If you have joined the HBO Max member club to have access to more than what HBO has to offer (probably DC films, Turner Classic Movies, Looney Tunes, Cartoon Network, and Warner Bros. movies), you might have noticed one of the main downsides of your choice – You can’t use it on some streaming devices yet. Some of the most unfortunate omissions are Roku players. Thankfully, there is a way around then until an official solution is developed.
Roku users are unfortunately stuck with HBO Now or HBO Go, though they can access HBO Max on other devices, like iOS or Android smartphones.
AT&T, who owns Warner Media, hasn’t yet proceeded to sign an agreement with Roku to get HBO Max access.
Frankly, Roku has expressed interest in introducing an HBO Max app ASAP, so our wishes might soon materialize.
A Roku representative stated:
“As the No. 1 streaming platform in the US, we believe that HBO Max would benefit greatly from the scale and content marketing capabilities available with distribution on our platform. We are focused on mutually positive distribution agreements with all new (over-the-top) services that will deliver a quality user experience to viewers in the more than 40 million households that choose Roku to access their favorite programs and discover new content.
Unfortunately, we haven’t reached [an] agreement yet with HBO Max. While not on our platform today, we look forward to helping HBO Max in the future successfully scale their streaming business.”
So, how can you watch HBO Max on your Roku?
Casting HBO Max To Your TV
One of the ways you can watch HBO Max on Roku is by using a Chromecast, like the Google Chromecast Ultra, or a similar solution from other manufacturers.
If you own a Roku player instead of a Roku TV, you can use one of those devices plugged into a different HDMI port.
Some TV’s even have built-in Chromecast functionality.
Casting works the same on Android and iOS. Just check that your Chromecast is connected and activated, selected as the signal source, set up accordingly, and on the same Wi-Fi connection as your smartphone or tablet.
Then, open the HBO Max app from your iOS or Android device and start casting. On Android, you can begin to cast at any moment, but on iOS, you have to start casting before playing a movie because iOS prioritizes AirPlay.
To keep it simple and glitch-free, start casting before playing a video.
On any screen, regardless if it’s the home page or a video’s about page, tap the cast icon from the top right side of the screen. Then, pick the device you want to cast to from the newly opened list.
Now you can play whichever video you want. When you do that, a bar will appear from the bottom area of the app, accompanied by play controls. You can tap on it to expand the controls, which let you adjust volume, skip back or forward, skip to a specific time frame or turn captions on or off.
That is the most accessible solution for the moment. It shouldn’t pose a problem to set it up or use it, since casting to a device isn’t a new feature anymore, so most of its former bugs have been addressed and fixed.
There are some alternatives, like mirroring the screen of your Android device to your TV, but that’s a bit more complicated and less efficient. The good thing is that soon there will be support for Roku TVs so that you won’t have to resort to alternatives like these.
