Do people living in both of these worlds + have children see this new Firewalla feature replacing Apple Screen Time (Downtime, App Limits)? In my experience, Screen Time is not that great if a person has multiple devices.
Now that I think about it, probably still need both for when they wonder off your network. I do have the Firewalla VPN Server set up. I have to assume they will figure out how to turn that off on their devices.
Feature request:
WireGuard app to have a pin option to access (not a Firewalla issue)
if not already, a push request for more time beyond defined limits. Example, kid wants 15 more mins on YouTube.
Kids will learn to bypass the Firewalla altogether by turning off wifi on devices that have cellular and running on 4/5g. So I do screen time on one device.
I use both screen time and firewalla controls. Screen time is awful, in my opinion. I have set downtime and per-app limits and very often I’ve found one or both exceeded. I’ve pretty much given up with that part and use it to track usage and limit what can be changed on the devices.
In firewalla I’ve used the per-user block rule to shutdown Internet access to those devices overnight. I wish extending when the rule kicks in was easier. Right now you can pause the rule for a certain amount of time but it’s based on current time not when the rule would kick in. So if at 830 I want to extend their bedtime from 930-1030 my choices are to wait until 929 and extend for an hour or do it now “for the rest of the night”. Pretty inflexible. Also not sure how to extent a rule that has already been delayed. I haven’t messed with per app limits in firewalla yet.
You don’t want to rely on screen time. It just constantly breaks and is best avoided. It is amazingly terribly done and clearly abandonware from Apple. Firewalla works well to limit screentime if you quarantine and block new devices from the internet so that private wifi address won’t be a workaround for limits and you want to also block all vpn for their devices. I had a period with my youngest where he would find vpn services that Firewalla didn’t have on its block list so I had to monitor for that and block when I saw them. That luckily passed with some discussion. We also have him on a very limited phone data plan so he can’t use that to circumvent withers as he will just run out of data.
Only been using activity time for a few days, but so far so good, my early take away is you want both and they compliment each other very well, I also use microsoft family to set time limit for my kids’ laptop
what do you mean if a person has multiple devices? screen time works perfectly for us and both of my kids has iphone and ipad as screen time was able to track the total usage across both devices just fine, the biggest advantage for screen time compare to activity time is the ability to set down schedule so even if kids figure out how to turn off wifi and use celluar connection, they still can’t do anything if it’s in the down time window
Mine automatically connect to firewalla vpn off home wifi. I removed the vpn section from the phone using Apple Screen Time. They have no choice but to run through firewalla.
Before that I limited their data on the carrier side to 100MB. Told them video used too much data and to only use wifi which isn’t a bad habit to start with. Very much limited their time on YouTube and things.
That’s where I use the firewalla vpn server and force their devices to connect back home via WireGuard. Then I can have some visibility and same controls as if they are home on WiFi. But as mentioned earlier, that is a point they can bypass (WireGuard vpn), then no visibility. Would then need to fall back on Apple Screen Time.
For some reason not for me. My daughter has an iPhone and iPad. Logged into both with her one account. I have screen time set up. What I cannot figure out… for example, I have a 30 min YouTube app limit set. She consistently gets 30 mins on each device.
I hide the WireGuard app on my kids devices. But they can find it and turn it off if they want. Like the Firewalla app, I wish the WireGuard had a pin option to restrict access.
It’s more of the part to notify me they want more time. For example, in Apple screen time, they can send a push (via iMessage) to the parents asking for more time.
Hmm I looked and I don’t remember anymore. I get notices when it disconnects and it hasn’t. I remember them trying to remove it because ad blocking was on and it was stopping them from doing something in a game.
I’ll get back to you if I find it. Maybe they just haven’t.
Edit: Configuration profile. I thought it was easier than that but I did it through a configuration profile.
