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BlackDot's avatar
BlackDot
Guide
Jan 11, 2021

Parental Controls on R7800

I purchased the Netgear R7800 wireless router (a premium piece of hardware to replace my R7000) but need assistance enabling and using the parental controls. Been reading through the forums but most threads are out of date with inaccurate information with solutions that are no longer relavent. 

 

- Genie for Smartphone - R7800 no longer supported

- Genie for Desktop - No longer available for download

- NightHawk Smartphone app - R7800 supported but no parental controls

- R7800 - Security - Parental Controls - Links to outdated netgear page referencing unavailable Genie Software

- Circle Parental Controls available on Orbi and NightHawk routers except - R7800 not supported

 

Requesting some assistance for possible paths forward. This router is barely 1.5 years old and seems to have fallen through the crack not receiving updates from Netgear and losing the basic but necessary parental controls required for those, like me, with kids.

 

Any guidance for how to enable parental controls on the R7800 greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

 

Apps
Features
Security
Troubleshooting

5 Replies

    • BlackDot's avatar
      BlackDot
      Guide
      Jan 21, 2021

      Hi Darren,

       

      Thanks for sharing that link but what i'm looking for is updated Netgear documentation on how to set up the Live Parental Controls on the R7800. All existing documentation is outdated and references discontinued apps or processes that don't work anymore. OpenDNS site is good for setting up the DNS account but I see no instructions for 'enabling' the parental controls on the R7800.

       

      Any help appreciated.

      • michaelkenward's avatar
        michaelkenward
        Guru - Experienced User
        Jan 21, 2021

        There will soon be three flavours of parental controls on Netgear devices. (A new one is on the way.) My guess is that you want the free version.

         

        This still works on the R7800.

         

        The link from DarrenM is actually a part of the new process.


        A number is more useful than "the latest". (It may not be by the time people read this.) There can also be newer versions, or "hot fixes", that do not show up if you check for new firmware in the browser interface.

         

        What firmware version do you have on the device? A new one recently landed. This can change the way into parental controls.


        Netgear has removed support for free parental controls from the Nighthawk App for mobile devices. It is also making it harder to enable parental controls in other ways.

         

        If you haven't been there already, the first thing to try is the browser graphical user interface (GUI). This is the way into the router's controls with a wired connection from a PC.

         

        An alternative is to begin with the desktop genie for your operating system.

         

        Here too Netgear wants to kill off this useful tool and is hiding the usual landing pages for the software. If may still be on the support section for your hardware, feed in your model number here:

         

        Support | NETGEAR

        If not, it might still be here:

         

        genie Landing Page | Apps | Discover | Home | NETGEAR

         

        Scroll to the bottom and find the version for your operating system.

         

        The problem with that link is that iot delivers an earlier version of the genie. With luck, install it and it will offer you an updated version (2.4.62).

         

        When it comes to managing Parent Controls after it is running, this is probably the best way in:

         

        https://netgear.opendns.com/sign_in.php

         

        I have just run through the process and it still works. But using the browser graphical user interface (GUI) in the R7800 should get what you want.

         

        Good luck, you may need it.