Circle Parental Controls Lifetime Subscription - Internet & Mobile Devices - Works on WiFi, Android & iOS Devices - Control Apps, Set Screen Time Limits, Block & Filter Content

We got Circle because we have a mix of PCs and iDevices. I could not stand constantly telling my children to get off the computer and then arguing with them, "just 5 more minutes...." Now at bedtime, Circle just turns off the internet. Much better than my nightly attempts to pry them off. If they want more time, they have to come to me and ask. Reasonable requests are accommodated. By child, I am able to schedule when the internet is available and for how long. I created a profile for each child and added multiple devices (iPads & iPhones). It is worth taking the time to adjust the filters. For example, I let my son have unlimited access to Gmail, but limit gaming. We give them more time on the weekend than weekdays so we can sleep. I know, bad parenting but we get some extra sleep. Kids not responding to you. Pause the internet. I can pause everyone or select an individual person or device. This is helpful in our house. Initially we only attached it to the home network. Take the time to install the extra app on the kids' phones. Otherwise, they will just go around the WiFi restrictions. This will not measure the child's offline usage - think Minecraft in offline mode. Unfortunately, we still have to do some parenting. Also, use a passcode on the Circle app. Otherwise, the kids will grab your phone when not looking and make some "adjustments." My kids don't like Circle, but we feel more in control of their usage so it's a winner for us.

Really great product. It took me a little effort to get the settings down correctly for each child, but after that I have really enjoyed the comfort if gives me without having to search history and such. The timers and such are great for busy evenings when I get lost in supper or my work and forget to limit tech time. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because their devices can easily turn off wifi and then this device doesn't work. In wish there was a way to keep the settings on even when on 4G. Otherwise, fantastic device that works well with little effort!

This is the first kind of parental control device I've ever used, so I don't really have a basis for comparison aside from research. I'm a new parent taking in foster kids. I'm kind of new to ALL of it. The fact that I have this in my home allowed me to take placements with extra needs and/or supervision plans. Everything is monitored, and it's so easy to look at browsing history to see if the kiddos are using media when they shouldn't be. I caught one of them at 5am on the TV in the living room one day. I was able to look at what another was watching on youtube just to confirm it was kid-friendly without having to tell him to stop watching until I know that the youtuber was safe (which it was, it filters YouTube content, but you never know). I'm really surprised and happy with everything. It was a little difficult at first to get it set up, and actually the girl at CenturyLink helped me with that. I did end up getting a new modem for the internet, but since they have an easy-to-read list of compatible modems and routers, I found a perfect one that suited my needs. My android phone is the control center for it all, and its suprisingly intuitive. I've added all sorts of devices (mac's, PC's, fire tablets, iPad's, xbox's, nintendo/wii/switch, Samsung tv and fire tv, iPhone, 4 echo's, and much more!), and it was super easy. Instead of making profiles per kid (since it's regularly changing), I created groups to manage devices. I set bedtimes, offtimes, and rewards based on those. For example, they can use alexa from 7:15am to 9pm, but they can only use tablets/iPads, game consoles, and computers for 3 hours between 10am and 5:15pm. And then I've got it set per day so that school days are a lot more limited. And it's so easy to add a device to a group that way. It's a little tedious to set all the limits and whatnot, but it's worth it. Since I have all the groups set up, it takes 2 seconds to drop a new device into the appropriate group. And on a side note, if I want to use something after hours, it takes 2 seconds to either send a reward, turn off offtimes, or in my case I put the device in another group until I'm done using it. I just have to remember to put it back in the right group when I'm done. I've diligently used their presets for content based on age, but also went and customized it further. Most of these kids are used to playing mature games and tv or watching inappropriate YouTube content. Once they come here, it's all filtered out. Since it's all automatic, and they know it's coming, it filters out that argument of putting devices away, haha. Seriously, most of them time they're saving their games or places and turning off the devices before the internet even goes off now! Maybe this was all free before, but in my situation, it's worth the monthly fee. It takes kids 3 hours after stopping media for their growing brains to calm down and stop being affected by it. They don't need all the stimulation or older age content in their heads. This has been a wonderful and relatively easy way to limit all that until they can comprehend that choice for themselves. I feel as though the reviewers with low ratings are more upset that they have to pay for the service, and they aren't actually reviewing the actual product. There aren't many other parental control devices out there, and this is definitely one of the better ones (according to my own research which I did for 6 months straight before becoming a certified foster parent). All the other decent ones charge fees too. I haven't had any issues with it slowing internet or randomly stopping internet. We lost power one time during a lightning storm, and I had to do a hard reset to bring it back up, but that was it. I've had it for 4 months now and have none of the issues anyone else has mentioned. Again, I did get an approved modem/router combo too, and that could be the difference. I've turned off and on the internet more than a few times (because daaaang kids make things so loud and I wanted to sleep in, haha) and again no issues there except for kids not letting me sleep in because the internet won't work. All in all, I'm happy with this device. Maybe limit your coffee a few times a month if you think the monthly fee is too much. Is there a coffee filter for that (pun intended).

Update: We returned it and I changed my review to a 1 star. After much frustration, we just gave up. This is just OK. We purchased this item, as I'm sure most did, to help us limit our kids' screen time, especially when we are away. First the good: It kind of does what it says it will do. Once you set up the app, install the device and figure out which device has which address (it isn't always immediately clear, but there are step by step instructions to figure it out...no big deal) and install the hardware, you are good to go. It will allow you to remotely shut the entire internet off, or just particular devices. I like this feature because if my daughter has done what she is supposed to, but my son hasn't, I can turn the internet capability of his devices off, while leaving my daughter's on....and vise versa. The Bad: First, it is not nearly as user friendly as the video suggests! Not even close! I am fairly tech savvy, but I have dedicated far too much of my life to figuring the system out. Turning a device's internet capabilities off is easy and very reliable (on a lazy Sunday morning around 11:30, haven't not heard from either of my kids, I turned the internet off. My wife and I started counting to 10 and before we got to 7, both kids were out wondering what was going on). Turning it back on, however...not so easy. I turned it back on and the devices still didn't connect. I ended up having to remove them from "managed device" in order for them to be able to use the internet. I rebooted the devices, the internet, the Circle Box, but nothing worked except removing them altogether. This is frustrating because as far as I can tell, that means I am unable to see what sites they are visiting or limit their time. Second, it does nothing for non-internet based apps or calling or texting. This may seem obvious, but judging from a few other reviews, I thought I would mention it. The Ugly: If you have a Kindle device that you want to manage, I offer 3 choices: Throw away the Kindle, don't use Circle to manage the Kindle or don't buy Circle. Apparently Kindles, like ET, "phone home" constantly and Circle isn't able to distinguish between that and your kid watching You Tube. Soooooo.....if you are setting a time limit for your child, Kindle's constant need to call the mothership will eat up your child's screen time. Needless to say that doesn't go over well with a child who already thinks you're the worst parent ever for even suggesting a time limit. The only way to make a Kindle not booty-call Bezos every two minutes is to turn it off altogether (I'm sure you're child, having a much better memory than mine, will remember every time) or put it as an "unmanaged device." See problems with that above. So that is my review of Circle Home Plus. We've decided to keep it, since it kind of does what is says, and in the hopes that there is a software or tech support fix for most or all of the issues we are having. Happy parenting!

I have the Circle for about a week now, I purchased it as I felt I want a little peace of mind when my kids get to spend so many hours on the internet every day. Obviously safety first but of course time control is important as well as they spend way too many hours playing ROBLOX or watching YouTube. Installation: Surprisingly easy, I installed the app, connected the Circle to my Linksys Velop mesh network router and followed some instructions to create and link the device to my account. Configuration: I created my kids profiles and set them as 'kids' on the app which seems the most restrictive and includes 'safe search' by default. after that I setup time limits on different games/apps. It was apparent that under this setting some of the standard safe websites wouldn't be accessible to them so I had to manually add Google classroom, google docs and other educational websites as allowed or unmanaged so they could get onto all their school sessions/activities. It took a couple of days to ensure all the websites they really need are accessible. this is not difficult to do but keep in mind that the kids may NOT be happy in the first day or so. The time limits on apps/games like ROBLOX are kind of eye opening, my kids consumed the generous time allocated of three hours before 11am which made them seriously unhappy. It's also obvious that when you block one game kids will find another website, game or video and if you block everything they will end up watching TV (Covid sux!). It's nice to be able to pause the internet for one kids or for everyone when you need their attention like when it's dinner time (Dinner is ready! Dinner is ready! Dinner is ready!... ok let's turn the internet off). I didn't notice any performance/slowdown issues since I have installed the device and I do feel I have peace of mind knowing they are more protected. The only con is that I wish the subscription fee was lower. I did end up purchasing the lifetime subscription as I believe I will be using it for a few good years which is eventually cheaper than year by year. Overall, a much needed product, done well, provides good protection and plenty of control without interfering with performance.

I had been on the lookout for a way to keep my kids safe on the internet, since they’re spending so much time with screen access since last year. Before trying Circle, I tried a software solution Mobicip, but had all sorts of trouble with slow page access, allowed websites would be randomly blocked sometimes, category-blocking would block useful websites so I had to whitelist almost everything. Eventually the deal breaker was JavaScript was being blocked which was hurting schoolwork access. So I switched to Circle. The good: Circle was quick to install, just wire it to the router. It detects the devices in the network and then you create profiles, assign each a filter level and time limits/bedtime etc and then move a device into whichever profile you wanted. By default a device would be unmanaged. So I was able to cluster my kids devices that I wanted to monitor. It had a lot of options for categories and popular websites to enable/disable/limit time, plus you could add your own websites to the allow/do not allow list on each profile. You could also define which days have weekend settings and customize the limits. It’s easy to move a device between profiles if you want to, or change settings. Sometimes you encounter something not working and don’t want to troubleshoot it at that time so you can temp move the device to unmanaged for a bit. The bad: Circle does not have a easy way of managing multiple users on a shared device (eg your kid using your pc in their user profile). This applies for what’s blocked, time limits, everything. Same goes for shared devices like an xbox or tablet. This is a bit of a pain point right now. Secondly, don’t get me started on how circle shows you device browsing history! It captures and shows you everything. Even background calls, ads. But it will not give you detail beyond the website accessed. Mobicip would tell me what was searched for on google, or which video was accessed on youtube and spare me detail on the 100's of background calls going on; Circle would just say google.com, youtube.com and I would have to hunt for that amongst the massive access list. Also, circle will not control computer access. So just because I set a bedtime on circle doesn't mean my kid cant be using an app offline. Also I wish I could allow a custom website but set a timelimit for access. Eg. my kid browses gaming wiki sites, I would not like to block it, but I dont want her to spend hours on it either. My only option is category time limits which is too broad. All in all, I'm sticking to this solution for now as its flexible and I'm hoping the options improve going forward since parental controls is all this device is about.

I had the Gen 1 version since it first came out. I loved it.. I bought this device when it first came out and the kids were little. They were just getting iPads and laptops and getting on the internet so the timing couldn't have been better. FAst forward to today nd the gen 1 version is being sunsetted and I was forced to buy the gen 2. Not all bad since my kids are now teenagers and I have to figure out ways to not only monitor but safeguard their cell phones. Gen 2 to the rescue. Rather than paying for the circle AND a subscription fee to ATT (10 bucks a month for parental controls), I just bought the gen 2 which came with 1 year of circle plus. This basically allowed me to cancel the other parental control subscription and make this purchase a wash. It's perfect too to manage multiple phones and keep everything safe. THE PROCESS OF USING AND SETTING THIS UP IS SUPER EASY.. i DO WISH THEY DID A BETTER JOB OF MIGRATING Gen 1 stuff over to Gen 2 stuff.. but .. i JUST RIPPED THE BANDAID OFF AND WENT IN FRESH.. Not a big deal but I wish they made that process more seamless. Other than that, great product and service! The kids aren't fans but the parents will love it! *Honestly though, I helped the kids understand that this is more for protecting the phone from malware and viruses than actual monitoring. It helps keep the more nefarious sites blocked which keeps the phones, passwords and accounts safer. No kid wants to lose a years worth of Snap Streaks apparently.

**Update** 2 weeks in dropped rating to 2 stars So the timings don't work as others have said here. I just tried to give my daughter more time and it just wouldn't work at all. So in the end I just bypassed circle by using the random mac address feature in windows. My daughter is only 10 years old and she's still nice enough to ask for extra time. However I'd actually be a little disappointed if by 12 she isn't bypassing this herself. Don't buy unless you have really obedient kids. This won't enforce anything and will actually cause you more headaches than it will solve. **original review** So yes it does what it says on the tin, "Kind of" I was already using OpenDNS which is pretty much exactly what Circle is doing under the hood , DNS ARP poisoning which means acting as the name server for your devices and then forwarding the requests on after applying rules. If you already have a way of doing this either via , OpenDNS/Cisco Umbrella , a Fing Box or an Ad sinkhole like PiHole then don't bother with Circle as it's no better than any of those and way more expensive. I have all of the above devices and services so this is a fairly informed review. I gave it 3 stars as there are major issues which are easy fixes however I believe the devs have been lazy. Firstly the biggest issue is the HSTS issues. So Circle will just display a cert error instead of a customer error page like Circle does on Netflix routers with Circle built in. They see a request for a https cert so they can at this point redirect to a custom page when a block is about to happen however they just the request fail to an ugly someone is trying to hack you page provided by chrome. Then the whole issue around timing , if you set up times for blocks then the are all screwed. Their FAQ states that it comes from the phones settings however my device is set to PST and the blocks are happening at GMT/UTC. And you can't just change the times in the app no you have to totally delete your account and set it up again and hope that their bug doesn't take effect again. For a simple DNS sinkhole it's not worth it and I would recommend people buy either a PiHole for about $30 which will also block all ads on your network which is something that Circle doesn't do. Or a Fing Box. giving us the options to import block lists would be useful as then we could also block advertising networks etc. So for what it is a really basic DNS blocker which is overpriced I'll rate it at only 3 stars and that's being generous. BY the way the app only has 2 settings Add people and add devices that's it , For people you can add times for when apps can be used. however again super basic. This device is made for mom and pops who are not technical at all and need a really basic way to prevent their kids from getting online. Note it won't prevent any tech savvy kids as they will easily bypass it.