Circle Parental Controls App Reviews

by Disspaointedb!tch

My parents forced me and all of my siblings to download CircleParentalControlsApp so that they could limit our media time to no more than 3 hours of a day. This means no social media or shows. My parents seemed to think that if they limited the things we enjoyed and completely took them away every time we got upset or forgot to do our chores that we would become better kids. All this has done is cause more problems. Every day someone is frustrated over losing their privileges and I don’t think this has improved our relationship with our parents at all. In fact I hate them more than before. Parents using CircleParentalControlsApp and making their kids hate them more isn’t the only problem I have with it though. CircleParentalControlsApp also slows down internet considerably and recently when we got media time the apps that we were allowed to use, but are usually blocked only worked for short amounts of time before not working again. I’ve deleted CircleParentalControlsApp and my parents did everything they could, but nothing will work and I’m afraid CircleParentalControlsApp permanently messed up my phone. If you want to restrict your kids internet access I recommend other options.

by Tomomwins

My parents got the first gen about 3-4 years ago and at first since I didn’t play much games it didn’t bother me much but nowadays my parents got the second gen I play more video games because it’s my only way of contact with my friends and my parents have made it so I can only play if I get a reward so sometimes I do that but usually I can only get more time when my friends are offline and can’t play so now I’m losing friends because I can’t play anymore and even when I do get time it just kicks me off in the middle of a match and I can still hear my friends talking and they don’t even acknowledge that I’m gone and these are friends I’ve known for seven years just fading away because of the fact that I can’t play. And on top of all this it just randomly turns off my WiFi so I can’t do school work my parents also set a bedtime of 4pm so if I’m working I can’t complete and turn in my assignments. And that is why this product is good in theory but ends up ruining your childhood by imposing limits that have no way of being overcome

by Orangejuicerr

I’m 17 years old and it’s so frustrating to be in school and, not be able to look something up or, do something your teacher told you to do because your parents put school time on and your internet DOESNT WORK!! I always had trust issues with my parents; I’ve never really told them anything I do really and CircleParentalControlsApp has just made everything worse... I feel like i’m being micromanaged by them and I’m almost an adult. I understand that parents don’t want their kids getting addicted to technology but this is NOT a good way to stop that. We grew up in the era that has all this and it’s not going away. It’s frustrating when I only have 15 minutes on all my social media apps and I won’t even be on my phone and my time limit ends. What’s going to happen when i graduate this year and go off to college? Are they just going to keep micromanaging me with CircleParentalControlsApp while I’m an adult and trying to have fun? I know you think that from a teens perspective you think we’re just being dramatic but, what if we put CircleParentalControlsApp on your phones... how frustrating would that be? CircleParentalControlsApp doesn’t solve the technology problems and your children’s addiction to their phones, it just makes them not want to trust you and keep things from you. So please if your thinking about getting CircleParentalControlsApp for hour kid(s), re-think that option.

by CringeyPancake

Disclaimer: I’m a 14 yr old that was in a good state with my mom before this. I understand that most of you are gonna ignore me because I’m a kid, but most of the people reading this understand nothing about being a teenager today.

I’ve had this for about 2 months and its hell. I don’t tell my mom lots about my personal life. I’ll tell her things when it benefits me, example: I like a girl and I need advice. But now I always feel like someone is watching over me. The sense of freedom I had when I got this phone for christmas 3 yrs ago, out the window just like that. It slows down my wifi, which makes my $2000 computer useless. And so now, the money I was making from streaming games is gone because I can’t stream anymore. I’m also a very private person in real life. 70% of my friends are friends I made online playing video games on my free time, and now, in the middle of a global pandemic, where my mom doesn’t even let me go outside, I feel more lonely than ever. Get this if you have real problems, but if its because you have a kid like me that gets decent grades but not amazing, and forgets to do chores sometimes (I have ADHD so I kinda have an excuse), then don’t get this, just gonna make things worse.

P.S. Circle Devs, I talked to my parents about this, if your gonna respond, don’t give me your bot response.

by 𝙴𝚕𝚕𝚊 :) :D

Hi everyone if your reading this and think about getting CircleParentalControlsApp don’t get it and read why ok so the reason why you should not get CircleParentalControlsApp it’s very bad and here’s why it’s bad let me get to the point my mom has CircleParentalControlsApp and my friend ✨Ella✨has it to right right so you might be think whatever this is coming from kids well guess what kids I more smarter and wise we go to school and learn thing so there smart and I feel like people should learn WHAT SMART KIDS HAVE TO SAY cough cough us cough cough so my mom controls me with CircleParentalControlsApp CircleParentalControlsApp just gets me mad 😡 for example if I do something wrong oh ima turn off you internet so basically your taking advantage of CircleParentalControlsApp between your kid and if you get CircleParentalControlsApp that means you don’t trust them so you and your kid might have trust issues and I get that your kid does something wrong 😑 put why do you have to turn off the internet atleast make them do the dishes or something that does not go with internet because we are in a hard time staying home so we play with iPads phone and other stuff does not mean you have to take it away from us please give it a 1 star ⭐️ because it bad if you want to ruin your kids life then get it but just remember how they will feel and out yourself in there shoes

by Avesssok

Look, I know that I’m a teenager, and half of the adults looking at reviews won’t listen to this, but coming from a child, CircleParentalControlsApp has done NOTHING but cause problems. I am a 16 year old girl who has had CircleParentalControlsApp since I was 11. First off, it slows down your wifi significantly. It basically racks onto ur wifi and causes everything to load much slower and not as good of quality. Second, it has caused a lot of issues between me and my parents. I understand using CircleParentalControlsApp for children. But if you’re considering using this on your teens, do not. I’ve felt like i have no trust between me and my parents anymore because they’re constantly pausing my wifi for something like not doing the dishes. Thinking that taking your kids phone and wifi away will solve the problem is WRONG. It makes kids feel like you as parents can’t figure out a way to tell us we were wrong face to face, and instead you revert to technology thinking that taking our phone will make us stop. I know this isn’t exactly CircleParentalControlsApp developers problem, but if your an adult who actually cares about what your kids think, do NOT get CircleParentalControlsApp. Please, trust your children enough to manage their phone on their own and if it gets bad then step in.

by Bella_cookienice

Get CircleParentalControlsApp a one star or I will come and find you and continuously slap you until you wake up from sleeping then when you wake up I will kick you hard in the head a lot of time knocked out so you better do what I say I’m coming for you :) 🔪✨also I am a kid so don’t come for me!🥺🍀I believe that CircleParentalControlsApp is teaching us kids that when there parents turns off their wifi it’s kinda teaching to beg for there parents to turn there wifi on basically begging.😪 Another reason why you should not get CircleParentalControlsApp for your kid and rate it a one star☝🏻is because it makes us kids extremely sad basically if your kid is calling someone or playing watching YouTube/Netflix/Hulu/Disney+ when there WiFi gets turned off, it make us sad that are WiFi just got turned off. Us kids being sad all the time is not good for are mental health. So that was all my reasons why you should not get CircleParentalControlsApp for your kid/kidS! *also it cost money~ 💵*

Love, Isabella (´ε｀)♡

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

by S&S_Express

As a parent trying to protect my children/family, CircleParentalControlsApp falls short. After paying for the lifetime subscription and not getting sufficient support, I feel scammed. CircleParentalControlsApp is pretty good at blocking content. Lots of content, even working from home or school e-learning; it all gets blocked. I have to assign many devices to “unmanaged” just to use them for basic e-mail or homework. From that standpoint I don’t get any value for CircleParentalControlsApp for my most common devices. Then when I do get some control and the iOS app sends me a notification, I get no description of the trigger event from Circle. Did a child reach a time limit? Don’t know. Was some malicious content identified and stopped? Don’t know. Did a new device just join my network? I don’t know. The notifications are useless. When I’ve engaged support, if I can’t get back to them immediately, my ticket is closed without resolution. I’ve had multiple support attempts closed prematurely without any resolution.
Parents considering spending money on CircleParentalControlsApp, be cautious. Consider other options. Don’t take the dive on a lifetime subscription. Test the waters first. Learn from my mistake.

by JohnModz

Hi, My Name Is John I am 13 years old. My parents are very chill people they would always trust me with my internet. I then got older, and older and I would always listen to my parents, but they thought for some reason I was ignoring them. They kept complaining saying that I was “Using To Much Video Games” I rarely play video games now at age 13 it just is boring. I use social media and that’s also a hassle with my parents I try to explain how there’s a pandemic going on and I can’t go out and see them and they insist I should do other things, but there’s nothing I can do. CircleParentalControlsApp is hard to manage if your a Parent It works very poorly and it slows down the internet. I have had it for 2 and a half years now and it is awful. I love socializing with people in person, but I can’t do anything right now with a pandemic going on and my parents can’t realize that. My point is that you shouldn’t get CircleParentalControlsApp it will ruin a trust with family and will mess up your internet. The managers are bots and do nothing, but tell you to email them. Thanks for taking this in a 13 year-old’s perspective

by LElEahhhhh028274737

ok so yes I may be a 14 year old and I know you probably wont listen to this, but CircleParentalControlsApp has done nothing. I had such a good relationship with my parents, and as I got older and older, I started getting a bit more private about my life. I would still talk to my parents but I wouldn’t tell them every single detail, I would just tell them to the level I was comfortable with. but since CircleParentalControlsApp my privacy has been destroyed. it shows everything, even your search history and some red flag sites. not to mention CircleParentalControlsApp barely even works when you try to give rewards you get a 1 in 3 chance of it actually working. CircleParentalControlsApp is good for a punishment, but nothing else. since CircleParentalControlsApp I feel like im not in control of anything anymore and its caused me to become severely depressed. my parents think its making me less dependent on the internet but its doing the opposite, because they treat it like a reward and any time I can talk to my friends, or look something up I am so grateful for, that ive stopped doing homework just cause my focus time ended.

by Reyjyn

I recommend this to any homeschool parents who struggle to keep their child focused on schoolwork and not on Discord. But CircleParentalControlsApp is very frustrating, especially when it comes to scheduling focus time and bedtime. For some reason we are not allowed to create multiple schedules if they conflict with other schedules, even if the other schedules are turned off, if the limit applies to a different device, or if it applies to a different profile. So you can’t have one bedtime for TV if you are still allowing focus time on the ipad, for example. I have to either delete bedtime or change when focus time applies. Then I forget that I did it, allowing way too much screen time the next day before I realize what’s happening.

Update: So now Circle has come up with a new frustrating limit on how I use CircleParentalControlsApp . I tried to set a bedtime that was for late afternoon (not to put my child to sleep, obviously, but to stop TV access in the afternoons.) Circle informed me that bedtime was for nights & I have to schedule Focus time instead! Why are the developers making me go through more steps? More importantly, who made them the masters of when I decide bedtime is in my household?

by Mdconway

We had the Disney Circle first Gen to begin with about 3 years ago, it was great and we never had any issues. Earlier this year (January) we changed internet providers and the first gen didn’t work with that one so we got the newer version, the circle plus. Set up was just as easy and it worked well for maybe 3 days. I haven’t been able to get CircleParentalControlsApp to work at all in months! I reached out to circle support and got advised to do a number of steps, which I did. It didn’t work. I’ve let it sit on the back burner for a few weeks and decided to give it a go again today, still nothing. I open CircleParentalControlsApp and have 2 options “get started” or “log in to parent app”, type in my login info just to be taken back to the previous screen. Try clicking “log in” again, it doesn’t work. Won’t take me anywhere. I’m not sure what’s up or why it hasn’t worked in over 5 months. It’s doing it’s job, I do know that. But I’m not able to utilize the parent app like I’m supposed too. I’m very disappointed in this and feel like it was a waste of money.

by MaryM12345

The circle first generation app was wonderful. Lots of versatility and easy to control all of my kids’ devices.
The new circle parental control is nothing but a problem. Let’s start first with the fact that none of my previous log in information works with the updated app. Second, my “circle family” equally does not import into the new app, forcing me to set everything up all over again as if this is a brand new service. Super frustrating and time consuming. Third, the VPN is a mess. It causes many other apps not to work, some of which are the main ones my kids use for school. It’s just a disaster. Fourth, Circle First Generation worked with chromebooks. This was a huge benefit because I could limit their screen time. The new Circle Parental Control app ONLY works on mobile devices and not Chromebooks, which is what every school kid in America is seemingly using right now. You took a really great app and made it virtually useless. Such a shame that the developers wrecked what was a really good app.

by Sankdom

I am a child. So I may have a biased opinion. So take this how you please. First of it slows the WiFi down. I mean like to a halt so much so that our 4g WiFi that we used to use befor we got 5g and circle on it was better. I does monitor your child’s activity witch is actually helpful because when I am doing school work I can get distracted and this helps stop it allowing me to finish it faster. It also doesn’t block sites witch is great because my school has one that does and it’s sometimes hard to access the sites that I need to do work. The good thing is that it’s effective enough but doesn’t block all your sites. The one problem is that it monitors everything that is sent through your WiFi witch might allow the company that owns it to date mine you (I did my research) and some hacker steal that info or a hacker just skips the middle man and takes it right from you. Honestly I would like it much more if it didn’t slow down the WiFi. But if you don’t want your identity stolen the I would suggest not doing any of these things that monitor your WiFi. Also realize that they might not be data mining you but it is definitely a possibility and me personally is not willing to take that risk but it’s not up to me. All I am saying is be wary of this and any other device that monitors your WiFi especially if it’s owned by a company like Disney (I wouldn’t put it past then to steal your data) any ways hope you have a great day :)

by ☺️👍🏼😎 Ty

I really like your system but it has one problem when bedtime is set and say the time of bedtime is 11:30 pm and you set a reward it still shows that your bedtime is 11:30 pm but it also shows under rewards that bedtime has been removed for the night it is confusing and when that time comes around 11:30 pm it blocks it won’t give the reward I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or it is just a glitch please help of fix thanks Also another thing! I kind of fell like it slows down the internet a little bit because before we got the circle our internet speeds were 300 MB’s to 400 MB’s and now it is only 100 MB’s to 200 MB’s that’s when you do a speed test and I’ve done a speed test on different apps and websites and it’s the same when you use a wired connection. And our internet will just turn off out of no ware and we turned off the circle for a whole week and none of that happens and we’ve even gone as far as getting a new router. Thank you we really love your system!

by Makaylah Dah Maya

Hi. I’m a 10 year old girl, and my dad got CircleParentalControlsApp for me. He makes my time limit 4 hours a day, which isn’t so bad. I have to do chores to earn time. If your parents don’t even give you an hour and you can’t earn anymore time then that’s very wrong. Circle doesn’t invade all your privacy I guess, like your texts and stuff. But your parents can see your history and all the links you go to. Which isn’t so so bad! If you aren’t gonna have your child only use like their electronic for 3 hours, and not be able to earn more time then don’t get CircleParentalControlsApp. If you let them earn time and make their phone turn off at like 10:30 (depending on their age) and turn on at let’s say 6:00, that’s fine. But other then that, CircleParentalControlsApp is frustrating but it has helped me from my phone addiction. :)

by BabyFace2827502

First off I’m not parent using this to nany-cam their child as I am the child in question, although I will try to look at it from the perspective of a parent just take this review with a grain of salt.
If you were a parent I can see the uses for CircleParentalControlsApp (Thus the rating of 5 stars) as it can prevent unwanted materials such as violence or pornography from crossing your child’s screen. (As the child in question I can verify that it does a REALLY good job at this)
Sometimes though you may want to allow you child to access X and not Y even though they are in the 17+ category. This can cause some issues though as let’s say your child needs to do a research project on the Holocaust but you don’t want the child to be at risk of seeing pornography… I propose that the developers add a “Custom” restriction so that the child my be able to access X but not Y.
Although another thing that some may want added is the ability to chose what apps take up your time limit. For example it would be annoying when I try to do something in the settings app but it takes me 30mins to figure it out only to have 30mins left to do whatever else… In conclusion CircleParentalControlsApp is great if you want to manage the material that might come across your child’s screen but, this can be somewhat infuriating from the child’s perspective as it adds a time limit to almost everything. Anyways have a great day!

by Gggiygbbvcgfcft

I am thankful that my parents have installed CircleParentalControlsApp . I feel like it has protected me from a lot of bad things. I like how quickly my parents can unblock the internet as well. It’s easy to set up too. I have no iCloud storage left so things will uninstall sometimes and when ever circle gets uninstalled it’s so easy to set back up. My only problem is that it will make the internet run a fair bit slower. Probably because our devices are trying to keep up with circles settings so if you could fix that that would be AMAZING!! I also listen to podcasts on the Apple podcasts app and it will cut out at my bed time and my parents said they just unblock the podcasts app. So if you could make it so we can just unblock the podcast app I would appreciate it very much!!

by Ginny76

We have tried many different filtering systems but always come back to using Circle! It offers the most comprehensive and diverse parental controls we have found available. I know what my children
are using on their devices and can monitor the amount of time spent on different apps/websites/etc. Has also paved the way for conversations when I’ve seen excessive use of certain social media/websites/video streaming. The older teens have actually appreciated having limits and bedtimes/off-times to allow them play time/break time on their phones without the stress of being sucked in and losing hours of study or sleep time. Has been a blessing all around for setting electronic device time-limits as well as blocking inappropriate material/specific websites for those struggling with internet/pornography consumption.

by Phoenix_candy

I am 11 so basically no one is gonna read this but, yeah. If a parent is reading this DON’T get this for your child. My brother and I use to turn off circle because we hated it (with a passion) My parents mostly got CircleParentalControlsApp because, I had a problem with not getting any sleep for school cause I was staying up watching tv. They put CircleParentalControlsApp on EVERYTHING. They first put it on my tv. But when my tv went off I would get my Nintendo. Here is what they have it on. My things: Tv, Phone, Chromebook, Old iPad, Nintendo. Brother’s things: His tv, phone, Xbox, PS4, Chromebook. My dad is a manic with CircleParentalControlsApp. If I am being a “smart mouth” then he will pause me. Like I get circle during school. My bedtime during school was turn off at 9:30 turn back on at 7:00. Weekend it just turned off. But now in summer they still have it on. But the weekends are turned on and turn off at 11:30 turn back on at 7:00. My brother and I hate CircleParentalControlsApp. My dad abuses his power with CircleParentalControlsApp. I asked my mom when we can get circle off of our phone and she said “When you start paying your phone bill.” Well what if I can’t pay my phone bill in college? Are you gonna control my phone while I am in college? They put a password on circle so now we can’t do anything. If you went through my phone on my text with my mom while on summer break. You would be amazed at how MUCH I have asked for an reward.

by KatieKate888

We loved the original Circle with Circle Go. Since the upgrade to the new Circle device and VPN it’s been nothing but problems. I’ve spent hours on the phone with nice people at customer support with no solutions. How do I not like thee, let me count the ways:
- teen can click “turn off VPN” in settings to remove her device from Circle with just a toggle switch.
- teen says it’s not her - it just happens (hmmm)
- days later Circle tells me teen’s phone hasn’t communicated in a while. (Old version immediately told us if devices left network)
- teen unable to use certain sites that we allow because of glitches. Sites we allow - like Snapchat. Forced to set up VPN (which now allows or forces device to leave network, see above)
- always have to enter my password after an app update but suddenly do not need password to open app (different passwords, of course. Memorized CircleParentalControlsApp opening password and use thumb print but need to look up the program password)
- while customer service is pleasant they can’t fix anything and when I’m told a more senior/experienced tech will contact me, they don’t.
—-I’m so sad this new Circle is so bad. We loved the old version and they messed it up. I’d like my money back and I’ll find something else (which won’t be as good as the old Circle).

by Nothings Stopping Me

CircleParentalControlsApp is a disgrace. Not only is it easy to bypass with administrative acsess to the device it is used on, it also fails to block the most obvious of websites. News sites are sometimes blocked, as well as many informational pages. 4chan is disabled, yes, but just the boards with some semblance of legitamacy. My child was permited on the boards with racism and hardcore porn, but not the place where users congregate to talk about math and science. I was surprised this site had a math and science board, but they do, along with other topics like history, literature, video games, and advice. All of which are blocked. And let us not forget the blatent corperate favoritism. The page a child is redirected to when they go somewhere they should not be is full of promotions of disney. So not only does circle have an ineffective filter, they brainwash children to buy disney.

by Longnamebecauseotherstaken

CircleParentalControlsApp is absolutely terrible. Half the time it just blocks everything and makes it so that use of phone is impossible. If you’re intending to use CircleParentalControlsApp with your children my advice to you is find another option. Another problem is that it slows down everyone’s WiFi speed and cellular data speed as well. CircleParentalControlsApp has a lot of trouble working on older models of phone as well. So, if you’re looking to use CircleParentalControlsApp you half to pay for the use of CircleParentalControlsApp AND ensure that you’re children’s phones have the most up to date phone otherwise it won’t work. And even then there’s still no guarantee that it will. It’s just not worth the money.

by Cschmelz

Change: this new product is terrible. VPN used for Circle Go in new iteration fails nonstop and drives my kids nuts and therefore me nuts. Circle has been unable to fix and a ticket has been open for a month without resolution. If you are using the old product DO NOT SWITCH to the new one. It is still in ALPHA level status.

I was an early adopter of the original Circle device and of Circle Go. It disappointed me when I was notified Circle Go signups we’re suspended because I figured that meant it was end of life. The new product is undersold by marketing. It moves the VPN protecting my kids devices from being routed through my HOME network and crushing my home speeds to a REAL VPN network which is worth every penny. The new Circle Go equivalent isn’t even tied to the Ciircle device anymore!

New service is quick and easy and basically the new device is free with 12 months of free VPN service x $10/month. Great job Circle.

New app is a bit wonky but I’m sure it will be fixed quickly.

by Hellobart2018

I’m a kid- skip if you don’t care

All I’ve found CircleParentalControlsApp to do is ruin relationships between parents and kids. Besides the fact that I can add time when I want whenever I have one of the parents’ phones, my father has an infinitely low time for WiFi usage. The device also slows down competitive gaming, is rigorous in its system workings, from what I’m hearing from the other reviews, much less effective than the previous circle device. All in all, makes me despise my parents for what I could, but don’t, have.
Edit:the average ratings must be wrong- I went through at least 50, only saw 2 five stars.

by Ninschinwii

I loved Circle with Disney. The interface and control points were better and more intuitive. There were some problems, but overall it was good. I think the engineers were not held back enough on this new version. Every time the iPhone is updated, I have to redo all the restrictions. So annoying. The VPN in Circle Go causes so many issues that my kids are constantly complaining about it stopping them from doing what I have allowed them to do. So, I have to keep allowing them to turn off VPN. It defeats the purpose. I don’t know whether the bandwidth through the VPN is too small or what, but it’s annoying. A word of advice to the developer, tweak don’t revamp. If you change too many things at once, you almost will screw it up. Just regulate the engineers more. They will over-complicate products and forget about the user experience. Anyway, while this is something that is still useable, I can no longer unreservedly recommend this product any longer.

by Ahuppert

Let me preface my comments by saying that I have a background in IT. The bottom line with CircleParentalControlsApp is that, when it works, it works well. However, when it doesn’t work (as advertised), it utterly fails and you waste time (daily) trying to get it to work. In a nutshell, I set restrictions on a child between 10p and 7a. Why, when both the control app and user app side say they have time left for the day and the access isn’t restricted, does it say that they can not connect to the internet, won’t allow email, and applications can not get past the firewall? On a daily basis, both of my iPads are dead in the water. I went so far as to remove ALL restrictions and it still takes 5-10 minutes for the controlled device to be “released” by the VPN. Flipping a switch and saving should be as instantaneous as turning on a light in a dark room. I’ve wasted enough time troubleshooting this application that I’m looking for a different solution.

by Bigoljasen

I have had Circle and Mycircle for a year and have been happy. When the kids are at home you can parent, but this gives you a hand When kids are outside the home. It will analyze and block inappropriate sites, but also block apps on demand that you deem bad for your children like Snapchat or Fortnite. Because you can set phone bed times, getting the kids to sleep ample amounts on school nights has been much more manageable

So why not 5 stars? The only major problem was one time the system had a glitch and the all devices had to get CircleParentalControlsApp reloaded. The phones went unprotected for an unknown time without any notification, but with help from support we got that squared arround and I am happy again. Now, every so often I will use my parent app to turn off the internet from devises to make sure I am getting ample complaints. That confirm the system is doing its job.

by Curcuminy

We had the first generation circle with Disney. We now have the newer circle device and it just isn’t as good. We have to turn off settings in our router to make it compatible. I wish it had better compatibility. Even with a new router we were looking at, you’ve got to disable features in the router to make it work with circle. Hope they get this issues fixed.

by AlbertStuffandROBLOX

I decided to get the circle because my daughter is invested to her computer constantly playing Roblox or watching videos on her phone. She found out how to bypass the computer thing in a month with the hotspot. I got the circle on her phone and now she can’t. My complaint though is the fact she keeps coming to be complaining that she can’t read a PERFECTLY clean news article or that she cannot go on Snapchat.

by Tfresg

I like the time controls this allows, but the system is a little frustrating. I find it difficult to keep track of many things and rewarding for good behavior is an annoyance. I try to increase my sons time on Fortnite, but his online game time is 1 hour, making me have to add that reward so he can actually play Fortnite, then he has a total internet timer set at 2 hours, so if I want to let him play Fortnite more than 2 hours I have to also give him a reward for that. So, I have to do 3 rewards to give him a little extra time on Fortnite. Or I have to take off time limits on all but 1 of those 3 things. The other issue is how it tracks “online games”. For instance, my son left his Xbox on while we ate dinner. He had played 15 minutes of Fortnite, but when dinner was over he was locked out because circle counted his time connected to Xbox live as “online game” time. So then I either have to increase that time limit or set it to unmanage. The system is a little cumbersome, but a heck of a lot better than my distracted inner clock that will allow my kid to play games for hours on end. I’d definitely recommend it, it’s a great system, but not as magically controlling as I’d envisioned in my mind when I bought it.

by Sblhsmom

I’ll try to leave out the obvious money grab from 1st to 2nd gen but it’s definitely there. My issue is Circle no longer reports hostility activity beyond a certain number of links on IOS devices. So it restarts daily at 12am and records history until it hits some random number of inputs and the. Stops for the day. Typically 2-5am and that’s it. It does still operate and filter but doesn’t show history or real time activity as it did previously.

I’ve notified Circle and they are the ones who told me it’s only with iOS devices and are working on it. That was almost a month ago. Fix it.

by TQmai

The new circle seems to work more effectively than the previous version. The feature I like the best is the ability to have VPN on the phone even when off Wi-Fi. However I find the circle degrades our Wi-Fi at home. That’s my biggest complaint. Also doesn’t see to work well with Chromebooks at all. I’ve had to use Google’s controls on our Chromebook VS the circle.

by Beachfamilee

I originally had the first generation from T mobile but I upgraded the modem and it was not supported. Within days I found the Circle Plus version, I am now back up and running.

This prevents arguments when my kids test the boundaries or simply become apathetic teenagers, with the press of one button their electronic devices are off line. No debate at bedtime because it is on a schedule. Also, if they do dishes, clean the room, or mow the yard, you can reward them with extra time. User-friendly interface, and the new model is much easier to setup and identify the devices.

by JürgenParadise

CircleParentalControlsApp is been super helpful with managing multiple devices with three kids. Also very user-friendly. There’s no arguing when they reach their programmed bedtime.