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Knowledge document #8

Restricting internet use with parental controls

You can set up access profiles in the FRITZ!Box for all of the devices in the home network to define in detail how long and when internet use is allowed on individual days of the week. In addition, you can block access to certain websites or only allow access to certain websites.

General access profiles are already preconfigured in the FRITZ!Box for this purpose:

  • Standard: All of the devices in the home network use this profile by default and it is automatically assigned to all new devices in the home network.
  • Blocked: Devices that use this profile can never access the internet.
  • Unrestricted: Devices that use this profile can always access the internet without restrictions.
  • Guest: This profile applies to all devices in the guest network.

If you want to regulate the internet use of individual users or user groups, you can create your own access profiles.

Each access profile can be assigned to one or more devices, thus ensuring that a child's smartphone, computer, and game console are subject to the same restrictions and shared time budget, for example.

Requirements / Restrictions

  • The parental controls are not available when the FRITZ!Box is used as a wireless repeater or in IP client mode. In this case, regulate internet access in your router.
  • Devices in the guest network are always assigned to the "Guest" access profile and cannot be regulated individually.

Note:All instructions on configuration and settings given in this guide refer to the latest FRITZ!OS for the FRITZ!Box.

1 Creating an access profile

Set up separate access profiles for users or user groups whose internet use you want to regulate individually:

  1. Click "Internet" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Filter" in the "Internet" menu.
  3. Click on the "Access Profiles" tab and then the "New Access Profile" button.
  4. In the "Name" field, enter the name of the user or user group you want to regulate internet use for.
  5. In the "Period" window, specify the times when internet use should be allowed.
  6. In the "Time Budget" window, specify how long the internet can be used on the individual days of the week. Time budgets are not suitable for use with messengers such as WhatsApp because they access the internet all the time.
  7. If you set up a time budget and want all of the devices with this access profile to share the available time, enable the option "shared budget".

    Important:It only makes sense to use shared budgets for access profiles for users who access the internet with more than one device (for example for your child's smartphone, computer, and game console). This option is not suitable for user groups.

  8. Enable the option "Use of guest access blocked".
  9. If you want to limit access to websites:
    1. Enable the option "Filter websites".
    2. If you only want to allow access to certain websites, enable the option "Permit websites".
      • If you want to block certain websites, enable the option "Block websites".

        Important:If a filter list is enabled, it is not possible to directly access IP addresses on the internet. We describe how to create filter lists for websites further below.

  10. Click "OK" to save the access profile.

2 Assigning devices to an access profile

Assign a suitable access profile to all of the devices in the home network:

  1. Click "Internet" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Filter" in the "Internet" menu.
  3. Select the desired access profile for all of the device from the drop-down list:
    • If the device should have unrestricted internet access, select the "Unrestricted" access profile from the drop-down list.
    • If the device is not allowed to access the internet, select the "Blocked" access profile from the drop-down list.
    • If you want to restrict internet access for the device, select one of the access profiles you created from the drop-down list.

      Example:
      You created the access profile "John" for your son. John uses his smartphone, computer, and game console to access the internet. To ensure that John's time budget includes all of his devices, assign all three of them to the access profile "John".

  4. Click "Apply" to save the settings.
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all of the devices in the home network.

3 Creating filter lists for websites

The following step is only necessary if you enabled the option "Filter websites" and want to block access to specific websites for one or more access profiles:

  1. Creating filter lists for permitted or blocked websites

4 Implementing additional security measures

Setting up password protection for FRITZ!Box

To prevent unauthorized persons from logging into the FRITZ!Box and changing its settings, protect access to the FRITZ!Box with a password:

  1. Click "System" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "FRITZ!Box Users" in the "System" menu.
  3. Click on the "Login to the Home Network" tab.
  4. If each user should use a unique password to access the FRITZ!Box, enable the option "Login with FRITZ!Box username and password".
    • If all users should use the same password to access the FRITZ!Box, enable the option "Login with the FRITZ!Box password" and enter a password for accessing the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  5. Click "Apply" to save the settings.

Adjusting the "Standard" access profile

To ensure that new devices in the home network cannot bypass the parental controls, block internet access for the "Standard" access profile:

  1. Click "Internet" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Filter" in the "Internet" menu.
  3. Click on the "Access Profiles" tab and then the (Edit) button for the "Standard" profile.
  4. Enable the option "never" in the section "Time Limit".
  5. Enable the option "Use of guest access blocked".
  6. Click "OK" to save the access profile.

Now the parental controls are fully configured.

Note:To see which restrictions apply to a device, you can call up http://fritz.box/surf.lua on the respective device.



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