Firewalla

The app and the devices are awesome. But their support of routers is not as good as they rate in their support page. I had an eero v1 which is not supported and upgraded to the ubiquity AmpliFi Instant which is certified as fully compatible, yet performance for monitored devices of the firewalla blue is well below 25Mbps. For device thanI turn off monitoring of, I do get my full WiFi performance. Keep this in mind and make sure to have a fully compatible router. Don’t just pick one off the compatible list. But verify compatibility with the Firewalla staff.

I have been a Firewalla aficionado since the original kickstarter project. I need to say this is a product that gets better almost on a weekly basis. With every update there are new features that continue to improve your ability to monitor/control/provide security to your network. The app and notifications work very well to allow you to be aware of connections and traffic to your network. Many times I have received a notification that without the Firewalla on the network I would never had a clue that something was going on. If you have kids that might be connecting to websites of a sketchy nature you will know and if the get a “present” that will also start to show in the monitoring. Firewall also allows VPNs to be set up so you can take your Firewalla on that business trip and still be part of your home network. If you have a relative or business office you need to be a part of the Firewalla will also accommodate this situation. Firewalla also tries to make this as simple as possible for the non-network engineer, but some network expertise is suggested. One other benefit is their tech support is actually available and quite good! Bottom line if you are looking for a great network appliance this is a great choice! My only fear is they will get bought out by some big company which will kill their incredible innovationing!!!

I’m a technologist, and a technical product manager who has spent my career working on connected smart devices. The Firewalla Purple (and app) is hands-down the most incredible networking product I have ever experienced, and truly couldn’t be easier to use. I’ve been searching for YEARS for a way to block the violent/sexual/explicit ads that pop up in my toddlers’ iPad games, and there is no solution out there, until Firewalla. We even went so far as to purchase Kindle Fire Kids tablets in hope of eliminating the problematic ads, but the Kindle Fire applications are simply too limited, and the device itself too laggy/complicated to use. I plugged in the Firewalla device and literally 5 minutes later, my problem was solved. Firewalla has achieved the holy grail of networking products; a device that connects to your existing network and doesn’t cause problems, all with the touch of a button, no settings configuration required at all! Seriously amazed by this device and app. The price of the hardware is EASILY justified by the capabilities and ease of use. BUY ONE NOW, the search is over!!!

As someone who has studiously avoided network admin and grown very tired of having to keep up with real security and security porn sensationalism, the Gold box I bought to replace my Avast Omni has been a huge improvement in speed, ease of monitoring what's trying to get in/out and administration of a home network. I was going to get a network pro in to suggest a replacement, so this paid for itself maybe many times over. Firewalla Documentation is unusually good. Block by region is fantastic. Averaging 20% connection request from suspect IPs that have 0 reasons for trying to connect, especially overnight. Nearly 9000 last 24 hrs. If Firewalla does specific location consultation I'm interested. Only downside has been both Firewalla and Antivirus installs are scanning the lan for open ports and reporting on each other which is a little tiresome but I appreciate that's working.

After a lot of back and forth with support, it turns out I needed a beta version of the software. Nevertheless, they desperately need a manual for this. Too much searching Google/Reddit and their website to set things up. This is partially because I by far prefer a web interface rather than an app. Additional criticism because the app doesn’t flip to landscape mode, which makes it virtually impossible to use on a tablet. They’re not the only app with this problem, but when dealing with a device like this, having it work with a tablet is important, because that’s far more efficient than using a phone. Original I have the Gold Pro and the app can’t find it. Doesn’t matter if it’s plugged into the network (which in this case is coming off my router, since using it directly off the ONT requires it be setup for a VLAN and I can’t get into the device to do that. So Try using the app and nothing. Try connecting my iPad directly to the firewall and nothing. I have no idea why there’s not just a simply login from a web browser to start the setup. That would make life much easier than relying on an opaque app trying to find the device and consistently failing. If I don’t here back from Firewall in the next couple of days, I’ll have to return it, which I really don’t want to do, but I’m not gonna get stuck with $700 brick.

I have a Firewalla Gold and consider myself a regular user. This device completely replaced my ISP’s gateway and directly connects to my fiber ONT. That’s one less device I have to plug in! I love the built-in VPN service, which I use with my NordVPN account. I also use the VON server so I can browse the internet from my home network and access my local devices when on the go. Ad block, internet controls, and network monitoring work great, giving me total control and peace of mind over my network. I also highly recommend buying the wifi antennae. It allows you to use a wifi hotspot as a backup source of internet if your home internet goes out. I added my iPhone’s mobile hotspot as a failover network. If my home internet goes out, I turn on hotspot and it feeds internet through the Firewalla to all of the devices in my house. It’s amazing! Finally, the support team is incredible. I’ve reached out over email and on Reddit and always got a fast and helpful response. They are constantly pushing out new features to the app and listening to what their customers want. Yes, the box is pricy, but it’s well worth it in my opinion. My only critique is to have a working iPad app. But that’s not a dealbreaker by any means.

If you want to protect your network and have great visibility into what is going on under the hood, Firewalla is a great solution. It’s easy to install and shows all the devices connected to that network. For each device you can see the traffic and where they are connecting to. You can limit access to the Internet, gaming, porn, social networks and videos. It supports both VPN server and client allowing remote network connections while limiting which devices can use that connection. Is supports DNS caching, encrypting DNS requests limiting your ISP ability to track what you are doing and supports ad blocking. Highly recommended

I’m using the app with a Firewalla Gold. There is enough functionality to do probably most of what one needs to do in a home deployment and then some. Of course this is not as full featured as other paid or open source alternatives; however, the upside is a MASSIVE improvement in ease of use. That said, the devs are extremely receptive to community feedback and are continuously refining and adding features that people wanting to tinker will appreciate. I hope this continues to be a successful and growing company because I really don’t think there is any other offering with this mix of capability and ease of use.

To start, as my title notes, I am basing my review on the application on an iPad. The Firewalla device is awesome. (I have a Gold.) It is unclear to me why the Firewalla team has made a half-hearted attempt to mark this as compatible with an iPad and iPhone. When it runs on an iPad, it forces portrait mode. I suppose this is okay for folks who use their iPads that way. For anyone using a keyboard (such as Apple’s), the iPad is in landscape mode. Sure, one does get more real estate this way…but it isn’t really usable real estate. Mark the app’s attribute as iPhone. It’d be just as useful on an iPad…still in portrait, just magnified. Five stars if this actually worked in either landscape or portrait on an iPad.

Small product, easy to install, easy to manage, provides excellent control of devices in your home. Worried about porn - blocks it easily, worries about after hours internet access - easily configure to shut off, worries about inappropriate searches - easy to block, want your kids to focus on homework and goof off on their school device - easy to control. This device gives parents the ability to protect their families. Social media and pornography are destroying our children’s minds. This device is no substitute for teaching and parenting, but it’s a great tool to have in your parent toolbox.

The app itself and setting things up inside it is pretty good. One annoyance is that I can’t use it in landscape mode (I use an iPad with a keyboard folio case, so “laptop mode” is a must). I have to pull the iPad out of the case and lean it in order to use the app, making a solid work surface “an absolute must”. Another thing I noticed (bug) is that using the tab key to move between fields in the “new network” screen would cause the app to unexpectedly quit. It’s a force of habit to use tab to move between fields, so having to de-program myself to not use the tab key was a bit frustrating. All in all, it’s a pretty nifty interface.

As others have mentioned, this box makes it easy to monitor and mange content in your home. But it’s also a very powerful device that gives you control of your network with many enterprise class features and things you don’t even know you need until you use them (per device VPN, new device quarantine, easy blocklist imports, etc.). They keep adding features, documentation is thorough and support is very responsive. This is the kind of product that I want to give my money to!

Ok I wanted to take a break from my day job of computer security and having to do a lot of scripting to make things work. When if it came time to make our home network more secure, I was looking for a device that was easy to setup, but also flexible and won’t take hours to maitain. Not only was this easy to setup. It has saved me! This this reported our security cameras sending hundreds of meg of data to the company, even after we had the cameras turned off… System also found several PC’s accessing malware sites. All PC’s are already running top notch scanners and those did not catch it. Easily to group machines/devices and apply rules to those groups. Good for preventing kids from accessing adult sites, games, etc. Firewalla app made all this easy to setup. And the support from factory is ver quick as well as factory and user community on Facebook Thanks

It's so much easier to use something like this vs. trying to manage it all yourself using OpenWRT/DD-WRT. I had everything in place at one point but then my router was reset to factory defaults and I lost everything. This is a turnkey solution that is worth living every penny for the peace of mind knowing what is happening on your home network. Every father should own one of these. Oh yeah GigoMikol can achieve custom block times for different days by choosing "Weekly" and picking the days. I have two rules setup for my oldest son to allow later internet access on weekends.

I bought my Firewalla blue about three years ago, and I have never gotten more than about a month or two of continuous use out of it. The only tech-support they have communicates by email, sometimes they reply fast and sometimes they don't and that means problem-solving takes a very long time. it's obvious that every reply goes to a different person and they have you go through the same steps over, and over, and over again. Essentially it never worked right since day one and tech support have strung me along having me repeat "solutions" for so long that the warranty has since run out. This is not even close to plug and play, and unless you are very skilled at network administration don't waste your money. they told me (in writing) that "Firewalla does not work well in simple mode". To be honest, I might have just gotten a lemon (and the actual working product is good) but the way their tech-support works virtually guarantees you have no chance of returning it within the alleged warranty period. I will update if they do the right thing.

I would like to give this software a better rating however the flaw in the program is a major flaw. This program does not support screen rotation and further the only orientation it will operate in is with both my Ipad and my IPhone upside down. Holding the devices elevated to avoid stressing the connector on the cords is quite fatiguing particularly with a 12.9 inch Ipad. This said; the software does allow one to configure the hardware so if you are patient and take breaks; one can configure the device with this program. However forcing users to rest the devices on their power cords or disconnect the power cord to avoid stressing our devices charging port is a serious flaw in the software.

I just wanna point out that I am extremely happy with this product easy to set up and I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for that extra protection you can’t go wrong I would never look back I hope everything gets way better from here with this product it does exactly what it says I will never purchase any other products from anywhere else these guys get way more than five stars for me I am a loyal dedicated customer for life

I’ll start by saying I backed both the Red and the Blue. I even backed this product, thinking they would get their act together for the ultimate Firewalla experience. Failed right out of the box. They provide a wall hanger but fail to put the QR label in an accessible location. Now, I have to remove the Gold box from the wall mount and then remove a single screw so I can swing the Gold box enough to capture the QR label with my phone camera. Just getting started. Next forget simple. I’ve captured and lost connection to my Gold box so many times, I can’t remember. So, I’d add another “fresh” box to the line up and attempt to reconnect against. Sometimes successful most times not. Had enough of a review. Fix this mess.

As a tech savvy person and a parent (of a teenager) I have tried them all. Linksys, Netgear, Bark, Circle, Peplink, Pihole, Pfsense, Gryphon — all of them. I spent thousands of dollars buying hardware and software looking for the perfect combination of hardware and software. Forget all of the big names in this space their software/apps are complete junk. Firewalla delivers everything I want and a few things I didn’t know I wanted and love. Standout features, to me: 1. Multi gig WAN failover configuration 2. The best parental controls on the market 3. Whole network ad blocking 4. VPN (enabled me to cancel a subscription) 4. All of this in a single piece of hardware I’m a fanboy and sing your praises in every conversation that involves a home network or parental controls. THANK YOU TO THE FIREWALLA TEAM for making my home network hardware dreams come true.

I don’t typically write reviews but after using the FW Purple for about a month, I feel that it is worth the time to leave a comment. This little box rocks. It’s packed with features that keep my young teens from seeing things that they should not be subjected to. I love the VPN features as well. I can connect to my home network from abroad and surf the internet and feel as safe as I do at home. I look forward to future updates and features.

I have a Firewalla purple that has been running my network for about a year now, it’s has all the features I need to monitor my network and set rules for the kids and what not. The visibility on the app is also very well done and layed out. Update: upgraded to gold plus for faster speed. App continues to improve and add features without compromising stability. Overall excellent app/product.

Does what it’s supposed to do, self explanatory. Even in the free version. Similar to NoRoot only difference (which is better in my opinion) it doesn’t need to be set up an ran like a vpn such as NoRoot. No issues whatsoever appreciate yall making a firewall that actually works and allows you to scan internal/external without having to upgrade just hope the next update doesn’t mess it up like various other apps I’ve had smh lol.

I really like this app. It is very well laid out. Easy to find exactly what you are looking for. Rich rule base. Love the quarantine feature and the ease of setting every device on my VLANS. I manage gold and purple devices. Going to get another gold. There are so many options for an appliance out there but the real winner for hardware and app is firewalla. Thanks guys for your hard work and great products!

So far have been enjoying the logistics of my environment and being able to customize rules, however these 3 things would have made my beginner user experience much better 1. Device needs to be paired with app within first hour of connection, this info is buried in your setup and issues page and would have helped after I tried to add the app to 3 more iOS devices a few hours after setup. 2. iPad support, such nice graphs and yet all I have is a scaled iPhone app stretched on my iPad Pro. 3. For the rules you can create a custom block time, but what if I just want a custom ‘allow time”? Example work app to only be available work days between 8-4pm, as of now I can block from 4-8am, BUT this will include Saturday/Sunday which I would rather block entirely. Thank you

Can’t wait to see how it evolves and iterates over time, excellent example of a solid info-dense app that is intuitive and stable. A bit disjointed that some things are app-only and a few are web UI only and occasionally I have to look around for a little-used setting. The key phrase there is little-used. Frequently used stuff is front and center.

Best SOHO firewall ever, easy to setup and use, lots of flexibility and control over devices on the network, one of my favorite features is quarantine, any new devices that connect will be placed in that category until you apply the device to a network keeping it from having any network or internet access. Hands down worth the money all the way.

I am now aware of what is going on on my network. Bad actors on my home network are blocked from even accessing the internet. I caught a device (a cheap light switch) trying to upload large to a foreign country up. Kiddos act more responsible online knowing that I get alerted real-time if they go places they are not supposed to.. There is a Firewalla for everyone.

The app and computer interface are fine. But what is amazing is when you sign up for emails, they will automatically send you a short tutorial on something about your Firewalla each week. So you can learn at a slower pace. Pretty cool firewall. I recommend it. Can’t give it a 5, because I like to update the firmware myself, though some people may prefer this automatic upgrading.

Latest update broke the app. It can’t detect the firewalla. Worked with previous version prior to today’s update. Update: the app needs to pair with a newly restarted device. It would have been great if the error message indicated this as a possible troubleshooting step. Anyway, it is all good now.

This is a wonderful product. It really helps guys like us that want a constant pulse on our networks. Today’s threats are ever looming and this product helps give us a tool to better stay aware of the contestant threats. Looking forward to seeing you guys continue to grow and release new features. I’ve signed up for the beta program. Can’t wait to see what comes next in new features. --

Adblock alone is worth the cost, but all the rest is like free high-dollar services business pay for. VPN server even. Wow. And while I wish there were some shortcuts to home and a favorite list, the frame it’s built on is very strong. My only concern is that without a monthly fee the company will belly up and update will cease. First time I ever complained about a free service.

After spending ~$600 across various “smart” mesh systems…Firewalla has provided exactly what I wanted from the start. Take a little of the hobbyist fun out of what I wanted to run on my home lab raspberry pi’s…but sometimes its just nice to pay for piece of mind. A refreshingly terrific user experience, performance, and feature set. Absolutely stellar work across the hardware and software system.

Cons: Terrible customer service! No support available over the phone. When you email them sometimes they respond back and sometimes they don’t. If they do respond back it’s with a 3-4 four sentence response with a link to their website for whatever the issue is that takes a substantial amount of time to read and figure out. Extremely time consuming. Pros: As far as I can tell very good protection for your network!

This firewall/router is amazing, it’s so easy to setup, and manage anyone with basic computer knowledge would be able to properly set it up. The App it’s so easy to use that my 84 year old grand mother figure out hot to use it in les than 10 minutes. All the features and security you get from , the price you pay are definitely worth it.

This is a great product if all you want to do is block traffic and keep family from certain sites. It is also good for monitoring your IoT devices. But very horrible job of setting allow statements. There is none. No white listing. If monitoring any Alexa Dots or Echos you cannot reach these from outside of your network. Also I can not use my vpn while paying bills or using the internet. The manufacturers suggests “stop monitoring” those devices. That is not an acceptable solution because then you cannot are traffic flows. Overall I give it a one star because it does not support the features I stated above.

Recently turned my Amplifi HD into just a wifi access point by inserting Firewalla Purple into the chain as the router. Works great! No other solution I’ve ever tried has given me the easy visibility into and control of my network. Just wish I could get better internet access than crappy DSL.

I took out my sonicwall and replaced it with the Firewalla. This device gives me so much more insight into my network and puts all the features to research issues under one pane of glass. Invest in the Firewalla if you are working from home! There are so many great features to this little box!

This small firewall/VPN device is awesome. The installation was very easy and the application options are straightforward. I especially like the notifications when a new device is detected or when an open port is detected. If you are looking for an additional firewall/VPN device for extra protection for your network, I recommend this product.

We have had the Firewalla blue for several months now and it has been very helpful in ensuring our home network security. Pros Let’s you know what devices are on your net with usage and connections details. Built in VPN which works great. Notifications of changes on the network. Outbound and inbound data usage. Services in use. List goes on and we don’t even use all of the attributes. No latency that I have been able to detect. Let’s me know when new devices are introduced to the network. Cons Can’t think of any. Overall excellent device with a very low learning curve and excellent support. Can not recommend it enough.

I made a review stating a problem I had. The company reached out and the problem was resolved within a short time. I still have some slow response time within the app, however in my experience good security comes with slightly slower speeds.

I’ve been using my FWG about two years now and I must say, this these things are a lot of fun even for an IT professional. Software updates seem frequent. It also makes setting up personal VPN so simple. Support can be finicky but it’s a complex topic and not everyone uses the right / same terminology. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. Overall, there’s no product quite like it. I can’t recommend one enough. If you want to learn how to take control of your network, or just have a basic level of security in front of your ISP, this is it.

I’ve finally found the perfect router for me that can handle dual wan and network segmentation. It didn’t take a long learning curve to set it up, unlike other routers in this category. This was so easy for a nontechnical person like me. I totally recommend.

The Firewalla team has done a great job developing an app and device that is both powerful and easy to use for a normal person. There are many features that work well. The VPN feature is easily my favorite other than the usual firewall features like intrusion detection and prevention and IP upstream/downstream blocking.

I am really impressed with the quality of the app for the Firewalla Gold. It is a very complex device and the app makes it intuitive. Similar network control software that came with my Wifi router was terrible. This is an example of doing it right.

Firewalla Red is easy to set up and does what it’s advertised to do. In retrospect I would probably spend the extra 80 bucks to get the Firewalla Blue with its extra features. The app works really well and gives me the features and functionality I need.

I have been using the firewalls app with the Gold hardware for over a year and it has remained rock solid, easy to use, and powerful. For anyone who wants a powerful, but simple to use firewall I cannot recommend this setup enough.

Our family of 5 uses all devices imaginable. Add to that Internet of Things devices, and you’ll be amazed at the data that’s leaving your house with your data. Firewalla Blue is easy to use and connect, even with Mesh networks like Orbi and EERO and more!

Very pleased with this appliance as it allows me to “see” what is going on within my home network. The VPN server also lets me tunnel back and out to access content (e.g. sports) restricted to local markets. I highly recommend adding this to your network for security.

Lots of functionality and constantly improving. Provides an easy way to improve network security but also allows more advanced users to tweak things considerably.

Ordered the Firewalla Blue, arrived yesterday, set it up this morning. My router/modem was on the compatible list, so setup went well with the app. Seems both the Firewalla Blue & the App are working fine & setup is complete & paired with my iPhone. I am pleased & satisfied so far, need to give it more time for a more thorough review.