Stop Hitting Your Remote. Your Roku Is Lagging Because You’ve Never Cleared the Cache

Don’t let a slow Roku ruin your New Year’s Eve plans. Whether you’re counting down to midnight or planning a movie marathon to start 2026, a frozen screen is the last thing you want to deal with. This vicious cycle is usually where people give up, declare their device obsolete, and start looking for a replacement. While it’s true that technology slows down over time, you don’t have to tolerate constant buffering and stuttering.

Before you throw your streaming stick in the trash, there are a few ridiculously simple solutions you should try. There are several steps you can take right now to breathe new life into your setup. If your device is a few years old, it’s also probably time to permanently delete the dozen channels you haven’t opened since 2022.

Honestly, a quick five minute refresh is enough to fix these issues. Stop suffering from slow videos and give your Roku the quick tune-up it needs to handle your New Year’s Eve streaming without a hitch.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased technical content and lab reviews. Add CNET as your preferred Google source.

How to Clear Your Roku TV’s Cache

This process is not as simple on a Roku TV as it is on other devices. Following these steps will improve your device’s performance and clear its cache. Keep in mind that your Roku TV will restart.

Reset Roku TV in Settings

1. From the main menu, go to the end of the list and select the Settings menu.
2. In Settings, find System and open it.
3. Scroll to Power and select it.
4. Select System restart and click Reboot to be confirmed.

This will turn off your TV and clear the cache, but it will not reset it to factory settings. Your Roku TV should turn back on in about 30 seconds. If that doesn’t work, you can try using the hidden remote control feature to reset the TV.

Reset Roku TV with Remote

1. Go to Home menu and make sure the highlight is on the Home option on the left.
2. On your remote, press the Home button five times.
3. Push it Up arrow once.
4. Push it Rewind button twice.
5. Push it Fast forward button twice.
6. Wait for your Roku to restart.

Uninstall the app

If resetting Roku TV doesn’t resolve the slowdown issues, you may need to uninstall and reinstall the app that you think is causing the problem. As a warning, all users and settings will be deleted from the app and you will need to configure them upon reinstallation.

1. Highlight the app, but don’t open it.
2. Push it * button on your remote control.
3. Select Delete channel from the pop-up window.

How to Factory Reset Your Roku TV

For those who are still having issues, it might be best to factory reset the entire Roku TV. This will delete all your users, logins, and apps, making it look like you just brought it back from the store.

1. In the menu, click Settings.
2. Find System then select it.
3. At the bottom of the System menu, go to Advanced system settings.
4. Select Factory reset and enter the code under the number pad on the right to confirm the reset.

For more coverage, learn how to set up a VPN on Roku and learn how your streaming device could be tracking you. Yes, you can repair your Roku right now without buying a whole new remote or player.