Learn to use Photo Streams

How to use Photo Streams on your Roku® streaming device

Use Photo Streams to personalize your Roku experience and start sharing special moments with loved ones in different locations. Simply upload photos to your Roku account, set up the screensaver on your Roku streaming device, and enjoy a custom slideshow on the biggest screen in your home. Get ready to show off your family's favorite shots at your next home gathering or invite extended family and friends to upload their photos and create a collaborative screensaver with everyone's favorite memories.

What is Photo Streams?

It is a Roku feature that anyone with a free Roku account can use to create digital albums, or Photo Streams, to share with others. After a Photo Stream is created and photos are uploaded, an email invitation can be sent to family and friends giving them permission to view the photos, and potentially add their own. If an owner does not want to allow others to upload photos to their stream, they can easily set member permissions to "view only".

Photo Streams helps you share special moments with others by letting you:

Create up to 10 Photo Streams in your Roku account
Upload as many as 100 photos to each stream in JPG, PNG, HEIC, and WEBP formats
- Note: A stream may not allow 100 photos if the storage limit for the Roku account has been exceeded.
Invite up to 25 family members or friends to join each stream
Join an unlimited number of streams where loved ones have invited you to upload photos

If you have a Roku TV^™ or Roku streaming player, you can view any Photo Stream you are a member of on your TV. Simply open the Photo Streams channel and start a slideshow or select Photo Streams as the screensaver and choose the desired streams to include.

How to create a Photo Stream and upload photos

Whether you are adding pictures to your own Photo Stream, or one shared with you by a family member or friend, you can upload photos using a web browser or the free Roku mobile app.

Web browser

Open a web browser on your phone, tablet, or computer and use the following steps to create a Photo Stream and upload photos.

Visit photostreams.roku.com
Sign into your Roku account
Select Create Stream to create a new Photo Stream, or choose an existing stream
Upload your favorite photos
If desired, customize the name of the Photo Stream
Share the stream with family and friends using the Stream URL or email the link to them directly

Roku mobile app

If you have not done so, download and install the Roku mobile app for iOS^® and Android^™, and then use the steps below to upload photos.

Launch the mobile app
Tap on the User icon in the top corner
Tap Sign in and enter your email address and password
Select Photo Streams
Select Create Stream to create a new Photo Stream, or choose an existing stream
Upload your favorite photos
If desired, customize the name of the Photo Stream
Share the stream with family and friends using the URL or email the link to them directly

Once you are singed into the mobile app, you can also upload directly from the photo gallery on your phone using the following instructions.

Open the photo app on your phone
Choose one or more of your favorite images
Tap the share button and choose Roku to upload the images to any of your Photo Streams

After your first stream is created, the Photo Streams channel is installed on your Rou devices and the screensaver is automatically set to Photo Streams.

How to view a slideshow on your TV

When you want to see photos on your TV, use the following steps to open the Photo Streams channel and browse any stream you are a member of.

Press Home on your Roku remote
Use the directional pad to move to the right and highlight the Photo Streams channel. The directional pad is plus-shaped and is in the center of your Roku remote.
Press OK to launch the channel
Each row is an individual Photo Stream. Move down the screen and find the stream you want to view.
Select a photo to see it larger
Select Slideshow to see all images in the stream

During a slideshow, each photo appears for 10 seconds and the stream loops in a random order.

How to set Photo Streams as the screensaver

In addition to viewing a slideshow, you can configure your Roku streaming player or Roku TV to display photos from your favorite streams each time your Roku device goes to sleep. You can do this from the Settings menu using the steps below.

Press Home on your Roku remote
Scroll and select Settings
Select Theme to open the Theme menu
Select Screensavers
Select Photo Streams
Select Set as Screensaver to set Photo Streams as the screensaver

For additional help, learn how to change the screensaver on your Roku device.

How to choose specific streams for the screensaver

Before you can choose specific streams to include, you must have Photo Streams set as the screensaver using the instructions above. Once that is complete, you can easily add or remove streams from the screensaver using the Photo Streams channel, the Roku mobile app, or a web browser.

Photo Streams channel