying

After you remove the batteries, leave your Roku remote to air dry for a while. Possibly use a soft toothbrush to go over the surface of the remote once more and absorb any remaining liquid within the remote.

Another option is to use a blow dryer. Set it on mild temperature to avoid overheating the plastic of the remote, and do your best to dry it completely.

Step 4. Should You Try the Rice Method?

The Rice Method is at a point of some “controversy” because people either swear by it or think it’s the silliest idea ever. What it means is that you should submerge any device that came in contact with liquid, including your Roku remote, in uncooked rice. It could be a container or zip lock bag filled with rice. Then leave the remote in there for 24 to 36 hours.

Supposedly, uncooked rice has a magical capacity for absorbing liquid from any device. And this very well may be true, but even if all the liquid from the remote is gone, it doesn’t mean that it will work again. The damage to the remote might be irreparable.

And that is pretty much all that a homemade first aid kit can do for your soaked remote. You might be very fortunate and all of these steps will be enough to make your Roku remote good as new. Just don’t forget to put the batteries back in.

Use the Mobile App Remote in Lieu of the Physical Remote

For better or for worse, everything is connected. If you own a smartphone or a tablet, and most likely you do, you can download the Roku app to your device. These are the steps to go through:

Step 1. Go to Google Play Store for your Android device and to the App Store for your iPhone or iPad and download the Roku app.

Step 2. Now link it to your Roku and make sure that you use the same Internet network. Check to see if your device is using mobile data or connected to Wi-Fi.

Step 3. Select the “Remote” option in the App. This App will transform your mobile device into a Roku remote.

If All Else Fails

Unfortunately, there is a significant chance that it’s impossible to fix a totally soaked Roku remote. Anything that contains integrated circuit boards may not “survive” getting wet.

All of this means that you’ll probably have to replace your Roku remote with a new one. But, until then, you have the Roku app to assist you. Use the virtual remote in the meantime, until one day if and when you decide to get a replacement.

Technology Isn’t Perfect

Tech companies still haven’t figured out how to make everything waterproof. Or, to make batteries last forever, but that’s another issue. There is only so much we can expect from a remote, even a Roku remote. The world is turning in the direction of making things as user-friendly as possible and who knows what we can expect next. Until then, remote in one hand, the cup of tea in the other.

Finally, if you have another method for saving or reviving a wet Roku remote, or if you perhaps disagree or whole-heartedly agree with any of the above, we’re all ears. The comments section is below.