NETGEAR Nighthawk - WiFi App

I usually don’t write reviews unless they do an amazing job or a really poor job. I have to say with this app, it has some serious flaws in my opinion. I like that some of the stuff is all in one place. I’m old enough that I remember having to read a book to just set up my router, much less update firmware etc. I did have some issues with support, as many of the questions they wanted me to answer, were available in the app. However, when you are chatting with support via the app, you can’t navigate the other parts of the menu within the app. That is a major failing to me, as simple things to find, are made inaccessible unless you stop the chat. Even then, there didn’t appear to be away to put the chat on hold and navigate away for a minute. I had to completely close the the app for it to allow me to reopen it and navigate to other parts of the app. That’s crazy in todays world. Now, the chat guy was great, super helpful, and I was able to reconnect with him several times (the phone disconnected me while I was logging into admin on my desktop). Even though I could reconnect, the fact that I had to reconnect 3-4 times in a short period because I couldn’t access the rest of the app seems clunky. I also had trouble checking the firmware (one of my major reasons to use the app). When I asked why it was giving me the error, I had to send a screenshot (which made me disconnect and reconnect to access it). In the end, the two questions I had, needed me to log into the router via the admin portal, so it was still like old times and the app seemed superfluous.

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

I used Netgenie for years before upgrading to Nighthawk model router. Love that this is an app, not a program on desktop. It is not perfect and sometimes it gets confused and tells me I am not on the WiFi, but restarting app fixes right away. I recommend adding each device one at a time and refreshing the app to see the new device under the 2.5, 5, or wired headers. Then you can rename and select proper icon. Some device will need to be added to each 2.5 and 5g and possibly renamed for each when you see it ( sometimes devices float to best reception and might move between both frequencies). You can pause WiFi for devices through the app, so properly identifying and labeling each device in the app is paramount to having the control. Also, can turn on guest 2.5 or 5g WiFi with touch of a button, and turn off after-no longer need to give all friends password to network if having a party or sleepover. Haven’t messed with parental controls as that we have those set on devices. App made installation of new router very easy and assigning new name and password (not default that router is factory set to) was super easy. Performance of the Nighthawk router has so far been excellent. We still have a Netgear range extender for the nether reaches, but general coverage throughout home is way better than old router. Love Netgear, hate Lynksys (don’t every buy one of those- drop out all the time-glad to see that they appear to be on way out), and I was unsure about trying/changing to High rated Asus because of historically stable service from Netgear. The app is icing on the cake and I can even control my WiFi system remotely if not in the home.