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

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.

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).