Common reasons your Roku TV can turn on by itself and how to fix it

You’re sound asleep in the middle of the night when, all of a sudden, your TV turns on. You know you turned off the TV before you went to bed, no one else is awake, and there’s nothing near your remote to accidentally push the power button. What — or who — could have turned on the TV? A bored spirit haunting your home? A burglar looking to take a quick break?

Those scenarios are highly unlikely. But, unfortunately, some Roku TVs and Roku streaming device owners have been jolted out of their slumber by those products inexplicably powering on randomly over the past few months. And no one really knows why it’s happening. There may be a few explanations, however, and a couple of potential fixes to try if your Roku device has gone rogue during the wee hours.

When Roku OS version 15.3 went live in August 2026, owners of Roku TVs and Roku streaming devices began reporting these middle-of-the-night disturbances. Not every Roku TV or streaming player has been impacted by this supposed 15.3 bug, but the timing of the reports with the software update seems more than coincidental.

What’s odd about that, though, is that there was nothing in the 15.3 update that involved autoplay features or even power management. So, in theory, the changes that were made to the Roku OS shouldn’t have spurred these instances of people’s Roku TVs “waking up” without being powered on by anyone (or anything) and playing a TV show or movie. But we all know that software updates often introduce bugs with no real rhyme or reason, and that feels like the most logical explanation for these strange occurrences.

Having your Roku TV’s HDMI-CEC feature enabled is another very plausible reason the TV powers on randomly. If you’re not familiar with HDMI-CEC, it’s basically a chain that links all your A/V components with built-in HDMI switching (like soundbars, gaming consoles, receivers and speakers) since they’re all connected via HDMI cables. And this allows all of those devices to be controlled with one remote.

So, when you power on your Roku TV, for example, HDMI-CEC essentially notifies all the other connected components to turn on. All it takes is one glitchy signal to confuse the whole chain, which could lead to a random power-up. And there is a history of HDMI-CEC causing strange switching between inputs and components, as well as phantom power-ons. Samsung Anynet+, Sony BRAVIA Sync, LG SimpLink and Roku 1-Touch Play are all just different names for the same HDMI-CEC standard, but each has its own custom software added to it to create the proprietary HDMI-CEC feature for each brand of smart TV.

Unfortunately, compatibility sometimes becomes an issue unless all of your connected devices are made by the same company (though even that doesn’t guarantee incident-free performance). This can cause signal miscommunication that results in the random behavior of your Roku TV or streaming device.

There are other possible explanations for your Roku TV turning on by itself. For example, the Fast TV Start feature is a proprietary power-management setting that keeps your Roku TV’s OS on in the background even when you shut off the TV.

This allows the TV to turn on instantly without any boot time, and it keeps the TV on alert for voice commands to turn the TV back on. Fast TV Start has also seemingly caused phantom power-on problems in conjunction with the Roku OS 15.3 update, as the always-on network connection kept open the door for overnight glitches.

You may try all of these suggestions and still not have much luck because the root of the issue has not been “officially” identified by Roku, or anyone else, for that matter. And without the root cause, there remains no guaranteed fix. But these possible solutions are certainly worth trying and just might do the trick.

The first thing to try, if you haven’t already, is updating your Roku TV’s OS to version 16, which was released in October. Fixing the 15.3 bug wasn’t part of the update, and no reports have surfaced that OS 16 patched the automatic power-on problem, but it’s definitely worth trying. The worst-case scenario is that your Roku TV’s OS is fully updated.

Next, disable 1-Touch Play (HDMI-CEC) not just on your Roku TV but on all the other components connected to the TV, regardless of brand. This includes your A/V equipment and gaming consoles. To do so on your Roku TV, go to Settings > System > Control other devices and uncheck 1-Touch Play. Also disable Fast TV Start, which you can find under Settings > System > Power > Fast TV Start, then either clear the Enable Fast TV Start option or check Off to disable it.

If these don’t work, try unplugging the TV when you’re done watching it each night (no, not ideal), using a smart plug to automatically cut the power for you or consulting Roku’s tech support portal at support.roku.com for further assistance.