NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Netgear Armor Not Recognizing Bitdefender for Armor on Mobile Devices
Netgear Armor has been really solid for me the last 6-7 months since purchasing my RAXE500. Before I get into the issue, my modem (CM2000), and router (RAXE500) firmware are fully up-to-date. My iOS versions are up-to-date. And my Bitdefender for Armor and Nighthawk iOS apps are up-to-date. Uninstalled and reinstalled EVERYTHING. Restarted EVERYTHING.
Within the last week, in the nighthawk app, all of my iOS devices are showing as “eligible for bitdefender security” although bitdefender for netgear armor apps are installed. I’m logged into my account within the apps and web protection is on. Nothing changed…they just went from showing as protected to unprotected. In the security tab within the nighthawk app, I also get the “you have a number of devices without on the go protection.”
I’ve attempted logging out/in of the bitdefender for armor app, and nighthawk app. Nothing is working and the nighthawk app is just not recognizing that the devices have mobile protection. No issues on recognizing the protection on PC’s/Macs though. Also logged into my account on the Armor website to see if anything was readily apparent. It wasn’t and everything seems normal.
Interestingly enough, I had one iPhone that was still showing as good, but when I restarted the phone, it showed it added to the “eligible for bitdefender security” list. Despite the fact that the app has on the go protection and I’m logged in.
I recently updated the RAXE500 firmware manually (V1.0.10.86) since it wasn’t auto-updating, but that’s the only thing that comes to mind as something that changed within the last 2 weeks. Never had this issue before that and the firmware seems fine. Could it be a bug in the recent firmware?
Anyone else experiencing this or have any ideas? Thanks in advance.
95 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
I also noticed after a factory reset of firmware V1.0.10.86_2.0.40 and logging back in to armor on my laptop, iPad, and iPhone that my iPhone is being detected 3 times where the other two are twice.
I reset my router again this morning. This time I used my iPad and got three devices. It is a safe bet the top one in the pic below is my NH app login, middle detected wifi connection from the router, and bottom my Armor app login.
- You can try deleting all of the same device entries in the Armor console and then relaunching the Bitdefender app on the device so it’s re detected. Armor will eventually rescan it and may reconcile its entries for that device. For me this removed an extra duplicate device entry but didn’t fix the original issue with Orbi app thinking Bitdefender wasn’t running on the device. I even tried deleting the app from my device, deleting the entries in Armor console, resetting the device’s network settings and re-associating with my wi-fi and starting as if it’s was a new device as far as Bitdefender was concerned - all this did was give me a new MAC and IP for my device but Orbi app still thinks it’s not running Bitdefender. I’d like to be able to flush the Armor settings on the router from a CLI other than just disabling it and then re-enabling in the app, or rebooting which don’t fix the issue. I’m reluctant to spend the day recovering from a factory reset if the backup won’t restore only to find the issue is not resolved. I’ll wait for the next router firmware update or Orbi app update to see if these fix it.
- Yes, I get the same problem on my Orbi RBR850. Tried everything, but it won’t recognise it is already installed on my mobile. FYI, I have installed Bitdefender on my wife’s Mac and the Orbi app does show this as a protected device.
- All my iOS devices are now not being recognised by Armor as being installed on the app yet they are running Bitdefender fine. My security score is fluctuating in the 60s as a result of apparently having so many unprotected devices. Plus a few smart home devices it thinks are eligible and unprotected that cannot have the Bitdefender installed.
We need a fix for the iOS issue and a feature to whitelist or exclude non eligible devices otherwise the security score is pointless and misleading.
- Same problem here. The Armor app is installed on two iPones and two iPads but they are not recognized as such in the Orbi app.
- Another quirky issue in the Orbi app: protection level is down to 74 or 71 because I haven’t “turned on security notifications”. But all notifications have been turned on!
The latest app update hasn’t solved any of the problems.- Just seen a new Orbi app update - version 2.21.1.353 - sadly this hasn’t resolved the Armor Security issue with the iOS Bitdefender app. Maybe they focussed on the connectivity bugs that have surfaced. Meanwhile the Bitdefender app remains on version 4.0.0 after 7 months.
The odd thing now is the Security score log is fluctuating between 84 and 88 each day, repeating the same messages reporting that I have turned on or indeed turned off security notifications - which is mistaken as it has always been turned on in my iOS settings.I have the RAX-80 router and I get the same thing. My security fluctuates also. My security notifications are always on. Must be buggy software.
It's not just the Orbi App! I'm running the RAX-80 router and I get the same thing. I'm using the Netgear Nighthawk App with Bitdefender. My notifications are also turned on and I get the same thing. Security level changes from 81 to 79. I'm at the point where I don't even to look at it anymore! Just checked and no updates available. Does Bitdefender or Netgear care?
- Was optimistic but think it’s passed lol (see attached image). If they reach out, going to try to explain one more time. May have to give up on NG Armor in its entirety if this last shot doesn’t work. This issue is too basic to waste this much time/energy on. Sad. Had potential.
I feel the same way! After my sub runs out I'll be going else were. Software is just be buggy.
After playing around for a while disabling and enabling Armor app notifications and killing the Orbi app and restarting it, rebooting my phone, Orbi app now steadily reports a higher security score of 85 up from 84 and correctly thinks notifications are now enabled. Last week it was 88 and all that's changed over the week is Orbi's insistence notifications were frequently being disabled and enabled.
Ya I'm getting tired of this flakey software. Seems to change almost everyday! Bitdefender installed, Bitdefender not installed, Your score dropped because you have not turned on notifications, Your score increased because you turned on notifications. Will be ending my subscription soon. Will be going to another protection service. One that has American (English) support.
- I spoke too soon! Orbi is now saying I have notifications turned off and reduced my security score accordingly.
Another quirk - I moved my work mobile and laptop to my guest network in the hope the laptop is no longer correctly reported as being eligible for Bitdefender. I can’t install a 3rd party app anyway and it has an enterprise grade endpoint protection anyway. I would have thought the Guest network was excluded from the Bitdefender check as guest endpoints are transient and should be excluded from this check. Yes scanning them for vulnerabilities is good but exclude from the Bitdefender agent and not let them impact the security score unless they of course have vulnerabilities.
Come on Armor - please sort your Bitdefender and Orbi integration as well as iOS.
Sorry meant to update you guys last week, but life took hold...
So NG closed my MONTHS long support case and appears to have admitted defeat and are claiming it’s Bitdefender’s issue to figure out (See attached NG Support screenshot). As frustrating as this situation is, after looking at both apps in the iOS store (Nighthawk and Bitdefender for NG Armor), I think they actually may be onto something. Netgear is listed as the developer for the NH app (and Orbi); HOWEVER, the developer for the Bitdefender for NG Armor app (mobile security) is in fact Bitdefender, not Netgear. This is the app that hasn’t been updated for 9 months now and I’m convinced is at the root of the issue. Assuming the same for android, but I only have iOS devices.
I put a ticket in with bitdefender support a couple weeks ago, but haven’t gotten a response. While I do think Netgear should take more responsibility in coordinating with bitdefender, at this point I think our best bet is to raise the issue with bitdefender. If anyone has time, please go to the following link and submit a ticket! The more of us that raise it the better, because the companies definitely don’t read these community posts!
Here’s the link: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/
Once at the link, select: "How to's & Troubleshooting Bitdefender products" > "Troubleshooting" > "Netgear Armor powered by Bitdefender"
Then fill out the email box and submit. May not hurt to link this community post as well. Fingers crossed!
- I called Bitdefender and explained the issues many of us are experiencing and they scaled up to the second level at my request. Their first reaction was to refer me to Netgear but In the end they said they would scale up.
I received a message to confirm this and am now awaiting further news.Thanks SlowJoe and BK1959 - I have just followed the Bitdefender support link and logged two tickets, one for the iOS devices not being recognised as having Bitdefender running and another for it thinking iOS security notifications are disabled when notifications are enabled for both Orbi and Armor apps. Last week I followed up with Netgear on my old case (that I think has been closed) and they said they were still working on it. Seems like it takes a lot of effort to get an issue escalated up through the Netgear ranks and then across to Bitdefender despite numerous people raising tickets over the last year. Hopefully this additional prodding will help. I'm convinced it's an issue with the API between Orbi and Bitdefender apps/Armor console as the console doesn't seem to reconcile iOS devices that are running Bitdefender with duplicates listed with and without the Bitdefender badge that might be where it's getting confused.
- In my case, the heading should be ‘Netgear’s Orbi app not recognizing Bitdefender’s Armor status on mobile devices’.
- 3-25-23. I still have this issue. iPhones have armor installed but nighthawk app says it needs installed. Are they ever going to fix this? Netgear nighthawk MR 80.
I feel your frustration. However I and others have received an E-Mail saying that they aware of the problem and a fix should come soon. It will be a fix over the internet and no user intervention will be needed. However all modules are still working and protecting your products. Hopefully it will be soon when a fix will come.
- I think this issue has been present for a year now possibly longer. Seems to take a lot to get such a fundamental issue acknowledged and escalated. I hope lessons are learnt here and future issues like this are resolved within a few months at most.
Hi, I've had the same issue discussed for iOS devices on my Android device. I have a Galaxy Tab S8 Plus and a Galaxy S21 Plus phone. I have Armor security installed on both. Bitdefender is running on both. However, it only recognizes that it is installed on the tablet. About a year ago it recognized it installed on my cell phone. For some reason it just does not anymore. I've done several of he suggestions that I found in this post. I have gotten a couple of app updates for Orbi and Armor security but still have the same issue. I sure hope they fix this at some point. Thanks to everyone that has put in trouble tickets and provided fix suggestions.
Has anyone benefited from the recent update to bitdefender? My iPhone and iPad still have the same problems. Bitdefender is installed but Netgear Armor does not recognize the installation. I'm just wondering if this "fix" actually worked for anybody.
- No it made no difference.
The issue is either the Bitdefender app not reporting the device compliance status back to the Armor server (as reported via the Armor web console if you’ve ever logged into that), or the Netgear router’s API into the Armor service is not receiving the device status, or the Orbi app is unable to interpret the device status in the information it gets from the router.
I can’t see why this root cause is too hard to pinpoint and at least acknowledge where the issue is and there is a road map item to fix it: Bitdefender app, Orbit app, router code, or Armor back end service.
