![]() ![]() ![]() Have friends or co-workers over and discover last-minute that you forgot to set up Wi-Fi access for them? Use the NETGEAR Genie app to set up a guest network for them in a jiffy. Once inside the app, the settings of the main wireless network can be tweaked directly, including the SSID, password, and wireless channel. Once the login is completed, the user has access to all the main features of the app through a colorful and straightforward interface. ![]() Once the app is installed, a login is required, just as if the router was being logged in to. I took the app for a spin on my Samsung Galaxy SII to see what it's capable of. NETGEAR is now taking the convenience factor a step further and has bestowed upon us a mobile app, available for lovers of both Apple and Android. We cover the NETGEAR Genie in our WNDR3800 review and also demo it in our video. ![]() If you set up an IFTTT routine and have other smart devices connected to the same home network, things get even more interesting and you can, for instance, have smart lights turn on/off when your phone connects/disconnects to the wireless network.For a while now, several newer NETGEAR wireless routers have been shipping with support for a utility called "NETGEAR Genie." In a nutshell, NETGEAR Genie allows you to manage a variety of settings for your router directly from your desktop, without having to log in to a browser window, making it easy to tweak settings on the fly. So you can, for example, ask Google Home to in turn ask NETGEAR what your Wi-Fi settings are, turn on/off guest network access, and so on. Enabling remote access opens up another feature I found useful as well-NETGEAR has a skill for Amazon's Alexa and also has Google Assistant integration now. Similarly, using the local media server is easier here for what I was doing previously, as is getting a quick readout of traffic over the day, week, or month. The mobile app makes it a lot easier to test the Wi-Fi network connection and channels, as well as map out the signal strength and max bandwidth at various locations/rooms in your house. The rest of the menus are what we saw with the desktop program, albeit a few options are not present here (AirPrint, for example), which I personally did not care about, but you might care for their absence, so be aware of this. The final menu contains network support options, and note that you can also enable remote access of router settings via NETGEAR genie, which can come in handy for another useful feature we will talk about real soon. This worked great in allowing me to view files located on my phone on the larger display of my TV, for example. There is also support for Apple's AirPrint (which now works with Windows 10 as well), and another neat feature is the ability to set up a local media server. One thing I am not fond of is how some options are found in multiple places, as we see Readyshare printing get its own menu here. NETGEAR also has added support for their home router, including this Orbi kit, with Disney's Circle Smart Parental Control mobile app for even more parental control, so you have options upon options here as well. As such, you need to have a plan and subscription, and there is a free plan for home security as well. One of the features available here and not the web browser portal are parental controls via OpenDNS for operation. Guest access can be configured here as well. You can also create a quick home map for network strength and bandwidth, although this is better done with the mobile app version instead since it is easier to carry a phone around the house. The WiFi Connection menu shows a lot of accessible wireless networks in range, helps measure the signal strength of each, including your own, and helps determine the best channel to use for your specific case. The Internet menu helps run a speed test not just via Ookla's Speedtest but by also measuring your connection's speed to any website of your choosing, which can help with figuring out if a slow connection is on your end or the other. As with the web browser portal, we have a home menu that summarizes the status of various objects that get their own separate menu of options and settings alike. There is also a visual walkthrough on the NETGEAR website, and a detailed user manual is available if you need it. User experience is good, however, to where things are easy to figure out and even better organized than in their web portal. The desktop version of NETGEAR genie scales well with high DPI displays, although it does look dated from a purely aesthetic point of view. ![]()
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