Roku updates app to allow for local media streaming

Roku, the easy to use media streaming device, has updated their app to allow for streaming local media. From within the Roku Android app, there is now a Play on Roku option, which then allows you to play local media onto and monitor hooked up to a Roku.

Roku fans will now be able to stream any locally stored music, photos, or videos to their Roku device, straight from the app itself. This has been available on Roku for some time with apps like Twonky, but this update is the first time Roku has added the ability straight to their branded app.

With five million Rokus sold, this has a fairly deep footprint. The Play on Roku feature will also override anything else you have going on within the app, rather than create a playlist for videos like YouTube does. For some, this will provide a quick answer to the AllCast debacle, which had a lot of promise before being shuttered by Google.

This update for Android makes the Roku app similar across the board. The iOS version already had the ability to stream local content, and the official word from Roku is that this is only available on a limited number of device models (Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Nexus 4, HTCOne, and the Nexus 7-2012 version). Play on Roku functionality only requires Android 4.0 or higher, and it does play on other devices — Roku was just playing it safe by mentioning the popular ones.