It's either whitelist or blacklist.

Enson Loo wrote

It's either whitelist or blacklist.

That is pretty poor Parental Control feature. Any routers out there with some decent Parental Controls?

It takes a little effort to understand how to setup Parental Control rules. Here are some basics:

* Parental Controls appear to be only working to allow/disallow access to websites (HTTP/HTTPS). As a result, a video stream in progress from Netflix, for example, will not be blocked;
* Whitelist is used to restrict access only to specified sites. Note that if nothing is specified in Whitelist, then everything will be blocked ("Whitelist nothing" rule, meaning that nothing should be allowed);
* Blacklist is used to block access to specified sites. Note that if nothing is specified in Blacklist, then nothing will be blocked ("Blacklist nothing" rule, meaning that nothing should be blocked);
* Based on everything above, the only practical use of Parental Controls appears to be either blacklisting access to questionable websites (sites with explicit content, for example) or whitelisting only specific websites (educational, for example) to prevent kids from wondering around online.
* It is not possible to interrupt a video stream like with Access Control feature of old TL-WDR4300.

Thanks. I thought when I whitelist (with no specifics) a mac address that all internet would be disallowed. But apparently, this is not the case...streaming and games continue to play until a new search starts. Seems to be pretty poor control. There must be a router out there somewhere with comprehensive controls:confused:

if your router is still able to return , you can see homecare routers which can setup individual rules for each device.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-1707.html

Kevin SG wrote

if your router is still able to return , you can see homecare routers which can setup individual rules for each device.
https://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-1707.html

Thanks. Yes I wish this router had better control. I know some ports that I would like to restrict but I can't understand from the user interface or manual how to block ports...you would think that would be pretty basic. Also there are lots instructs on the web about blocking sites and ports for older TP Link routers, but not for this one. If I buy a different router I want one with detailed control capabilities, even homecare looks pretty limited. I had an old Linyks router that seemed much more comprehensive.

I went back and forth with support and eventually got the following response:

The router cannot block the app as the way you wanted for now.
I will send a feedback to related department and they will evaluate the plan.
Thanks for your understanding.