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Forum Discussion
Parental control issues
I have Orbi 763 , connected with parental control profiles ,
whenever a device goes offline and back online joining wifi it moves from that profile to home profile , setting all control setting to non , that usually happens with apple products more often than other
any trick to stick the device to a certain profile , such as using mac-address or whatever
help appreciated
thanks
2 Replies
Netgear's Smart Parental Controls are defined by the MAC address of the device. Apple devices typically are set to randomize the MAC address when connecting to WiFi networks.
The network setting should be configured to always use the hardware MAC address when connecting to the home network.
p.s. If the user is able to change this setting, you are in a weak position in terms of controlling what can be done with the device.
Apple devices typically are set to randomize the MAC address when connecting to WiFi networks.
FYI, Android devices actually had this feature first and Android also enables it by default. (It was introduced in Android 10 back in 2019; it was included in iOS 14 in 2020).
Both Apple and Android defaults are "fixed" - meaning that the phone uses a persistent (random) mac address for each saved wifi network.
The network setting should be configured to always use the hardware MAC address when connecting to the home network.
It doesn't need to be the hardware MAC, "fixed" also works since the Orbi presents a single network name/password.
That said, if the child's device can also join the Guest and IoT networks then using the hardware MAC for all three networks is best.
p.s. If the user is able to change this setting, you are in a weak position in terms of controlling what can be done with the device.
Disagree here. Although the Orbi parental controls can often be bypassed, the parental controls built into Apple and Android cannot be (and are more comprehensive). Plus they work on all networks, not just at home. FWIW, Window also has useful parental controls, though managing web site access in Windows requires use of Edge.
Orbi parental controls are a useful supplement, but IMO the parental controls built into the device OS should be the primary mechanism.
