Find where your headphones need to connect
- Press Home and look under Settings > Remotes & devices for Wireless headphones.
- If it appears, pair your headphones with the TV.
- If it is absent, pair them with your phone and use Headphone Mode in the free Roku app if its Remote screen has the Headphone icon.
- A Bluetooth menu for adding a phone sends phone audio to the TV. It does not send TV sound to headphones.
Direct pairing sends TV audio to the headphones; mobile Headphone Mode sends it through your phone. We'd try direct pairing first when Roku's Wireless headphones menu (opens in a new tab) appears, because it needs no phone. This page covers a Roku TV, not a separate streaming player.
Roku Plus and Pro Series TVs and supported newer Select Series TVs are direct-pairing examples. The Wireless headphones menu decides for your TV.
Pair headphones with the TV
When Wireless headphones appears, charge Bluetooth 4.2 or newer headphones and keep them near the TV. Turning them on may leave them undiscoverable, so use their pairing button or case control until a light flashes or a voice announces pairing.
- Press Home on the Roku remote. Open Settings > Remotes & devices > Wireless headphones. You should see the headphone controls.
- Select Add new wireless headphones, then put the charged headphones in pairing mode. The TV begins scanning while the headphones advertise their connection.
- Allow up to 30 seconds for the scan. When the headphone name appears, select it. The name should then appear in the paired list.
- Keep the headphones off your ears, lower the volume, start playback, then raise it to a comfortable level before putting them on. Sound should reach the headphones, the TV speakers should mute, and a headphone icon should appear on the TV when you adjust volume.
A Roku soundbar that shows Wireless headphones can be the pairing device. To hear TV audio through the soundbar, connect the TV to it by HDMI ARC or optical. On the soundbar's Roku screen, open Home > Settings > Remotes & devices > Wireless headphones > Add new wireless headphones; its paired list and sound in the headphones confirm the connection.
Use your phone when the TV has no pairing menu
Headphones pair with your iPhone or Android phone for mobile Headphone Mode. The phone needs Wi-Fi on the TV's local network; the TV can use Ethernet. Roku's mobile Headphone Mode instructions (opens in a new tab) cover streaming apps and live digital antenna TV on supported setups.
- Connect the phone to Wi-Fi on the TV's local network. The TV can use Wi-Fi or Ethernet; Settings > Network > About shows its connection and IP address.
- Pair and connect the charged headphones in the phone's Bluetooth settings. Keep them off your ears and lower the volume before playing phone audio briefly to confirm it reaches them.
- Open the current free Roku mobile app. Under Devices, select your TV, then open Remote. Its controls should respond to the TV.
- Tap the Headphone icon on Remote. TV speaker sound should stop and the audio should move to the headphones connected to your phone.
- Adjust volume with the phone while the headphones are off your ears. Put them on once the level is comfortable and confirm that speech and picture match.
Lower volume for long sessions as well. The World Health Organization's safe-listening guidance (opens in a new tab) gives 80 dB for up to 40 hours a week as an example; at 90 dB, that falls to four hours a week. Those are sound levels, not positions on the phone's volume slider.
The TV cannot find or connect the headphones
- If Wireless headphones is present but the headphone name is missing, charge the headphones. Disconnect them from a phone or other recent device so they can become discoverable to the TV.
- Put the headphones in actual pairing mode and look for their flashing light or spoken cue. Try Add new wireless headphones again while they are near the TV, and allow the full 30-second scan. When their name appears, select it to pair. It should then appear in the paired list.
- If the pair is saved but connection fails, select that pair under Wireless headphones and choose Connect. Power the headphones off and on, then restart the TV and retry. Sound in the headphones confirms the saved connection works.
- If it still fails, remove the saved headphone pairing from the TV, then use Add new wireless headphones to pair again. Test those headphones with a phone; sound there points you back to the TV connection. Try a second headphone pair that also works with a phone.
If the pair connects but drops during playback, follow the headphone disconnection checks. A phone test separates headphone trouble from the TV connection; if it stays connected to the phone, update TV software below.
The app cannot find the TV or play sound
If the TV is missing from Devices, put the phone on Wi-Fi and look at the TV's connection and IP address under Settings > Network > About. A TV using Ethernet can work when it and the phone are on reachable parts of the same local network; compare their IP addresses if discovery fails. Leave guest Wi-Fi or a VPN connection that keeps local devices apart. On iPhone, allow the Roku app Local Network access in Settings; Apple's Local Network controls (opens in a new tab) show where that permission lives.
On the TV, open Settings > System > Advanced system settings > Control by mobile apps and choose Enabled. Close and reopen the Roku app, then restart the TV. The fix worked when the TV appears under Devices and its Remote screen responds. If discovery still fails, read the TV's IP address at Settings > Network > About. In the app, open Devices > Get help? > Connect manually and enter that address.
If Remote opens but has no Headphone icon, update the Roku app and select the intended TV again. An icon that remains absent after the update means this setup lacks mobile Headphone Mode. Use direct Wireless headphones pairing if the TV offers it, or use a transmitter connected to an audio output on the TV.
If the icon is present but listening is silent, confirm the headphones are connected to the phone, raise phone volume cautiously, and toggle the Headphone icon; listen for sound. For stutters, pause and resume playback, reopen the app, and pause large downloads on the same Wi-Fi network. If sound still breaks up, unplug router power for 10 seconds, reconnect it, and allow a few minutes for the network to return. The TV and phone will briefly disconnect. Test for continuous audio. If it still stutters, test the headphones with another device, then try another pair.
If sound arrives ahead of or behind the picture, update the app and open Remote > Headphone icon > gear > Adjust audio delay > Get started. Follow the onscreen adjustment, then play dialogue to confirm the sound matches the picture. If it remains out of sync, use Advanced adjustment and test again.
Before treating a persistent failure as a TV fault, open Settings > System > Software update > Check now and install an offered update. Repeat the failed pairing or app step.
If neither Roku route serves the source you want, look for an optical audio output or a 3.5 mm headphone output on the TV. Connect that output to the matching optical or AUX input on a Bluetooth transmitter, set the transmitter to TX mode, and pair the headphones with it. Play a program from the selected TV input; sound in the headphones confirms the route works.
If an optical transmitter pairs but stays silent, confirm the cable runs from the TV's audio output to the transmitter's input. Set the TV's digital audio format to PCM when the transmitter requires PCM, then test again. The optical cable connection steps cover the port and cable check.
The owner checks end when two headphone pairs that work with a phone fail at the same direct-pairing step, or the app still cannot connect after the local-network and manual-IP checks. Contact Roku support for a Roku-branded TV or the TV maker's support team for another Roku TV. Give them the TV model and software version from Settings > System > About, the failed route, and what you tried. A 65-inch Roku Plus Series Mini-LED TV costs $430 to $650. The 2026 Roku Pro Series OLED models, excluding LX, cost $700 to $1,000 at 55 inches and $800 to $1,200 at 65 inches. Ask for separate quotes for TV mounting and wire concealment. Delivery, setup, the mount, concealment hardware, old-TV removal and tax are extra.
Reconnect later or bring back TV sound
For a saved direct pair, open Settings > Remotes & devices > Wireless headphones, select the headphones and choose Connect. During playback, press Star on the remote and choose Wireless headphones to reach the same connection. Their name in the connected list and sound in the headphones confirm it worked.
You can enable Auto-detect for the saved pair. If the headphones reconnect to a phone instead, disconnect them from the phone and select Connect on the TV. A screensaver or several minutes without audio can end the TV connection, so reconnect from the saved list when listening resumes.
Adjust direct headphone volume with the Roku remote or the headphones' volume controls. To restore room sound, choose Disconnect in Wireless headphones or turn the headphones off; the TV speakers should resume. Leave the pairing saved for your next session.
For the app route, reconnect the headphones to the phone, select the same TV under Devices and tap the Headphone icon on Remote. Use the phone's volume controls. Tap the icon again when you want TV speaker sound; starting Headphone Mode before starting a video can avoid a brief playback restart.
Questions about other listening setups
Will my headphones play sound from a cable box or game console on HDMI?
Direct pairing through the TV's Wireless headphones menu plays its selected input, including HDMI. Mobile Headphone Mode covers Roku streaming and live digital antenna TV, not an external HDMI source; its use on a Roku soundbar also excludes external sources. For HDMI listening without direct pairing, connect a Bluetooth transmitter to a working TV audio output.
Can two people listen with headphones, or can someone else use the TV speakers?
Direct pairing uses one pair and mutes the TV speakers, while up to four phones can listen through the app with their own headphones until a Roku voice remote's headphone connection ends those sessions. For headphones and a soundbar together, connect the TV's optical output to an optical passthrough transmitter, connect its optical output to the soundbar, select transmit mode, and play a program to confirm sound reaches both. A transmitter cannot force the TV's built-in speakers to stay on.
Do I need to buy a new TV if neither headphone method works?
No. A missing Wireless headphones menu is a compatibility limit, and a missing app icon after updating points to the same kind of limit for mobile listening. If the TV has an optical or 3.5 mm audio output, a transmitter with a matching input is the next option; for low-latency audio, the transmitter and headphones need the same low-latency Bluetooth codec.
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