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Forum Discussion
App won’t let me save device names
So for a while now my Netgear app won’t let me save custom names to devices. It used to save them fine and one day it stopped working. It’ll change the name then when I save and refresh the network m...
The issue is that if you logon your router’s web interface, your names and device icons will not match.
The router’s web interface has a smaller field and more limited text options (including no spaces allowed).
For some reason Netgear, in its infinite wisdom, has allowed 2 different systems to name and identify devices that do not work with each other.
Perhaps I do not understand the issues that Netgear faces but from a customer side it is both confusing and frustrating.
If you only access your router from the mobile app then you will not notice an issue. Similarly, if you only access from the web interface you will have no issue. The name changing only happens if you want the use them together (usually because the web interface can’t understand the app names if you have used spaces or other ineligible characters).
The router’s web interface has a smaller field and more limited text options (including no spaces allowed).
For some reason Netgear, in its infinite wisdom, has allowed 2 different systems to name and identify devices that do not work with each other.
Perhaps I do not understand the issues that Netgear faces but from a customer side it is both confusing and frustrating.
If you only access your router from the mobile app then you will not notice an issue. Similarly, if you only access from the web interface you will have no issue. The name changing only happens if you want the use them together (usually because the web interface can’t understand the app names if you have used spaces or other ineligible characters).
Dehatter wrote:
The issue is that if you logon your router’s web interface, your names and device icons will not match.
The router’s web interface has a smaller field and more limited text options (including no spaces allowed).
For some reason Netgear, in its infinite wisdom, has allowed 2 different systems to name and identify devices that do not work with each other.
Perhaps I do not understand the issues that Netgear faces but from a customer side it is both confusing and frustrating.
If you only access your router from the mobile app then you will not notice an issue. Similarly, if you only access from the web interface you will have no issue. The name changing only happens if you want the use them together (usually because the web interface can’t understand the app names if you have used spaces or other ineligible characters).
Yes I have experienced the same problems and others too. I agree the two systems have a conflict with naming of devices in the app and on router login.
Also sometimes the custom icons I have assigned to my devices disappear and return to the generic icon, then they return if I quit the app and open it back up again. Also the the signal strength icons don't work when my custom icons are visible and the 5GHz and 2.4GHz are not separated but all under one wirless listing.
IMO, there are lots of problems with the app.
- I've been fighting this issue myself. I have an R6400 router. Firmware is up to date. My cell phone names seem to stay okay as do my desktop computers. And printers always come up with their own names, but they are self-explanatory so I don't need to change them. My doorbell comes up with a name automatically that I recognized so I left it alone.
The problem is all my kids Chromebooks from school. I named them and then sometimes immediately after refreshing the names are gone. Sometimes the names hang around for a few days but eventually they all revert back to a generic "--unknown" name.
I'm juggling 6 Chromebook so I constantly have to ask them for their IP addresses which change all the time in order to know whose is whose.
I've tried changing them both on the phone app as well as the desktop website.
Any words of wisdom? I have read through all the previous postsHave seen a lot of folks trying to change device names with the Nighthawk App. I have not been able to do it with the App, but this method does work.
1) Login to your router as admin via web browser (http://www.routerlogin.net)
2) Go to the ADVANCED Tab
3) From Menu, Select Security/Access Control
4) From the Access Control Window, Select the very first check-box "Turn on Access Control"
5) From the list of devices, check the box for the device you wish to change
6) At the top of the device list, Select "Edit" button, you should get an "Edit Device Name" screen.
new
If you go back into the Nighthawk App, and refresh your device list, you should see the new name. Bottom line, it looks like the Nighthawk App does not save device name changes to the router, where it needs to be save. Going into the router and changing them does work.
Regards
For some reason, when I posted, part of the middle of my post did not appear??????? Argh!
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After you edit the device name, you must select the "Apply" button at the top for the change to be saved to the Router.