Circle 1st generation App Reviews

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Peace of Mind. Though it can be quirky overall and infuriatingly unhelpful with monitoring, being able to screen out inappropriate sites, lock-down bedtimes, and set online time limits, make Circle MORE than worth the glitches. I have boys 12 and 15 and we regularly talk about time limits for online gaming, Netflix, etc. Since having Circle, we have conversations about this, not shouting matches about how long they’ve really been online. And no middle-of-the-night binge watching.

Circle is so much better than expected. When I did some research on the ORBI modem/router, I had wasn’t aware of the type of interface that would be a part of it. After downloading Circle, I quickly learned that it offered (virtually) infinite possibilities. I’ve had Circle for close to a year now and I absolutely love it. I can create profiles and add devices just for that person. My children have auto “On/Off” Internet Access that I can control (literally) at my fingertips. The app will advise the person “your internet access is not available because your time has ended”. On the flip side, I can give “rewards” and the access will stay on for whatever the time limit you provide (ex. Normal Off time is 8pm, Reward given until 9:30 pm). There are so many options that it’s impossible to list them all. Just know that it’s a great app and you will NOT be disappointed.

Ruined my life. please take this away i hate the disney circle it has hurt my mental health, i have had it for almost 4 years and i’m going to have it for another 3 until i’m old enough to move out. The app is wack and honestly controlling. please do not get this for your kid. and i’m not just saying this because i hate the time limit, i’m saying this because i’ve gotten sadder and lost my motivation for things. please read and understand where i’m coming from, this is a child’s perspective on this and this app has a few bugs that i find irritating. please do not “pause” your child if they do not have the motivation to do something one day, just offer something that will help them instead of making their day worse. do not threaten them with being “paused” it is controlling and when it happens to me it makes me mad and not want to hang out with my family, and don’t you want your child to stop being on their electronics and spend time with the family more? please and again please do not get this for your child, from my perspective (as a now teenager) it has changed me for the worse, i no longer want to spend time with my family but instead want to be in my room alone even if i don’t have my phone or access to the internet i would rather be in my room. the app stresses me out and gives me anxiety.

Could use more options. Updated: Doesn’t work. I don’t care if it’s Circle’s problem or Netgear’s problem, fix the app. It doesn’t work. I’ve recently noticed that the online game roblox does not stop working when the time limit is reached (noticed on a laptop). Why are there no ‘0 minutes’ options for time limits? My kids need access to the internet, but the only option I have is 15 minutes or longer/unlimited. Also, it would be nice if the internet could be paused, but still have access to message and/or FaceTime when they need to communicate to parents. Updated to 1 star. When are you going to fix it so that it actually restricts usage when online gaming limits are exceeded when playing roblox? What is the point of paying for this if it doesn’t work with games?

Would rate worse if I could. This app doesn’t even deserve to be on the App Store anymore. It completely drove a spike in between me and my parents, I felt like I was being tracked and not trusted to make my own choices. We spent many nights fighting until my dad finally agreed that the app was unnecessary as me and my siblings can handle ourselves. We needed to go to family therapy for about two years though, because I still felt as if my parents didn’t trust me, and therefore I couldn’t even trust myself. Get this app, but only if you want your kid to never have a good view of you again. Or, you could simply let them know that they can be safe with coming to you about anything that you would want them to come to you about, and not only will you trust your kid more, but they will also trust you.

no no no no no. as a teenager and growing up, and wanting more freedom from my parents i absolutely hate this app. now i can see why you would want this for a younger child but never get this for a teenager. this causes trust issues and the kid will never respect you because you can't trust them. which is basically saying i don't respect you so i will watch your every move. i don't believe that this is a good ideas because your kid will resent you and they will always try to find a way around it because they want to do what they want. my parents got this app and it is causing me to have trust issues because of this thing. i have to download vpns and disconnect from the internet. it records what you're doing and what your looking up and that's just going to make your teen resent you. if you really want your teen to trust and respect you, don't get this app. i don't care if you really are that helicopter parent who has to watch everything your kid does. i bet you hated it when you're parents watched you to make sure you didn't do anything. so i bet you would hate it if your parents where even watching what the hell you are doing on your phone.

Latest Circle Bedtime Server Crash leaves Devices invisible.. We have had Circle for less than four months, and it was used in conjunction with our new Netgear router model R7960 Tri-Band. The router is amazing and the Netgear NightHawk software for iOS is terrific. However the Circle app has been touch and go ever since we originally set it up. Then things got incredibly worse with the latest Circle bedtime sever crash. All settings were backed up, but upon deleting the app (during troubleshooting phase) it takes the back up with it. Upon new install and setup, no devices can be seen. Chat support was mediocre. Another Circle app reinstall with the Nighthawk software proved to be futile as well. Then the final straw was a fourth time set up saving one profile locked the screen and upon re-opening of Circle app started the process all over again from the beginning. Bottom line is that this particular software won’t even recognize any one of the 12 to 15 devices in our WiFi network even though all devices work seemlessly with the very robust Netgear WiFi router. The Circle concept and collaboration with Disney and Netgear is admirable. Our experience. Not so much. Subscription canceled today. :(

Netgear compatibility issues. I owned the Circle 1st generation for a while but needed to upgrade my WiFi router in order to improve range and speed. I purchased a ASUS router, just to learn it was not compatible with Circle. Now that all kids are homeschooling, I decided to purchase a new compatible router (NightHawk R8000P / AC 4000) and it has been a great disappointment. After countless hours with NETGEAR support, the conclusion is that Circle app connectivity is broken. With iOS14, we couldn’t make it work at all. With iOS13, we were able to configure the devices but Circle is not doing its job of filtering content or pausing the internet for the devices, either individually or for the entire household. In other words, it is as if Circle wasn’t there. I will be returning the NETGEAR router as The only purpose of the purchase was to have Circle.

Not reliable and impossible customer service. I’ve used the 1st Generation Circle App for my kids for the past 3 months. When we started using it, the time limits and everything seemed to work great. Then, after a month or so, the screen time limit would not work for our kids. I tried everything to make it work right, read all of the 100 different explanations that the app has on its website, and have been unable to make the app work anymore. I have tried repeatedly to send emails to their tech support, and have been unable to get a response. And they do not have a phone number to reach anyone that can probably explain the issue over the phone in 5 minutes or less. Now, we are unable to turn on the TV’s that are connected to the app. And the app now will not open, which means that I am unable to change the connectivity, and we’ve been without TV’s for 3 days. If someone from Circle wants to reach out to me to help me out - aid greatly appreciate it, because email to the company hasn’t worked…

Missing needed controls. Works really well for what it does. But you can’t see the usage of individual devices. It would be extremely helpful as a parent to know which devices my kids were on, and that seems like a total no-brainer. It would also make the process of identifying new devices about a hundred times easier. Right now every device that has ever connected to the WiFi in its entire history is included on one giant list. There’s no way to tell what’s currently connected. So dumb. Do any of the developers actually use this in their own homes?

ez. This device was actual torture especially for kids who have nothing else to do except play games during the summer. The device slows down the connection and it is no over all annoying when your connection cuts out half way through a game, but after I got the hang of it this cube was the easiest thing to bypass. To the many kids probably reading 1 star reviews just change your MAC address using a software called TMAC. If your parents have it set to block any unknown MAC address to change your MAC address to an old device that has no restrictions and is never used. Super easy and fun to watch your parents struggle to figure out why you have power on the connection. ez

Currently useless against a tech savvy 11 year old. The master pin rarely changes (I think only when a new admin device is added). So, if you child ever gets hold of your phone, he can note the master pin and add himself as an admin (or manager or whatever). You do get a notification, but no ability to block the new managing device. Once a device has been added as a manager it appears there is no way to deny it management rights. To make matters worse, you can set a pin in the app, but you only need to enter the pin on a cold start of the app, so if you change a permission and then let the child use your phone for something else, they are able to access the app and master pin without knowing the app pin. There are a few changes I would make to secure the app better: + The app pin should be required every time you open the app, even if you just go to the Home Screen for a second. + If there is one or more existing managers, at least one should have to approve any new mangers. + The master pin should change more frequently. It should probably change every time you view it. + You should be able to kick out a manager. + If we can’t get a pre-approval system for new managers, existing managers should be able to block new manager requests from specific devices or groups. It seems crazy that a device with “teen” permissions can become a manager.

Great, when it works.. I have been using Circle on Netgear for the past couple of weeks. When it works, it does exactly what it is intended to do. However, in order for the product to function, I must restart the router everyday, otherwise it will not not filter any website or enforce or even track device usage. Attempting to add or remove a device from a profile also will not work. If a device connected to the network is not listed on the devices list, refreshing the list or opening and closing the app, restarting the phone, etc. does not help to add it. After a restart of the router, Circle begins functioning again for about a day, after which it just stops responding, requiring another restart of the router. The Netgear RAX80 router works surprisingly well, but the Circle implementation leaves so much to be desired.

Great but a little slow. 1st generation. I love this thing to manage my kids' internet activities and time. I love that it's all centralized in one place and the UI isn't complicated. My only issue is that it does slow down your internet if you have it set to manage your device. We have crappy Comcast internet so maybe a better provider would make it less noticeable and it's also not the end of the world, like it's not the 56k AOL internet some of us started with, but still. Besides that, this thing is great. We have the first generation circle so I'm not sure how the second one differs.

ruined my life. this app has literally ruined my life i am 15 years old and i have absolutely no freedom on the internet my mom completely abuses this app. she pauses my internet at least 3 times a day and makes me do things for her to turn it back on. i've lost so many friends because i can't talk to them anymore. i've been in the middle of phone calls and she'll just turn it off. the first thing she does when she wakes up is turn off the wifi and makes me earn it. don't even get me started about online school, once my school is over she turns off the internet leaving me no time to do my homework and gets mad at me when i have missing assignments. i am a sophomore and i have a lot of homework. it's not easy and she doesn't make it better by not giving me the internet time i need. i haven't seen any of my friends for about 7 months because of corona and i can't even talk to them online because of my mom. she stalks every move i make when i do have the internet and i feel as if she has no trust in me. i just want to live a normal life she doesn't understand that my phone and computer is all i have it's all i have to talk to my friends and play games. she thinks i'm addicted to wifi because i constantly beg her to turn it on but in reality i just want to text my friends. she doesn't care because she's usually on her phone all day. she'll never look in the mirror and actually see what she causes but to her everything is my fault because i'm "obsessed with wifi".

Premium service outage. I have been using Circle they my Netgear Orbi router for about a year and a half. It’s great, but not infallible. My oldest just turned 18 and so we changed him to an “adult”. My 2nd is 14 and has bedtime at 10pm. So we were surprised to find her still playing minecraft after midnight. Why? Disney Circle on Netgear is having an outage and has been since May 30th. It’s June 5th now and a “fix” is supposed to be rolled out tomorrow night, June 6th. Maybe this is due to two vendors having to share technology, maybe it’s because COVID19 has slowed everything, but if any company had a 6 day outage of service they should expect to lose customers. It’s sadly unacceptable. They should have had a better QA and a better backout plan for whatever change caused this outage. I am sadly disappointed even with their communication (which has been mediocre but not non-existent). I hope they have plans to compensate their customers, who rely on this technology to protect their families.

Used to be good, now slow and buggy. Intolerably slow now with Roku, to the point that Roku often reports that the connection speed is too low to support streaming (and I have 60 Mbps). Removing the Roku from Circle corrects the speed issue, but then I lose the parental controls. Similar situation with other devices attached to Circle - their connections slow to a crawl. Circle also now declares “looks like it’s past your bedtime” many hours before the actual setting. Rebooting and resetting the Circle device does nothing. Looks like we’re being bullied into buying the new Circle device, which now forces you to pay extra for features that were previously free. Sorry, Circle. I used to recommend you, but unless you get your act together I’m looking elsewhere,

So helpful for keeping our teen safe!. Really appreciate the filters. The bedtimes are great and it’s such peace of mind to be able to see what the kids are doing online. It is also really helpful as parents for keeping some form of control over devices and the floodgate that is the internet! Downsides...could have more options for allowing/disallowing sites and time limits. I wish every app on their phones would be shown on circle. Also, even when the internet is paused (usually because someone is grounded), messages still come through! They can’t respond, but it doesn’t exactly feel like the internet has been taken away! Also, I’ve tried pausing other kids WiFi usage when they’ve come over and it hasn’t don’t anything (once leading to an unpleasant incident because I thought they didn’t have any connectivity 😐). Still so much better than nothing, but lots of room for improvement!

Love It. This has been a game changer at our house - No more fighting (although my kids playfully tell their friends that it is awful LOL)! The only limitation is that the history page makes almost no sense (it lists every ad on every page). Otherwise it's very intuitive. And while I don't think that is a substitute for collecting devices (ones they don't have, they can't use), it's a close second. Super easy to use! Just make sure to label each device as you are notified that it was added so that you don't have a ton of unknowns. I recommend this to friends constantly and it only gets a 4 instead of a 5 for offering some options that are not really up to speed (but also aren't really necessary to me - like history when I already have content filters on). Great invention!!

Not working with iOS 13. I haven’t been able to open the app at all since installing iOS 13. I’ve unplugged, uninstalled, and done everything and I’m at a standstill. Please fix! We rely on Circle every day and it’s frustrating not to be able to control our device. ETA: I used their suggestion and the Circle is now functioning. I updated my review to reflect my overall impression of Circle, which is that we do like it. It helps with most of our filtering and limit needs with our 3 kids on their multiple devices.

Mediocre at best. I would like to be able to search for a device by Mac as this seems to be the simplest way to ID the item, instead of scrolling down a list selecting each item and checking for a matching Macby circle is implied to be part of what you get when you buy the $300 - $600 mesh routers. It is not. You get a 1 month free trial. Comcast offers this functionality with their XFi router. No additional charge. 2nd, there is no search functionality with in the app. So if you are an IT guy and have a lot of IoT devices, you get a notification that says a new device has connected to you network, tap it, it opens the app... that’s it just opens the app. Doesn’t take you the device to apply it to a profile, nothing. Instead you have to manually search through your full list of devices locate it and assign it. 3rd, $50 a year come on guys I know companies need to have a steady income but this is our kids we are talking about here. And again at the cost of these devices these features should be included!

Horrible app. I have NETGEAR ORBi with Premium circle subscription. I had many troubles with this circle app on my iPhone in the past few months. The time limits were not working for several times for two ways. Sometimes it said a device has reached the time limit. But actually not because the app shows the device is only used for 10 mins. I disabled the time limit control, but the device still cannot connect to the internet. The screen shows “this device has reached its timelimit”. But there is no limit set! I have to delete the app, so my kids can take the online classes. Sometimes it is the other way. The time limit is not working. I set a two hours limit for my daughter, but she has been online for 5 hours already. Today, I have to reinstall the app again, reset all the profiles. What a waste of time. So I decided to call Circle. It again a waste of time. After talking to the 1st customer service, the call was dropped in the middle. So called again, the 2nd customer service said she is not trained for the circle product, transferred me to someone. After licensing to the music for 20 minutes, I decided to end the call. Have to delete the app, reinstall it, reset all the profiles. But now, it has been over 30 mins after the reinstallation of the app, the app couldn’t find any devices! So I guess I have to call them again.

Don’t install! Not a great choice... Hello to whoever is reading this review.. but I am a teenager and I find this frustrating and annoying to have screentime. I personally feel like Circle is a great device for screentime but not really for us teenagers since we want our own privacy. Screentime has not only made me and my parents have a miscommunication but provoked much fights since I don’t like to be recorded and moderated since it feels like my parents don’t trust me. It bothers my studies as well since screentime somehow blocks my school websites and makes my internet twice as slower than before which causes interruptions. Screentime adds more stress to me in my opinion since if I’m doing something really important then in a matter of seconds screentime is enabled it just angers me since I’m a student who receives a lot of homework plus screentime enabling at the wrong moments.. it’s just bothering. If any parent is reading thi review, instead of installing this app try talking with your teen about limiting technology addiction for it will help reduce problems and help you have a better bond with you and your child. Sincerely, Anonymous

PARENTS DO NOT BUY. I’m a teenager and parents, I can tell you right now, your kid will HATE you for installing mycircle. Not only does it cause a lot of unnecessary problems between my mom and I (to the point where we had to see counseling), but it is also a HUGE invasion of privacy. The worst part about mycircle has got to be the history browsing one. It not only blocks websites but it RECORDS the ones you’ve visited or have attempted to visit. This causes so much mistrust between the child and parent, to the point where I bought a second device and am constantly using VPN to block it out. As a teenager, we use our phones for everything and having our activity recorded is just not okay. Parents who don’t trust their kids don’t earn any respect from us, and it feels like they are insecure control-freaks. Instead, they could like talk to their kids or trust them to step up and tell you things. This just creates unhealthy habits and relationships. (Again, this is coming from a teenager- I understand using this for small children who are just starting to use the internet, but teenagers do not need it and it will only cause more problems. We will RESENT you guys for this, and remember it for our whole lives).

Helpful partner but. Initially I didn’t sign up for this application because it was separate from the router. But after power strike on my other router, I decided to give it a try and it was amazing. The ability to divide out all of my equipment was great. We’ve been having someone hack our Internet from across the street and this was a great way to consolidate all the TVs all of the specific equipment in one profile and watch the activities and filter them out. One of the problems with this application is if hackers name their stuff with a period in front of it or a name and then just a period with no extension the application does not allow the site to be blocked. I consider this a big oversight but the application is still very helpful in filtering.

It’s an alright app. It works for the most part but at times if you want to switch what groups people are in it won’t update that and automatically switches them back into what they were previously categorized as. Same goes for naming the device too. Then you have to delete the app and sometimes, randomly, it decides to work when letting you sign in. But you have to get a verification via text so if that doesn’t work (which more than half the time it doesn’t) then you can’t sign in for a “few minutes” whatever that can mean because when you wait a “few minutes” it still doesn’t work. Honestly, just don’t use it. It’s not worth the hassle.

Great Product but not worth a subscription. The circle device is great, as is being able to limit the Internet time across devices in my home but the newer one requires a subscription and it just doesn’t have the features to make a subscription worthwhile. If I’m going to be paying a subscription then I should have greater control over specific app access and be able to stop overtime usage when they are on WiFi somewhere other then my home.

Amazing. Exactly what I was looking for! It’s integrated into our Netgear router and works seamlessly. No more fighting with kids over devices, TVs, bedtimes, app limits, nothing. Set it up and forget it! They know what time things are cutting off and are prepared for it. Again, no more fussing and asking, it just happens. No more thought on our part, it’s just set to go on and off as needed. You can always add reward time as needed too. Just what I was looking for to control everything in the house by grouping devices to each child. Been using over a month and it Lundy be easier. Thanks!!

Good tool for a virtual world. This is a good tool to have in today’s virtual world where kids are now attending classes online via zoom and Google and other platforms and have access to computers and Internet connected devices 24/7. For working parents and those who can’t sit next to their kids 24/7, it’s nice to have a tool that allows one to filter content and limit access to non-educational sites such as games and video/television (especially during class time) and to enforce off-screen and bed times. The issues I have with this app arise when there is need for kids to access content that has been filtered or access a computer beyond an allowed time frame. It takes a little research and tinkering to figure out why a certain application or webpage is being blocked. For example, the app will notify if kids have exceeded screen time parameters, but it does not notify if content is being blocked because of bedtime or off time access parameters. (Sometimes more than one blocking parameter is causative.) The app will alert kids if content is being filtered, but it takes a real sleuth to figure out what filter parameter is being triggered. When I don’t have the time to play Sherlock Holmes and dig through history, it’s just easier to temporarily disable everything, which defeats the purpose of having this app. In conclusion, I wish the app would tell me specifically what and why something is being blocked and easily allow me to override the block as needed.

Blocked wrong device. I got unexpectedly dropped from a critical meeting today only to find out that a time limit I only impose on my son’s iPad was somehow counting my Internet time on my work computer, which had no time limit. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Ever since signing up for Circle and enabling parental controls through our Orbi router we’ve had more network issues than before sometimes lasting for hours. The app was easy to use and I rarely had issues with the app, but given these service issues today I ended my subscription and won’t be signing up again. I’ve measured that my internet is faster now too.

Get this app if you hate your kids. My parents installed this app about 2 years ago and I don’t mean to sound over dramatic or anything but this app has ruined my life. I have nothing wrong with having my parents look at my devices or anything it’s just that when you get this app you can control your kids device(s) and it feels like they have lost all of their trust for you, which is not a good feeling. I’m not trying to judge anyone’s parenting but if you get this app then you most likely are not a good parent. The reason why I think that is because if you do get this app then you basically don’t trust your kid to listen to you and if that’s the case then you never taught them to be responsible. I would definitely recommend not getting this app but that is your choice still. Now I can’t even go onto google search to look up things like how to solve a math equation or something.

Great tool for the family. We no longer have a giant pile of devices in our bedroom in the evenings. With Circle it’s easy to enforce bedtimes. Great content filters based on age group. We’d love to see a better History function that is easier to manage. It’s just a big data dump with time stamps. We discovered that our neighbor’s kids were still connecting to our WiFi from their own homes since Circle notifies you of any devices that join your network. It’s easy to deny those devices. No hassle when guests join. They are initially set to unfiltered and not bothered by any of our household WiFi security. Great tool. Hopefully, the monthly service price will keep the developer inspired to grow this product well into the future.

Had high hopes. So this service came stock with my Netgear Nighthawk R7000. Set up was easy, but that’s about all the good stuff that I’m going to say about this service. I signed up for the premium service plan, but the only thing that it worked well in doing was filtering the sites that I had blocked. None of the other features ever worked. The visited sites tab for each profile never populated and always indicated that no one was going to any sites which is impossible since they were clearly going to the sites right in front of me. From day one, this service has caused nothing but issues with DNS resolution. It’s either the circle service or the router itself. Either way, I’m canceling the service and returning the router to the store.

This app ruined my life. I know parents use this because they don’t want their kids getting addicted or whatever, but when you do this to your kid, your wrecking your relationship with them. They will hate you. And not only that, they’ll feel compelled to disobey you. To do horrible things. You need to understand even as a parent, kids need freedom. And they need to understand the consequences themselves. If they can’t control themselves, that doesn’t mean you take away everything. I get four hours a day. It’s literally nothing. I have nothing. I haven’t seen anyone in 7 months and I’m not allowed to call my friends. My life is at rock bottom. And I cant even read some web comics because I have nothing. You know, get this for your kid, go ahead. Watch them hate you for the rest of their life. You aren’t a good parent or example if you use this. You’re just hurting them.

Buggy and Invasive. There are 2 major things wrong with this app and all of the circle apps in general. So, hear me out (from a teens perspective) First, the concept of limiting screen time. I didn't care much about screen time until my parents got this app. They restricted and paused things so much, that I felt controlled. I need screen time for things such as references for drawings. I also draw digitally, so restricting creativity isn’t helpful. Whenever I reference something, my anxiety says 📈📈stonks ✨ because I feel like I’m wasting screen time. It’s a nightmare, especially if your child is a teen or tween. I understand limits for younger kids, but teenagers? That’s a bit much. I get good grades (all 90s and above) and am generally a good kid, so I don’t understand why I need these restrictions. Most of us (teens) are fine if parents leave us alone instead of bugging us for things. When I’m left alone, I do my work more responsibly than when my parents are bothering me about it every second. It also tracks websites and stuff. It’s invasive. Anyways, don’t download it. It’s not going to work. Second, it’s just really buggy. I got time when it said bedtime, sometimes I wasn’t online and it restricted my time. Not worth it.

Interrupts internet with Netgear routers. Update: if I could lower this review based on developer response I would. They sent me to a standard troubleshooting guide that totally fails to acknowledge a problem on their end and instead suggests a whole bunch of other things besides Circle are the problem. Circle: get it together and own this problem. The internet is riddled with people reporting the same problem and getting no support from you or Netgear. I've disabled Circle and requested a refund on my subscription and I'm sure more Netgear Orbi customers will be doing the same. Beware before you buy. Google "Orbi Circle Interrupt" and review the comments. You will see that neither Netgear nor Circle will take responsibility for problems with this service. It caused periodic disconnect of all connected devices for months until I disabled it. If you work from home and spend time in web conferences or use VoIP audio you can imagine how disruptive this is. I asked Apple for a subscription refund which they denied. There's basically no accountability here for a product that does not work. If not for these fatal connection problems, the Circle product is actually quite good and would get 4 or 5 stars on its merits.

Ended up throwing out Circle. Circle was okay when it worked, but any time it updated it’s firmware, or the router updated its firmware, the whole network would crash and I would have to unplug everything and restart it. At some point the physical device could not be powered down without breaking apart the plastic case and unplugging the wires to the battery. Then the whole Circle/Eero non-compatibility issue came back with a vengeance and I had to either get rid of a $400 mesh network or a $100 Circle. I don’t care if it’s Eero’s fault or Circle’s fault, but when I can’t use my internet at all, something is going to end up in the garbage can. I’m tired of trying to make the Circle play nice.

Please do not download it. I’m 14, but just hear me out. Ever since this thing was introduced into my home, I started to lose trust in my parents. Along with other teens like me, they should have some freedom. Just downloading this app can destroy your relationship with your kid within a matter of weeks. Look, I understand that you want them to do well in school, that you want them to be successful. But just absolutely dictating there internet activities will make them feel oppressed, helpless, or even enslaved. Let’s say for example that your kid stays up late playing video games and is late for school. Deciding on limiting his time will do more harm than good. Your just opening up a path to distrust and oppression. If they make a mistake, that’s on them, they will eventually learn from it. So i beg you parents, please do not get mycircle, you will ruin your relationship and break your trust of your kid. I currently suffer from circle and I have lost trust and respect for my parents. I’m currently in a living hell and I’m trying to save other teens from it.

Broken, discontinued. I have a paid 1 year subscription that isn’t up til March , but according to the website circle first gen was discontinued December 31st, I shouldn’t have been allowed to purchase a new subscription after it was discontinued. The app no longer works other than to show what devices are connected and maybe if it decides to do it in a timely manner pause the internet, can’t check the filtered content anymore to make sure no one’s trying to bypass filters or restrictions, can’t monitor usage. What did my money go to? I tried to follow circles refund instructions from the website and that didn’t get me anywhere because it wouldnt let me click submit because there were no in app purchases. This isn’t acceptable.

Slows down internet speed. I set this up and, about an hour later, turned it off. It was slowing down the internet speeds in the house to the point that my wife and I had to switch over to the data plan to look anything up. Turned it off and, presto! Problem solved. I searched reviews on it and it appears that this is a common problem. Reading the complaints from the teenagers on here, however, is making me consider turning it back on again. That one child complained that mom could now see the sites he/she visited and was able to turn of internet access until her child did what he/she was told is absolutely glorious. Dear child, that’s the whole point. The fact that you are complaining about this suggests that you had issues in the first place, and that those issues correctly prompted your parents to take more control. You see, your privacy is not what’s important; keeping you safe is. If I learned that one of my kids had made these types of complains, the electronics would be gone and they would be spending their free time doing sudoku the old fashioned way; with a pencil and paper.

Circle is terrible. We set up Circle for parental controls with our new Orbi Router. Then all our problems began. With the kids and mom and dad all at home these days the internet and getting where you need to go is super important but circle would stop almost all moves on the internet. Even when we made devices as unmanaged ( what is the point then) things were still getting blocked. Calling support was no help as they would all tell me they are not circle trained and have to pass me off. Bottom line we shut off parental controls so the kids could at least do their classes and online school work. Thought it would be good with the Netgear and Disney name but I would stay away from this app on your phone and on your router.

Works very well. Yes it takes time to setup. This is not a set it and forget it type of service just like your kids aren’t all the same. The internet is a big place and this thing can be adapted. It is very customizable. Not perfect. It’s nice that there are so many profiles. Mine is setup to give unknown devices almost no ability to go anywhere until I can figure out what it is. This keeps the kids from bringing in new devices and getting into trouble. It also is an additional layer of security. This thing can also be used to block trackers with a bit of effort. History is certainly not exhaustive as the average website brings in content from many sources. VPN blocking is also not exhaustive. Those can be hard to spot. One way is to visit websites and see what they are. I like the various reviews from kids on here that hate it. Says something about the product.

What this app did is SO WRONG.. Like many other parents, I bought a Nighthawk router largely because it came with this software and it delivered some useful features to set time limits, set bedtimes, etc. And while the app has always encouraged users to subscribe to a premium set of features, it never changed the basic set of features that were initially provided. Until now. Recently and without warning, most of the basic features of this app have been moved behind a “premium subscription” requirement. They are no longer honoring the advertising claims that were listed on the packaging of their very expensive router at the time of purchase. Think about what this means... * Every 5-star review praising this app is now deceiving. * Even the screenshots are now deceptive, showing features that were once available to the purchasers of their router without subscription, that have now been removed unless you continue to pay. * Parents who purchased the Nighthawk router specifically in order to gain access to this type of control have had the rug pulled out from beneath them unless they continue to pay. It is like taking the control you once had, and holding it hostage. You want it back? Pay up.

Short changed. We have used circle in our home for almost two years. It took a while to get things set up and running for each profile. We had to tweak the rules several times but we eventually got things running smoothly. About a month ago, we had to replace our WiFi router. We shopped for one that was circle compatible. We thought this was a good idea. When everything got set up, all of the features that we knew and loved from circle we now a subscription based feature. It became nothing more than a brick to us at that point. We can no longer set bed times, time limits, or check history. All of our profiles have been deleted. Features that were free now cost $50 per year. We decided to use OpenDNS for our content filtering. It is more user friendly. We don’t have the ability to set time limits but that is something I will have to figure out later.

Great! No more being awakened at 2 am.. This service came ready to go on my Orbi wifi device, compatible with my Netgear router that is compatible with Xfinity internet service in Seattle area. I’d never heard of the Circle app and thought it wouldn’t work. However, I was sick of being awakened by my teenage son at 2am on a school night, while he was still playing video games and yelling profanities. At first it was a little tricky figuring out which device was my son’s gaming laptop, but one I figured it out, I was golden and he was screwed. I was able to set different bedtimes for school nights and weekends, and give him extra time when he asked so he could finish a homework assignment. I was also able to instantly turn off internet to all his devices on an occasion when the situation warranted it. Impressive way for my son to get more secure boundaries, and I think he is secretly proud of me for using a bit of a high tech method.

Wifi doesn’t come back at the scheduled time. Now i’m a teenager who’s parent uses this app and i feel the need to input my feedback here so please consider my opinion before you download this app. My parents have been using this to disable my wifi so which i can understand but the thing is, half the time the wifi doesn’t come back on the scheduled time. I’ve been missing out on class because of it since i’m an online student. I checked with my mother because she controls it mainly and she’s said she didn’t do anything which i trust of course. I don’t think this app is for teenagers or anyone that’s been on the internet long enough. All this does is create issues and i’d hate it for any other teenager or young adult to be supervised like a baby. There are most likely better options for controlling what your child sees.

My experience. It was working find until one day I couldn’t no longer log in my account and there’s no way of resetting my password. So I deleted this app and tried to reinstall it to start over but still not working. Because it remembers my NETGEAR information. But other than that it was a very good app to have for easy access for pausing devices that are not mine and to pause my internet at night time for kids to go to bed. Wished I could log back in

Very thorough. Circle works better in my opinion than other child internet protection services I've used. It is set to a level according to child's age and patents decision. We've had nothing but great success using this program. Set the allotted time child can be on line when it's used it's used. You're not the bad guy! Of course you can use the rewards they have and give more time of you'd like but the child doesn't need to know that's available of you don't wsnt them to. I feel safe using this program knowing she's not going to get into the wrong sites!

I hate this it ruined my life. I actually hate circle with a passion I’m a 15 year old sophomore in high school my parents found this when I was in 8th grade and they turn off all of my internet at 12 on weekends and 10 on school nights. It has ruined every aspect of my life. Now with online school my dad turns off my phones and xboxes internet from 10 and night till 2 pm which forces me to take more time on my school work. I actually hate who ever made this app with such a passion and I really hope that everything they like in life leaves them. It has completely ruined my life and I hope their life is ruined also! So thanks for listening to my Ted talk! Hope you have a good day! (Unless you founded circle)

This app does not work well. I never review apps, but since this has been such of a pain to deal with I feel compelled to make this review. Got the app to manage my two young children’s iPads. For some reason the app detected usage of their iPad throughout the day while they were at school separated from the iPads, and thus burned through all of their alloyed time for the day while not using the iPads. Then after unsubscribing and removing the app the iPads remained locked out of the internet do to the established router settings after unsubscribing and removing the app. Save yourself the headache and avoid this app. If it worked as advertised it would be great, but it doesn’t. Download this app and you will be sorry.

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Flaky. Setup is flaky, integration with Orbi during setup is flawed. Once it is up and running it doesn’t import the device names fro the Orbi. Many features are paid . One star

DONT. I swear to all parents please don’t put ur kids in torture, you don’t understand

Doesnt work reliably. A simple interface that just doesn't work.

The adults win again!!!!. Yeah I may be ‘big brother’ but I needed to take control back. If we don’t hold our kids hand while on the internet they will get ‘run over’ by the horrendous www traffic available to all ages. My kids where mortified to start off with but now they accept it and it gives them an opportunity to be on there with limits. No child has ever been disappointed by their parents caring for them!

Simple and straightforward. I highly recommend this device, very easy to instal and you don’t have to make a big deal and change the router, we haven’t noticed slower speed or anything with this device on Bluetooth. Very discreet. The customer support is really good too, fast email reply and helpful. A very good feature on this device is that you can give allowances to the user, 1 hr or 2 hrs to be used throughout the day. When it’s over it warns the user and the device is off Wi-Fi.

Changed phone, now no access until I get back home!. Why can’t circle be logged on the app and control from anywhere? I’m removing my subscription

Just not working. Seemed like a great idea but it doesn’t hold the settings saved on bedtime and offtime. Very hard to get support. Not impressed so far.

Great app - very helpful to reign in internet usage for kids. We’ve been using this app for 6+ months, using both the router and go functionality for a family of 3 kids with multiple family devices (iPhones, IPads, Mac and PC’s. Controls work both within the house and also outside - during school or at friends places. Bedtime restrictions work great and can be easily extended. It is a little expensive at $15AUD per month (for both router and go monthly subscriptions) but currently worth it!

FAntastic. This is the best parental control app I have ever used. It has changed my life and I love it. I never write reviews though I just had tonfor this one I am so thrilled. My stress levels have plummeted.

It might be good..... ....but it’s a bit hard to judge when it doesn’t work. Perhaps it’s the Netgear Orbi that’s rubbish but, whatever, I can’t get it to do what it claims.

Don’t use it if you have iPhone. It is not fully compatible with iPhone’s Tends to slow down and disrupt the internet usage on all devices in the house and often causes the wireless internet to drop out. We have had to remove.

Shocking app don’t waste your money. I paid for a 12 month subscription and five months in the app stopped working and I’ve been unable to open it or use my subscription. I’ve sent many messages and emails asking for help to be told that their help team only help with the Disney device and I need to contact netgear (although it’s this app I can’t log into) I have contacted netgear and been advised it’s a circle issue. Thanks for wasting my time. Your subscription is a rip off and you have NO customer service at all. A complete joke!

Hate it. Awful

Good to manage time limits and internet access. However I’m not able to manage my family devices when they leave home

No support. If you need to access on a new phone, follow the links to resend a code and it doesn’t work! Code sent ok but not accepted. Disable, delete, write review.

Great integration to router. Have started using the Circle since the start of Feb and it has transformed our ability to manage the kids access to the internet. Now that it is integrated to the new router we bought as opposed to a seperate unit makes it more simple, attractive and less difficult to add to an existing system. Kids hate the fact we have so much control both forward looking and retrospectively over the use or should I say possible misuse of their internet access. Go get one !!

Interrupts our internet. It interrupts our internet. Any devices added to a members profile can’t connect or is intermittent with our broadband. The kids need certain devices for homework so while Circle is a good idea it’s making life even more complex.

Awesome. I believe this thing is awesome. We have complete control of the internet when it comes to the kids. They know when it turns off it’s nearly bed time. You can see what there doing or done. And limit some sites. Love it.

Fantastic. Great product. User-friendly control at your fingertips. Thoroughly recommend it.

Issue with sending code as admin. Still having issues with being able to manage the app. Paid to get premium and yet( asking for admin code and when we resend code via text nothing arrives. Keep getting bumped between netgear and circle team bit no resolution and then they ask for more to get support

She has power. It's the worst! My parents have so much power. It is really good for restrictions so I'll give it a 4

Love the device and the app. Despite my children saying “mum has lost her mind” at the thought of adding internet controls, I love the circle. I can see who is adding into my network (and can impose the same controls on friends devices too). I can limit things like YouTube and instagram, without it impacting on sites needed for school work. Setting bedtimes or times out (for afternoon chores) reduces the screen times. Truly recommending this device and app!

Horrible System. This system has to be one of the worst I’ve encountered. No logon website (have to use an App), and the app requires a pin which can only be reset with an SMS, which does not seem to be working (at least here in Australia). No other way to reset system (built into NetGear router) and no login page means it has effectively bricked itself. Went straight back to OpenDNS for haste-free content restrictions on my home network

Killer Tool. The Internet can be a treacherous place. This is app is top shelf for parents, if you have a compatible Netgear router. It’s very easy to set up and it is “set and forget” once you have. The only word of caution is to remember to block VPN traffic on your router. Do a little research and you’ll find tips to help. It’s reasonably straightforward. Happy days. Good job, Disney!

Circle disaster. Unfortunately We have had to disconnect Circke due to ongoing internet drop outs when it is connected - an unmitigated failure

A decent app with some gaps & glitches. The app has been working fine until the latest update. With the latest update, it seems that the "Bedtime" feature is blocking Internet access outside of the bedtime. When this setting is on, the only way to enable Internet during normal hours is to disable it. Lastly, when will WhatsApp & Skype be available in the app? You guys have been working on this for a long time.

Causes network problems. Easy enough to set up and use the app. The filtering seems to cause problems with Windows PCs on the network. Unless the filter is set to “None”, no web traffic gets through. The filter seems to work ok for IOS devices.

Great app. We are loving this app. At last we can start to proactively control each of the kids usage. No longer need to go and confiscate the iPads and iPhones before bed. I now play god with the wifi in the house. Bed language, behaviour and you can disconnect then from the wifi with one click. By the way kids are having withdrawals but i am sure they will get use to it as time goes on.

Easy and works great. Oh so easy to use and also discovered the neighbor were on our wifi as well with through a wifi extender which is now stopped. It gives complete control with the ability to see what web sites the rats were looking at. Also has reward button to promote good behaviour. Love the bedtime feature as it turns them off 15 min before bedtime to take meds and clean teeth etc. I am loving it, kids not so much lol

Kids who are annoyed by this, read my review. Ok so I found a way to get past it it took abt 2 min to work out all u have to do is use ur phones hotspot or data if u want to go look at bloked websites turn off wifi on ur phone and use data then hotspot another device with that phone and you should be good to go. I hate this app

Terrible. Great if you want your kids to hate you 🥰 plus the app is patchy .

Bug. Crashes when enabling face id login.

The circle with Disney. Awesome little device that has made filtering and controlling my kids internet usage so much easier 👌 thanx for making my job easier to do 👌

Great device. I have finally regained control of the internet in our house thanks to this device. If you want an easy method of regulating your family’s online habits, this is the go. You can set a bedtime (and a seperate/later bedtime for weekends), apply content filters, check browser histories, pause the internet for individuals or everyone and generally get your kids’ attention when you want it. I just wish we’d got a Circle years ago.

Great device. Unlike other reviewers, we have found Circle fantastic. Despite the anticipated initial resistance from our kids, a few weeks in we have settled into a much healthier way of life with the kids accepting their limits and developing better time management (no longer feeling like they do homework for hours when in fact it was mostly social media). You can isolate and manage separately individual devices, social media etc. All from the easy to use app on my phone. Put in place early (when your kids first start using devices) & they will develop healthy a use of technology.

If you want your kids to hate you, go ahead.. The only thing that this does is block kids who aren’t willing to go into conflict with you. By using this you prove yourself to be an absolute imbecilic dullard who can’t control your own kids without someone bigger than you doing it for you. App can be easily bypassed, and you become trash for using it. Fun.

Sets limits. Circle allows me to set and enforce healthy limits to screen use in our family of teenagers, when they find it almost impossible to set limits for themselves. It is easy to set up and navigate. Now that kids have more power over the information they consume, Circle gives me the ability to filter on an age appropriate basis. I use it together with Apple screen time on iPhones as sometimes tech needs to simply go off.

Love this App. Great for managing our kids internet access, could do with some more features though.

Just does not do what’s it’s meant to at all really. Look, it’s annoying, it does not really work more than 50% of the time I found, and when it does it’s frustrating to the point of driving you nuts. I work in an IT Dept of a school and if I’m pulling my hair out after 4 hrs then that must say something. Also truly wish I could get my Money back. I’m going to good old fashion router control.

Has stopped the late night sneaking to play PS4. Helped considerably in the... I haven’t been on that long Mum! Just let me finish the game Mum! Waking up to go to the toilet at night to find 12yr old has snuck downstairs to play PS4 or watch Netflix. This has all stopped completely! Takes a lot of unnecessary angst out of our day to day lives. The only thing I would say in the history there is a lot of internet access recorded on the PS4 when we are not even home and Facebook access yet 12yr old has Facebook as unallowed and when I check history on the computer there is no FB. A slight glitch on what is otherwise a great app that I would highly recommend. We have the unit you by separately and hooked it up to our existing modem.

Unknown devices. The most frustrating thing with this app is when you get a notification about an unknown device joining your network. There is literally no way to determine in the app which device that is. There’s no “recently joined” list or any other way to determine what just occurred. Surely that’s the most simple of features to correctly implement - I mean you’ve already determined that a device is unknown and has joined the network. So tell me which one that is! In this day and age with everything on wifi I have over a hundred devices in my list - so it’s impossible to tell what’s going on when this app is hiding useful information. Frustrating!! Also it’s inability to correctly identify well known manufacturers such as Apple is pretty weak. Bottom line: Could do so much better.

Waste of money. Not worth the subscription fee, want you to turn off privacy features on devices to enable accurate identification…ah no, fix your app.

Kids hate that I have the power!. This is such a great app, when my kids are misbehaving badly - I just threaten to reduce their hours or cut them off completely. They hate it, as I can have this control even when I’m out. They do get rewarded when good behaviour & chores are completed. They have no idea where the box is hidden & that’s how I like it, they think it’s all controlled via the app (not a box). Ha ha! Highly recommend this device.

Terrible - basic has been disabled. Set up basic for general control of devices. 6 months later realised all settings have gone and now cannot set up basic again, as save option has been disabled. App now only allows for Premium version on monthly subscription

Annoying for a teenager. As I am a teenager my parents are taking advantage of our space and this has put my father into a different level with usage of this app.

Great app!. My son hates this app which shows how good it is. I love how I can stop the entire internet, or just one device, even when I’m not home. Impressive! One request...I would love it if we could set up a reminder dialogue box to be sent to the device as a 5 minute warning. It would save me the howls of dismay when he gets disconnected. If you could do this, the app would be absolutely perfect!

Easy for smart kids to work around. Got Circle with our Netgear router. Tried blocking sites like YouTube, etc. If you try to access site directly it blocks, but use a search engine and kids can still access inappropriate videos. Only other way to block the entire house. Tried to get support but got past over to Netgear and then got told no direct support (“try the community”). Not worth the effort and grief.

Generally pretty good. Sometimes my kids exceed their time limits, the app registers they are well in excess of the limits set, yet they are still online

Don’t buy. Frustrating! Constantly having to reset the device. It’s about to be tossed very far away.

Strict Parents create Sneaky Kids. If your a parent and are thinking about using this, please don’t. Your child is going to hate you and if you think this will help family communication it won’t. They will be sneaky and find a way around it, as I have before, and you will end up having a kid that every time you install a new screen monitor and blocker they will be using all of their time to find a way around it. Please, from pretty much all teenagers and kids out there, don’t do this to your kid

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Not worth the money. I purchased the Orbi that only operates with circle. Paid over $400 and then they want anther $100 a year for the app. Rogers is offering these services free with ignite.

Great for Parents. Allows me to monitor each child. No amount child/user limits as far as I can tell. Let’s me mange when they have access to wifi and what they can use. Great for rewarding them with extra time and easy to pause their time as well. Very easy to use and set up.

Yikes.. So I got caught online at night.. DURING QUARANTINE and now my parents are reinstalling circle. It’s honestly the most aids thing that’s ever happened, I get perfect grades yet they feel the need to show off to their friends how they can control me :)

⚠️PARENTS⚠️. Circle is a great device. Installing this for your kids, increases your chances of being thrown in a nursing home by approximately 200% ❤️

App is good, but.... I was charged right away after I (thought I) chose 30-day free trial. What’s happening? I was using KidsWifi until the beginning of December, but I switched to Circle as they stopped functioning. I like the features of the Circle app. It’s easy to use, and also customizable more in detail if you wish. If possible I want a “keyword block” function that blocks addresses including specified keywords like “manga”.

Connection issues. The app is complicated and keeps on duplication my devices. Duplicates the connect with a different MAC address each time a device rejoins the network. Also has low compatibility with my iPhone 11. Makes it difficult to connect to my emails, banking apps and other apps on the phone . Each time I try to remove duplicated connections it immediately says connecting back and I find that one device has about 5different connections and MAC ADDRESSES. This is frustrating and takes so much of my time trying to figure what’s happening.

die. literally a torture device sent from hell do not get this demon machine your kids will hate you forever i hate you dad these dumb parental controls are the reason for my depression please do not put your children through this

😀want to break your child’s trust? Download Circle today!😀. 10 reasons why this app sucks 1. It causes arguments and fighting between the kids and parents 2. It’s over priced 3. It’s just overkill parenting 4. It causes permanent damage to the internet 5. Circle sells your information for money 6. Your children will not thank you 7. It’s crappy and has so many bugs 8. It’s really easy to bypass 9. It’s difficult to set up 10. Do I really need to add more? Go read the reviews!

Fails. Often doesn’t work and everything will be paused and you cannot get in to unpause devices.

Doesn’t work with Hitron modem. It used to work ok with another modem but then we had to switch a year ago and it hasn’t worked properly since. The only thing that you can do is set it to none filter and turn off at bedtime or whenever you pause it. Even when it worked better with the other modem my kids could still watch YouTube all the time and sometimes get on other sites I had blocked. If it worked the way it should I would love it but now it’s just a waste of my time trying to figure it out.

Bof.... Les notifications entrantes ne sont pas bloquées, donc les messages textes et autres messages de réseaux sociaux apparaissent même si j’ai mis l’appareil en “pause” du wifi. Ça défit la logique selon moi.

GARBAGE BRUH. I hate it so much bcuz my parents threat me to do something or they will turn off the wifi!!! Get rid off this app

Good and bad. Good app to for internet. Sadly ads from Disney targeting my kids make it less than optimal.

Satisfait mais.... Arrête souvent de fonctionner!

Terrible product. The software provided is fine and functions great. The hardware on the other hand. Using google speed test any device connected to circle is 50% slower. Internet is dropped throughout my home daily and I’m connected via cable. I would never buy again!! Currently looking for another type of service will that supply constant service.

Great for families!. We have been using the circle for about a year and a half now. I purchased ours new off of amazon. After a small bit of set up it has become an amazing tool for limiting and monitoring my families screen time. It works across all types of devices including tablets, laptops, iPads, iPhones and others. I would highly recommend this product for any family looking to take charge of screen time in their home.

Slows internet speed and makes some apps unusable. Slows internet speed and makes some apps unusable. Had to stop using because made all the internet in the house terrible. My kids couldn’t use messenger kids app because it blocked it even though it was allowed. Do not recommend.

this app is the devil.. im 16. i don’t spend too much time online, but they don’t even allow me that. my parents use this app to control me. i hate it :/

Must have for a young family. We caved and let our tween have a PS4 and TV in his room which is scary!! With Disney Circle I can block certain websites and social media applications, and most importantly shut things down at bedtime. I love the ability to pause the internet when I have called “Dinner” 8 times and my Fortniter yells “waaaaaait”

100% not functional on Hitron Modem. Not blocking YouTube for any profile and filtering not working as advertised. Contacted Coustamer service they mentioned to change the Modem, the device doesn’t support some modems.

I thought this was something else. I thought this was a app for measuring circles and have been kicked out of Obama school >:( 😔😔

La solution!. Très utile pour contrôler l’usage de l’Internet des enfants, une vraie baguette magique!

Needs a big update!. I loved this when we first got it, but it seems to interfere with internet on any device connected to it. Trying to watch tv/Netflix and it keeps glitching....Every.Time.The. Circle is plugged in! Totally defeats the whole purpose!

Short changed on subscription. Paid for a one year subscription October 7 and somehow today June 17 my subscription stops working. Absolutely no customer service, save your money and your self from complete rage complete rip off.

🗿. The raid begins Toenails

Rip-off. When I chose the Netgear Orbi to replace my Apple Airport I did not realize I would have to pay for the same service I got for free (and that should come with any router). Another racket. What else to expect from these companies.

Free monthly trial doesn’t work. I see the subscription on my iPhone but the app doesn’t recognize that I subscribed. It just keeps saying that it can’t find my subscription. I’ve deleted and reinstalled the app several times and canceled the subscription can we purchased it.I’m not sure what else to try. I prefer to contact support but there doesn’t seem to be a way to contact support using the app.

Horrible. This app will release your private info!!

fact. did yk that every time someone downloads this app they'll lose their privacy :)

Frustrating. As a parent trying to set this up I’ve found it very frustrating. 1. I’ve set it to allow watching YouTube, but none of us can watch YouTube while using the circle...even though we’ve “allowed access” 2. I’ve sat in the living room and watched my son use his iPad (which is assigned to him in the app) for almost 2 hours and yet the app only acknowledges that he has played for 30 minutes. 3. There are unknown devices that we can’t figure out what they are and yet they are being used for hours at night. We figured out that one of the major ones is our router, which is passworded, but it still shows usage overnight, while we are all sleeping. Overall, I’m not sure how much I can trust this device. Plus it’s frustrating that one of my kids favourite activities is watching DanTDM on YouTube and now he can’t. Not worth the $100 for the device.

Greed Turns it to Garbage. Removed support for IFTTT because that’s what happens when you jump the shark, greed sets in and we need to take features and automation away. I understand the need for younger children / less tech minded parents but you were never going to get my 6.99 anyways and now your brand is trashed. Not happy this is built into my Netgear Orbi, expensive system to replace but may bite the bullet. Warning WiFi mesh vendors, Circle actively promoted is now a big negative.

Affects hardware. I lost my staelites when I turned on circle. Took me days to figure out almost returned the mesh system the found out it was the circle app that broke everything! Do not use

Connection Issues. Terrible product. Worked fine for about a week then stopped. Have not been able to reconnect to the “Circle” on the Netgear router as the application won’t send out a passcode. Why don’t they not make it easy for clients to get their passcode by logging into a central account??? Sound easy to me and would save their client’s tones of time and frustration bouncing from screen to screen on self help pages. Stupid process, terrible support and defective application. Don’t ever buy this piece of garbage.

😉 How to stop my circle 😇. 1 If you want to stop my circle I have the solution you can install a free VPN app like fire VPN or Going VPN or Super VPN... these are all free VPN and stop my circle than you can see youtube or whatever you want without limits 2 You can erase the app 3 You can see the code You’re welcome 🤗

Excellent for responsible parenting. My husband and I love this tool for parenting. It keeps everyone honest and in today’s society with internet invading every area of your kid's life this should be used in every family.

Not 100%. Not skilled enough to really use well.. need to go o line for training???

🗿. small tonails

Tone of crashing. Gets into all of wifi and shuts it down

I hope who ever made this app steps on legos then stubs all the toes. 😡😡😡😡

Really bad. I don’t see the point of this app, just affects my information and stuff no recommend it

Can't manage online game time. Missing key functionality to manage time for online games properly. As soon as the computer is in the app counts time against games that are not being used. With other words, can't track true time used.

Bad. Who thought this was a good idea? Disney rn:🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

Worked great…until it didn’t. We’ve been using Circle for 4 or 5 years and I’m quite happy for them to take my money as I have control over our son’s online exposure and availability, that is until May 30 when we lost all premium Circle features when the service stopped working on our Netgear router. A week later and we still don’t have premium features. I’ve cancelled the subscription until it’s fixed.

Excellent device to keep children and teens safe.. Even though the kids and teens despise it. It has helped keep our family safe a, focused, and on track.

🗿. The raid begins.

kids. if y’all see this review it one star so the rating goes down enough that it’s whopped off the app store

No❤️. Just stop

👎🦶. Bleh

Used to work great, but now not-so-much. This app was really great until about 2 months ago. It’s now really laggy, “network failure” all the time error codes, buggy, and sometimes just fails to work. Sorry, but when it is a lot of work to try to control the internet it becomes just not worth the money I pay Disney AT ALL. I would delete it if it was a free app but this is paid for so now gotta wait until next renewal before I axe it.

Doesn’t work - subscription cancelled. The ONE thing this system needs to do is parental controls, one of the most important of which is turning the internet on and off based on a schedule. Circle can turn it off, but SOMETIMES it won’t turn the internet back on. Why am i turning parental controls off in the morning just to give the kids their internet back? I think that as this is “1st gen”, development has stopped. So have my payments. DON’T pay for this app/service - it is broken and unlikely to be fixed

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Not worth $50/year. Controls are purely based on device so no way to lock down a family computer for the kids while keeping access for the adults. And 90% of the devices in the list just show up as “unknown device” with no way to get more information. So unless I’m going one by one and blocking each device until I find what lost connection I can’t actually figure out what is what or who it belongs to. Service is barely more useful or easier than just setting up stuff in a hosts file.

RE: Adding to another Device. I was hoping I can share the app on my husbands device. It had worked at one point but now it does not seem to work even though I am correct in putting user name, password & pin. Please let me know if and when this becomes possible, thank you.

Don’t bother. This app has been nothing but a headache. I pay 4.99 a month for this app and every time the Wi-Fi goes does I have to start all over with app. The setup takes forever. It’s impossible to find your device because everything is listed as unknown device. I have to set up and assign devices all over again at least once a month. It takes hours to find device names and then locate them by their MAC address only to have the app stop working a few weeks later. There are much better parental control apps. Won’t be using circle again.

Was awesome, Now not at all. When I first started using circle a couple years ago it was great. Idk what happened but for the past year, every time I go to use it I have to set everything up all over again. Really time consuming and a huge pain when I’m just trying to respond to a notification from the app. I just ended up canceling the service because of this issue, that’s how frustrating it’s become. Hope they figure out a fix for it sometime soon.

Puts the parents back on control. These days my keeps have some many devices I can collect them all if they get in trouble in school. With the circle I can control when they can get in wifi and end turn one kids WiFi off with out messing up the other kids wifi

Circle is trashy and terrible. Circle won’t do anything, it will make a kid more mad. This is why circle is bull crap. When you install circle on a device you have an option to manage time on a device or limit apps and stuff. Circle is not meant for time usage because, when a kid uses their devices and turns it off while using internet their time limit can run up. It’s only meant for limiting certain apps. It also slows down internet speed very BADLY. You also have to pay money for this stupid time limit app. It is dog water!

Was working fine. Well iOS 13 and the latest update to the app has now basically made this useless outside my home. It keeps telling me it’s unable to find the circle and would I like to try again or set up a new one. When I can use it in my home my time zone is wrong and when I try to go to “my account” it crashes. Look this was never the best parental control, needs to give me a full history not just, should be able to download logs, and search the history. However, it did a fine job until about a week ago.

It does the job. It’s smoother than most router parental locks and limit. Pretty easy to setup. Helps limit the kids’ online experience and time. The only downside is the monthly fee to use its actual full potential. I feel if you pay a fee it should have updates to make it even better. In the end it’s a rental hahaha.

Premium Features Gone. My premium features are gone and now none of my settings are in place. Tried deleting and reinstalling but that was no help. When I try to subscribe even though I already have a subscription it says that I can’t because I am already subscribed but where are my premium features. I have also been having an issue with opening the manage account tab. EVERY TIME I try to open it the app closes out. So account management has been worthless. What is going on over there, I will be canceling my subscription if this isn’t resolved soon.

Most buggy. Can’t believe such a simple app with so much bugs. Filters don’t work properly. Profiles gets reset. Am a paid subscriber and absolutely unhappy with the service. Thought it will give me peace of mind but it’s actually been more painful with the app being so buggy... I haven’t explored any other products but am sure to get out of the subscription. I did see issues even when during the trial period but assumed that those issues would be gone with a paid one... I regret. So if any one of you are trying the trial and don’t find it satisfactory, pls skip the paid version too.... I have more comments about the app ability but would pause for now... this is my first ever negative comment for an app in my more than a decade of using apps!! Worst app and not even doing is important functions....

Excellent. Excellent app as a platform for abuse and control. Ever since we began using this app, my family has grown distant, and we don’t trust our parents anymore. All of my friends that don’t have circle are happier and bond better with their families. Meanwhile,I always feel like I’m being watched, and whenever I’m talking to my friends I’m cut off. This was originally my mother’s idea, and we’ve had it for 4 years. Parents, if you think your child is ignoring you or hates you, it shouldn’t be that big of a surprise if you’re using this app. Get it through your controlling, thick head.

Lost connection quickly to router. Bought a NetGear router and set up this Circle app. I was excited that it would cover devices for family (phones, laptop, computer) as well as the tv! However less than a week use it lost connection and asked to be set up again and again. Not the parental coverage I’m looking for. I was surprised as Circle works with Disney - a family friendly brand! I’ll probably try something else. I would like it to be reliable at all times and not worry about what my kids might be exposed to. Keep Working on it NetGear and Circle.

Terrible customer service. Not happy to pay for a subscription w/o proper customer support. Can’t access my controls, I am not getting text with a passcode to get in. Taking me hours to figure it out; seems I’ll have to figure out how to totally reset circle parental controls. Which will take me more time to set it all back up. No customer support, only option was to email them; to which they auto respond will take them 24-48 hours to respond. It’s all unacceptable. It should be be this difficult, time consuming to get into my account.

Be prepared!. This app works ok go sometime and then malfunctions regularly requiring factory reset. It stopped wifi to all my devices and then I had to reset and add all devices one by one again which was very painful The customer service is literally non existent and the history feature also stopped working for no reason I am sure the customer service people will respond to my critique below at some point and make it sound like i don’t know what I am talking about but I am an engineer so if I can’t figure out what’s going on with this app I don’t think the general public will be able to

Another money hungry subscription based service. I feel like this is a complete scam. You want to charge me 50 dollars a year for a timer built onto an electronic on off switch? I’d rather pay a one time fee and get it over with. Your app for basic use does what my router already does, so I feel like there is no point in using it. Ohh. Your software also blocks my children’s school issued computers completely when I assign it to them in your app. I suppose it may be useful for trying to block adult content, but that’s really about it.

This app. I hate this app so much. my mom downloaded the app and got the circle a couple years ago. All it did was make me smarter and sneakier. it ruined my relationship because i don’t trust her anymore. it shows everything you do and your search history and she downloaded another app to monitor again. IF YOU WANT YOUR CHILD TO BE RESPONSIBLE TRUST THEM. USE APPLE SCREEN TIME. instead you choose to use a app that monitors and tracks your children. what do you think it’ll do, make them a better person? no. it’ll ruin your relationship and their social life. thanks a lot.

Free version is limited but..... The thing I really like about this app is the device manager. I can see all the devices connected to my network and it it surprisingly more accurate than the software on my Netgear Nughthawk Router. It’s tedious at first because you have to figure out what device is which in the list since the default names are vague but once you rename them it is very helpful.

Lovely Idea, but not right.. In my opinion the grand idea is great but this router crashes a lot, also I thought it would be a good idea to get it at first. I soon learned how upset my children became as I realized this is an invasion of their privacy. For little kids I understand as some need restrictions but for teenagers? That’s a bit cruel to me as it will end your healthy relationship with them. This is just my pitch in as a parent but think about your teens first. Making them happy will make them want to put it down and spend time with you or do something else not forcing them.

Great overall but.... We’ve been using circle since the beginning. Our first device started to stop working at random intervals so we got one built into our router. Unfortunately now that one has started to go offline periodically. I’m hoping it doesn’t continue that trend because these are fantastic at doing there job when they stay online.

Best App with some major issues. I have been using this 0paid App for 2 years and it’s worth. However, one fine day the contents will disappear and you need to set it again. It happen with me 3 times in 2 year and it will be disaster if you are controlling it via outside network. They should maintain their data in cloud so that recovery is easy.

Not only useless, but causes a divide between parents and kids.. If your kids are older than 6 they can likely find a way around the restrictions this program offers. Then it is just a wedge driven between parents and children relationships. Update: I received a response from the company with a link that will help me learn about how to avoid letting kids get around the Cirlce boundaries. I have tried all of that, but kids adapt faster that any video they can supply and all the tips were ages old already. My kids are not bad, I do not really worry about them, but Circle just gives them a challenge. It would not be so bad if it did not slow everything down and complicate uselessly.

Would rate lower if I could.. If you are trying to limit your teen or child’s time online this is NOT the way to go. I tried circle with my children 10 and 14 and it hasn’t helped one bit. When the internet goes off instead of making them want to get off it only makes them resent me for ruining their time with their friends online. All circle has done is made my relationship with my children worse and made them think of me as an enemy. I DO NOT recommend this to any parents trying to make their children get off screens more or spend less time online.

Horrible app 😐. PARENTS IF YOU WANT A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR TEEN DO NOT BUY THIS.... this app caused me and my mom to fight 10 times for to the point where we had to stop talking to each other for a bit... why can’t you just trust your child? The worst part about the app is that I get no privacy. My mom blocks so many websites that aren’t that bad! And she can she EVERYTHING I’ve been on!! And that’s gives me N O privacy and that’s horrible!! Why can’t parents trust us!!!! Like I have N E V E R done anything bad and yet I still get no privacy! My mom will turn my internet off and FORCE me to talk to her and that IS NOT a healthy relationship (again this is a teen I understand getting it for a kid who needs it but as a teen I don’t need this app.)

Works, but extremely glitchy!. We used these device for years on end to limit out children’s screen time and block inappropriate sites, but it’s very glitchy and doesn’t work half the time! We blocked a site, but found out one of our children could still access it and was using it even though we blocked it, and the other child couldn’t access it. It bugs out frequently and does not work a lot, but otherwise it does what it needs to do.

Almost perfect. Does the job I’d hoped. I would say the UI is a little rudimentary, especially when I want something a little more specific than the typical use case. I find it’s hard to identify devices by the name it’s given, for example. Sometimes I’d like to try just disabling internet for one device, or for all but one device, but not really designed for that.

Horrible. This app is horrible, it has honestly ruined my relationship with my parents. I feel like they have no trust in me. I’m a straight a student and I am a GOOD child, and it’s sad that they can’t even give me more than two hours on my phone (during the weekend) if you want to keep your kids happy, I would recommend talking to them about this issue, not getting an app that restricts them from calling friends past 8:00 or checking their grade or whatever else. Long story short, I highly recommend NEVER getting this app!!

Doesn’t work. It counts background usage as “screen time “ so it thinks I’ve been on my iPad for 22 hours yesterday. Tried to reward my kid with an extra 30 minutes of screen time after dinner. 20 minutes later I was still trying to get the iPad to connect to the internet. I finally had to remove it from managed devices and reboot. Seems like it would be good in concept but so far it’s a failure. Probably going to ditch it if there’s no improvement. Also I’m getting a ton of untrusted certificate warnings since installing this. I wish this worked better. I’m guessing the 5 star reviews are from previous versions.

Great app. The app works great. It will be great if the classification of used programs are clear. If a program is not used but working at the background, it still counts as it is used. So the time limit counts as a used time. Also it will be super if it gives the kids a warning before their time expires. 15 minutes warning and 5 min warnings will be great.

stupid. i get that parents didn’t have phones growing up and they hate the fact that we are on our phones all the time, but that’s how the world works now. the world revolves around technology. that’s your problem if you don’t want your kids on the wifi cuz guess what, chances are they are just going to turn their wifi off and use data. wanna know what happens then? the amount of data they use is going up but they don’t pay it so that’s not their problem. this app is so pointless and i have yelled at my mother for it because of how much i hate it. i need my phone for online school and i’ll be taking a test and my wifi will shut off. seriously?! i would not recommend this app unless you want to lose a good relationship with your children. what’s more important to you? the amount of time your children spend on technology or the relationship between you and your kids?

Is great! Just need to know what you’re doing. Read everything you can to understand this setup and you’ll be happy. I often see people trying to jump on my WiFi, and I quickly block them. Also, I can limit what my tick turds are trying to look at, as well as shut them down for the night. The interface should be more user-friendly by now... haven’t seen any updates since buying my Orbi setup, a couple of years ago.

Great until the app stopped working away from home. We have Circle on our Netgear router. It has worked great for a couple of years. I even upgraded to premium a month ago and I like the options with the upgrade. The only problem is that I can no longer get the app to load when I am away from home. If I am at home where my network is, the app loads fine. As soon as I leave, my app says it can’t find my circle. This is very inconvenient as I can no longer make changes to the settings or give rewards when I am away from home. If I can’t figure out how to solve this problem, I will cancel my premium service and find another option for parental contros. ☹️

Logs inaccurate History. Concept is great. Though it’s logging history under the wrong user profile. My history for instance showed up under both my son and daughter. My wife’s history showed up under my profile. I have all of the devices properly associated. Once this issue is fixed I’d rank this higher. Though wrong history is a big red flag for me and history is the only reason why I’m using this app. Would like to contact the company but there appears to be no way except this review. Fingers crossed they fix it.

Absolutely Horrible-Do Not Pay For This. I am paying $5 a month to use the parental controls on the router that I own. That alone is ridiculous but add to that, IT DOESN’T WORK. I have everything all set up and then it just quits and returns to the free version of the app even though my subscription is current. This has happened three different times over the two years I’ve been trying to use Circle. So not worth the trouble. My advice is Do Not buy a Netgear router. And if you already did, Do Not pay for this worthless service.

Eliminating IFTTT bricks Circle. I have used and loved Circle, free for Netgear Orbi routers but only IFTTT made it highly useable to set schedules, etc. without paying exhorbitant fees. Now they are eliminating this. Why? I presume just to make money off of us. I invite Circle To please leave an explanation. Otherwise I will drop the service. I would give A higher rating but when a company takes advantage of its customers in this way I simply cannot condone that and the company loses my respect.

Very Helpful!. We have a particularly difficult situation to manage with a foster teen, and it isn’t even her behavior with which we need help. Someone has hacked her phone and uses it 7-10 times a minute, every minute it is on. We only know because of Circle. We know how often they use her phone, and exactly what sites they visit. As a result, we suspect a predator, and this app may well have saved her life.

Three sons and plenty of control. We love the Circle by Disney for being able to see and control what our children do on the internet. Being able to control the amount of time and when the internet is used to the specific user is totally awesome for us as parents!

I first thought it was okay. Parents- as a kid, I totally understand the need for this app. Filtering malicious content incredibly important, especially these days. While I understand the filter part of the app, the history part makes absolutely no sense. If everything malicious is already filtered, what’s the point for invading their privacy? This app is okay and all, but there should really be a way to turn off history because it just ruins that trust that you have between you and your child. It just makes us think that we’re not trusted. Developers- please, PLEASE make the history optional!!!!! Thank you so much for your time!

Awesome control of all our devices. I am able to manage all our phone, home devices and guests wifi and ethernet. We have profiles for everybody and everything, helps block unsavory content and enforce bedtime hours and screen time rewards. Very easy to use, configure and manage from your phone. We use ours embedded in our netgear nighthawk r7000 router so its hack proof. If you set up a generic “catch all” profile that can do nothing then mac address spoofing does not work.

Disappointed. Circle doesn’t get “my” network device names from the Orbi app. I’m approaching 100 devices on my network. Circle accurately identifies about 20% of my network devices. I have to manually change the names of the rest. Having gone through this painful exercise with Orbi, why doesn’t Circle pull the device names? Instead, Circle gets the device names from the devices. Twenty smart plugs with only the MAC address separating the names? I’ve already renamed them in Orbi. Why would I want to repeat this exercise? Why doesn’t Circle simply pull from Orbi?

Meh, pretty bad. Every device is listed as unknown so you’ll initially have to go in to try and sort out what is what. Once you do then you can create accounts to try to limit. The function worked about 80% of the time. I did not realize or forgot there was a fee and after a month I got charged $50. Definitely would not have renewed as it barely worked in our context and after a month 60-70% of devices are still unknown. I haven’t even opened the app in a few weeks. Buying a new router with better reviews and ease of use but I guess I just ate $50 on this thing

Excellent device for monitoring and controlling kids screen. Amazing tech support. Available EVERY time I contact them. Circle works and Circle Go is a vpn that goeswith your kids phone so you have control wherever they are- at least of their phone. Glitches sometimes are to be expected. Tech always figures it out.

Circle. Circle is an excellent parental control app. It provides an excellent indication of activity on the network. Virtually all illicit web sites are blocked. The ones that slip through can be researched and block individually after reading history. IP’s listed can be googled to determine their nature. This level of capability is provided for free.

Good stuff... but they need to rethink their premium service. The free app works well enough... but some of the features in the premium would make it much better. However, their is no way I am going to pay $50 per year on an ongoing basis for it. If it were a one time cost, I would consider it... but not on an ongoing basis. I am seeing this ongoing service fee model in a number of apps nowadays... not gonna get my business!

Incomplete. We have been using this app consistently for less 2 months. The parental control, at first, seemed adequate but after testing if users can access certain apps or sites it became apparent that it is grossly inadequate in its controls. For example, Instagram was marked as not allowed on a device and the device could still access it. The feature for adding sites that are allowed or not allowed it cool. It will be better if phrases can be used to disallow explicit content in addition to specific websites.

Thanks for nothing. So I’ve had my router for a couple years and I guess I don’t have tech support. After signing up for a paid circle subscription I wasn’t able to use the premium features because the browser didn’t like something it was doing to the traffic even when “allowed”. So since the router is out of warranty they won’t help paid subscribers of the circle program. Searching now for a new router that will allow me to block sites without a paid subscription. Netgear makes nice stuff but their customer support has always been subpar.

Latest Update Renders App Useless. Been using Circle on my Orbi Router for years to manage internet usage for my kids. I wanted to use some of the more advanced features of the app so I upgraded to the Premium service. Now the app doesn’t work at all. Called tech support and they suggested resetting the router and uninstalling/reinstalling the app which I did and now I can’t connect to Circle at all. At least before I had some features now I have nothing. Second time this week I have installed an app update that rendered the app useless.

Great for my family.. Purchase this Device In order to control the content coming in to our home. It has also been a great help him control the time are able to access their devices. Being able to protect kids from the destructive nature of pornography was important.

Absolutely disgusting. This app can cause huge rifts between parent and child— it makes the child have trust issues as this is a huge breach of privacy while making the parent think that they have absolute authority over every aspect of the other’s life, in which they don’t. This leads to huge arguments thanks to miscommunication and may possibly ruin the relationship for a long time, if not forever. I know this because it’s happened to me. It’s absolutely disgusting and I hope that if you are another parent reading this, please do not install it if you don’t want irreversible damage.

Awesome tool. I was looking for a tool which can control my family internet activity. Especially kids are uncontrollable. This app has helped me a lot to bring down their screen time drastically. I would live to go premium but it is costly. Looking forward for some discounted price for circle device.

Well worth having to protect your kids. It will give you the ability to block what web sites are unsafe, also know every where they go when they are online. One thing that I feel is a real plus is being able to block them from uploading pictures to websites.