Yes, I know, Roku sucks for a variety of reasons, and we can just add this to the pile.
Roku launched a new feature, Backdrops, which is just a screensaver that they foist upon you. But they must have gotten complaints about screen burn in, because months after the lauch, they pushed an update that adds this notification pop-up.
A few things that should have been obvious:
- A television with the screensaver on is probably unattended.
- The point of a rotating screensaver is to avoid static images that cause screen burn
- The pop-up never goes away and covers the bottom of the screen across all images, with the QR code in stark black on white, which is most likely to create screen burn.
The thing is, this is such a small issue, but it belies a foundational disrespect for users. The carelessness and incompetence could be ignored, but the obligatory nature of pushing this out without consent or care is why it fits squarely in asshole territory.
You have opt in to Backdrops. It’s not default.
You're right. They add it to your homescreen without asking, and then one of the kids clicked on it. It's not a terrible app, actually, I just resent having to turn off all the bullshit they keep adding to my home screen. Once I realized that someone had enabled it, I picked some images that weren't too bright or distracting, and left it alone because I figured why not? Then I walk into the room where someone left the tv on, and it's got this qr code across the bottom.
Thankfully, there wasn't any burn in, but still. It felt like a "Beware of Sign" sign.