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Forum Discussion
Nighthawk App problems
Hi,
I'm new to Netgear, but I've had a lot of routers before to test, and I can say this is not what I expected.
Starting with the Android Nighthawk App — it connects to the router and detects the firmware version, but when I search for a new one, it says that no update is available.
This is wrong because Netgear hasn’t fixed this issue, even though the Nighthawk app has been updated at least three times since I bought the router.
I also think the speed test feature in the Netgear app is not accurate, because every time I run a test, it shows the same speeds.
Additionally, through the app, I cannot access the router's full interface on my phone. I can only activate the Guest Network and view or change the network password — nothing more advanced.
To see all the settings, I need to use a browser on my phone and access the router’s IP address.
Regarding the router firmware, I had to revert to version 1.0.7.96 because with version 1.0.9.6 (the one before 1.0.9.16), the channels were set to manual but didn’t stay on the channel I selected. I also noticed that the 5GHz and 6GHz bands were not very stable. I only connected a few phones and one laptop — no heavy downloads, just regular web browsing.
From the router’s web page, when I search for new firmware, it cannot find it, even though the new version exists. I don’t know why there are tabs in the firmware page that don’t work.
I had some TP-Link routers before that were cheaper than Netgear, and I didn’t have these problems. Their Android app also works very well. From the TP-Link app, I could access all router settings without using a browser or typing 192.168.1.1 (or the default IP).
I think Netgear needs to take a few notes from Chinese manufacturers and at least make sure the app works correctly — especially when checking for new firmware. This is basic functionality and not very complicated to fix.
3 Replies
I forgot to mention that i have Nighthawk RS700S router
I'd agree that the app is pretty basic. We usually advice those wanting to use the more advanced features to use the GUI on a pc/laptop. More options, details, and just tends to work better.
Did you try the speedtest in the gui? does it get the same speeds?
The one nice thing about the speedtest is that its hosted on the router so you're wireless won't impact its speeds. It should give you the best available speed.
Once you updated to the 9.6 firmware, did you try a factory reset?
Firmware updates for Netgear routers (Nighthawk and Orbi) have been confusing for years. My biggest disappointment is that Netgear provides no documentation about the process.
From observing comments on the Community Forum for nearly 10 years, it appears that:
- Releasing new firmware and making it available for manual download and having the product itself detect new firmware are separate activities.
- There is one school of thought that making new firmware available to "early adopters" allows experienced people to perform additional quality assurance.
If some time goes by and comments on the forum are positive, Netgear is more likely to "flip the switch" to have products discover the new firmware and download it.
If there are serious problems, those early adopters are more likely to be able to handle them (such as manually revert to earlier firmware).
If there are no serious security issues with the existing firmware, there may be little urgency to push users toward the new firmware. - At some point, the products will detect new firmware if the user activates that feature.
Users who simply "use the router" and never open the app or web interface remain blissfully unaware that there is new firmware and their routers do not update. - At some point, Netgear may "throw the switch" and force all routers to update firmware.
Unfortunately, while there appears to be a process, there are numerous examples where Netgear handled a firmware release differently.
