How to share a Roku channel build without a Roku

Getting a channel in front of the people who need to see it is harder on Roku than anywhere else. Sideloading means a Roku in developer mode on your own network, so it only reaches people at your desk. Roku’s own route for everyone else is a beta app, and that reaches only people who own a Roku and are willing to install a test build on it. The client approving the design, the producer checking the edit, the QA contractor in another country: most of them have neither the box nor the patience.

A share link removes both. You send a URL; they click it.

Roku beta apps vs a share link

Roku’s publishing guide sets out how beta apps work: you send testers an access code that installs the test app on their own Roku. An account can have up to 10 beta apps at a time, each beta app up to 20 test users, and a beta app exists for 120 days after you create it.

	Roku beta app	VibeView share link
What the recipient needs	Their own Roku, plus your access code	A web browser
Who can see it	Up to 20 test users per beta app	Anyone you send the link to, within your plan’s streaming minutes and concurrent sessions
How long it lasts	120 days from creation	Until you revoke it, or an expiry date you set
Which build	The package you uploaded to the beta app	The latest upload, or a build you pin
Device	The recipient’s own Roku	A physical Roku, streamed
Updating it	Upload a new package to the beta app	Upload a new build; a link on “latest” plays it next time

Beta apps still have a job. They run your channel against Roku’s live store services, which is what you need when you are testing purchases or anything else that depends on the channel store. For everything else — reviews, sign-off, demos, a quick check by someone who isn’t a Roku developer — a link gets there in one click.

1. Upload the channel

Package the channel as the same sideload .zip you would install through a Roku’s developer settings, with manifest, source/ and components/ at the root of the archive. Open Apps, choose Upload app and select the zip; it is listed as a Roku app. Start a session from it once to check that it opens the way you expect, because that is exactly what your recipients will see.

If you work from the terminal, vibeview upload-app ./out/channel.zip does the same thing.

2. Create the share link

Open the app, go to its Share tab and click Share this app, then choose Send a link. The settings that matter most for a channel review (Name and Expires are on the first screen; the rest are under More options):

• Build: Latest build (auto) plays whatever you uploaded last, so the same link keeps working as you iterate. Pin to a build locks it to one version, which is what you want when a client is signing off on a specific cut.
• Expires (On a date…): a date after which the link stops working. Useful for a review round or a pitch.
• Max session duration and Max concurrent sessions: caps on how long each visit lasts and how many run at once.
• Require visitors to log in: leave it off for a client or a tester; turn it on for anything you post publicly.
• Audio: off by default. Set it to Sound only so recipients can hear the channel, not just see it.
• Name: a label only your team sees, such as the client’s name, so you can tell links apart later.

Click Save and copy the link. It looks like https://vibeview.io/app/<link>.

3. Send it

Email, chat, a ticket, a slide: anything that carries a URL. Treat it like a key, because anyone who has it can start a session on your plan’s streaming minutes. If it travels further than you meant, Regenerate link on the Share tab replaces the URL and keeps the settings, and Revoke turns it off for good.

What your recipient sees

They open the link and see a Tap to Start screen with your channel’s icon and name. After they tap:

• The screen shows Starting device…, then Opening app… until your channel is installed and open. Every visitor gets a fresh copy, so nobody inherits the previous viewer’s sign-in or saved state.
• On a computer, arrow keys move the d-pad, Enter selects and Esc goes back, and typing goes straight into a focused on-screen keyboard. A set of remote controls also sits beside the device.
• They stay inside your channel. Home and system navigation are blocked, and the channel is brought back if it exits, so nobody wanders off to the Roku home screen.
• Because the Roku is physical, a visitor who arrives while it is busy waits in a short queue and starts automatically.
• Closing the page ends the session.

Watching it together instead

A share link gives each visitor their own session. If you want to walk a client through the channel live, with both of you looking at the same screen, start a session yourself and click Collaborate above the device instead. Your guest joins your running session from a link, with no account, and can watch or take the remote depending on the role you choose.

Putting the channel on your website

To let visitors to your site try the channel without leaving the page, use an embed instead of a link: the same live Roku inside an iframe, with a landscape snippet sized for a TV. Embeds are on the Starter and Pro plans; the embed guide walks through it.

Frequently asked questions

Does the person I share with need a Roku? No. The channel runs on a physical Roku that VibeView streams to their browser. They need only the link.

Do they need an account? No, unless you turn on Require visitors to log in.

Is it a real Roku or an emulator? A real, physical Roku. What they see is what a viewer’s Roku does.

Can they hear the channel? Yes, if you set the link’s Audio to Sound only. It is off by default.

Does it cost anything? Share links are on every plan. Each visit uses your plan’s streaming minutes, the same pool as your own sessions; the free plan includes 30 minutes a month with no card.

Can I update the build without sending a new link? Yes. A link set to Latest build (auto) plays your newest upload, so upload the new zip and the next visit gets it. A pinned link keeps playing the build you pinned until you edit it.