NETGEAR Nighthawk - WiFi App 4+

Negear did fix my Nighthawk iOS App problem. Below I wrote this review about a year ago. Just hang in there. Don't get frustrated.

This App worked wonderful before the latest Firmware updates on the router. Some of you are having problems and some not. I have about 10 cases pending with NetGear regarding no access control and now device manager issues for the AX5400 RAX50 router model. Remember, due to language and cultural differences on the phone with support, there is about a 1 to 3 ratio of customer agents who “get it” and will take some sort of action right away. I may have gotten the message to the development team but we need more people to report the problem to NetGear!! Remember, the Apple App Store just posts reviews, they don’t fix stuff. CALL NETGEAR and report the complaint. Only customer complaints in high numbers will compel them to take action. That’s the way it is. For those of you who need remote access to your router in the meantime, download the “Laucher” app (tile looks like a bottle rocket with a red background tile) and use it to access your GUI. If the NetGear team is forced to correct the problem, it will work again for those of you that are affected. CALL NETGEAR and complain. Apple reviews won’t fix this alone.

So, the app does work thankfully but I have some qualms with it. This app should support all Netgear WiFi boosters. If you don’t use a nighthawk booster, ALL devices won’t show on the device list, not just what’s on the booster. Next, I do like that there are preset times to allow guest WiFi but it either needs to let you input the time manually or it should have a drop down menu like every other Netgear app has that you can select time increments of 15-30 minutes. I have my kids on the guest WiFi since my Netgear booster isn’t supported for the XR500. The XR500 doesn’t have parental controls at all, even though the advertisement says it does. It’s much better to be able to set time periods on a guest WiFi than it is to disable each device and have to look at the time constantly. I’d love to see this app to give more control since the admin is the one who uses the app. I’d love to be able to edit the devices themselves on the app. Yea I’m sure Netgear will say, get the circle app. Guys... the circle app is among the worse apps you have. It DOESN’T work. Netgear products aren’t cheap and you shouldn’t need five apps to do something basic. You shouldn’t have to pay a premium for parental controls. Netgear’s reputation keeps taking major hits because the lack of user friendly apps and trying to cash out on features that every other company gives for free. This was almost a $400 router. I’d expect to be able to use an app that acts like the $400 was well spent.

I have been using the Netgear Genie app for a couple of years. The Nighthawk app is ok, but it doesn’t have a refresh for when my kids are turning on theirs devices to be “unpaused”, so I still use the Genie app.
I would really like to see all devices that have an IP address assigned to them in my device list. Then I could “unpause” them before they are actually connected. I would also like to see a time limit for certain devices. This is the concept with products like Circle. It would be nice if my router did those things so I would not have to buy yet another router to get that capability.
I am aware that Circle is available on certain Nighthawk routers, but not all and the one that it is available on is far inferior to the product I have. I hate that I had to buy the more expensive model without the parental controls I wanted because the router with the controls didn’t work in my house. I fully expected Netgear to upgrade the better routers but that has not happened in well over 2 years.
In all I would not choose Netgear again. There are other routers on the market that have parental controls built in and on several models. I hope to switch soon.