Nighthawk App Limitations - Will it be improved to match Genie someday?

Question

So I unfortunately allowed my phone to update the Genie app, which has now apparently been disabled by Netgear as being no longer compatible with my router.&nbsp; This is, of course, complete and total bunk.&nbsp; My old android phone has an older copy of Genie which works just fine.&nbsp; But now I'm stuck with a dumbed down app to use with my router.
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So that being said, the one feature of Genie that I sorely miss in the new app is the ability to turn on and off Access Control.&nbsp; Is that going to be added back someday?&nbsp; Did I miss that in the Nighthawk app?&nbsp; At this point I have to go to a web browser, log in, navigate to the page, find the feature, enable/disable it, hit apply, wait for two minutes, etc. etc. etc. UGH.&nbsp; Use to be a simple thing.The Genie app had nicer icons for the various devices that are attached to my network.&nbsp; This isn't really an issue but I'm wondering if there are plans to improve that part of the Nighthawk app?

DexterJB · Answer

Hi MattMatt, welcome to the community and thank you for reaching out. You can try to use the Pause/Unpause feature on the Nighthawk app for you to disable the Internet access of a connected device. Rest assured, your feedback is very important to us and we will continue to work on improving the app for better functionality.

Dexter

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Dexter

MattMatt · Answer

Dexter,
Thank you for replying.&nbsp; How does pausing a device that already has access to my network alloww me to disable MAC address filtering so a different unknown device can connect?
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I don't mean to sound rude, but do you know what "Access Control" is?&nbsp; Just checking.&nbsp; The ability to turn Access Control on and off was easily done in the Genie app.&nbsp; It is nowhere to be found in the Nighthawk App.

schumaku · Answer

DexterJB&nbsp;wrote:
You can try to&nbsp;use the Pause/Unpause feature on the Nighthawk app for you to disable the Internet access of a connected device.

Dexter,
This does disable the access for the device to the network - not "just" ot the Internet.
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Regardless of the previous setting, once putting a device to Pause, the access control is enabled automatically - when I have ot right other unknown devices will be allowed.
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MattMatt&nbsp;Turning off the Access Control would undermine the paused devices.&nbsp;
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MattMatt · Answer

"Access Control" enables, or disables, the MAC Address authentication for devices on the network.&nbsp; If I have not added a MAC address to the router, and Access Control is enabled, it cannot use the Internet.&nbsp; In the Genie App, I could enable/disable "Access Control" from within the app.&nbsp; This feature does not appear anywhere in the Nighthawk app.&nbsp; I have to go through a web browser to do what I could easily do from within Genie previously, and this is annoying.
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Do either of you understand this feature??&nbsp; Perhaps you should read Netgear's KB on Access Control.
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I never said anything about pausing a device on my network.&nbsp; Please ignore what Dexter wrote...&nbsp; I'm not trying to pause anything.&nbsp; :/

schumaku · Answer

The control to enable/disable the Access Control (which exists in the Genie App and the Genie Program network map!) isn't available in the Nighthawk App - this is it.&nbsp;
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Trouble is the App designers and marketeers apparently&nbsp;don't understand the subtile differences in the feature set, make a big mess with wording and naming of the features in the router Web UI vs the App.The point is that disabling the Access Control would as well disable the Paused device blocking - they are mixing features, one often mistakenly&nbsp;defined to disable/enable the Internet access for a device, by a control named Paused/Resume ... what in fact does enable the Access Control in the background (Allow all new devices to connect), and add the device to the Access Control as a blocked device.They are mixing what is "Access Control" with "Block" vs. "Allow" in the router Web UI with a "Device Manager" with "Pause" and "Resume". It's a huge mess, and I din't wonder that even long term Netgear people and active community&nbsp;members are more than confused.That's more a Nightmare App then anything seriously&nbsp;designed an integrated - I'm fully with the users complaining!

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Nighthawk App Limitations - Will it be improved to match Genie someday?

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