Devices Keep Disappearing from Child Profiles in Parental Controls

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Devices Keep Disappearing from Child Profiles in Parental Controls

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Devices Keep Disappearing from Child Profiles in Parental Controls
Devices Keep Disappearing from Child Profiles in Parental Controls
2023-05-08 22:26:34
Model: Deco  
Hardware Version: V6
Firmware Version: 1.1.11 Build 20230302 Rel. 51700

I signed up for HomeShield when I purchased the Deco 6e several months ago in order to get Parental Controls.   I set up each of my kids profiles and added all their devices.

 

I've had to go back in multiple times per month only to find that some or all of their devices have randomly disappeared from their profile.   I added them back in each time, double and even triple checking the MAC addresses on the devices to be sure I'm getting the right ones, only to have it happen again.

Most recently I discovered that my son has been visiting sites that I definitely do NOT want him going to becuase his device was again dropped from his profile.

I see there was another post on this in 2020 that many users complained about but there was no resolution listed and the post was eventually blocked:

  

https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/217302

 

 

This is a high risk and sensitive issue.  If the Deco cannot perform this service consistently, TPLink should be warning it's customers and responding more thoroughly to these posts.   In addition, it should not be charging customers for a service they are not providing in a reliable fasion.

 

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Re:Devices Keep Disappearing from Child Profiles in Parental Controls
2023-05-08 22:42:59

  @Vic_R,

When the devices are accessing the sites, do you see any unrecognized devices on your home network? 

 

As you mentioned, the Parental Controls feature relies on the MAC address of a device to identify and assign them to a profile. Unforutnately, all smart phones now have a "Private Addressing" feature that allows the phone to provide a fake MAC address to the network. I have even now seen the feature on gaming consoles, PCs and even Smart TVs.

From a router standpoint, there is not too much that can be done when the router is given fake records that make the device look like an entirely different device.

 

Your son most likely had the setting disabled when you stored the MAC address and is able to toggle the setting on to send the network a different MAC address. OR if the setting was enabled, the device used a different fake MAC when it reconnected to the network. It is worth mentioning that I believe that the setting may be enabled by default, so it may simply be the result of not changing the setting off of its default value, and may not be a direct attempt at circumventing the filter.

 

 

This is something that our teams have definitely been working hard to provide solutions for, however, each iteration of phone and OS makes it more difficult to track devices between disconnects.

 

At CES this year, we actually announced a bunch of new features that would be coming to the HomeShield platform later this year. The new system will allow you much more control over the devices connected to your network and will prevent workarounds such as this. You can read the official press release to get an idea of the features that are being developed.

 

 

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