Why you may belief TechSwitch
We spend hours testing each services or products we evaluate, so that you may be positive you’re shopping for the most effective. Find out more about how we test.
OpenDNS is a cloud-based Domain Name System (DNS) supplier that delivers enhanced safety with net filtering and numerous blocking options – and OpenDNS Family Shield is its client product for safeguarding whole households from inappropriate content material on the web. So whereas it is not a totally fledged parental control app, it does provide some related capabilities.
Family Shield is designed to supply quick, simple parental management – the sort of product the place dad and mom can set it up as soon as and overlook about it, figuring out that it’ll block grownup content material on all gadgets. It’s simple to make use of, however doesn’t embody customization.
OpenDNS additionally has a free product referred to as OpenDNS Home, which permits dad and mom to customise their net filtering and examine fundamental utilization stats. It’s extra concerned, however trickier to arrange.
Since 2015, OpenDNS has been a part of the Cisco group, so there’s no scarcity of cloud computing and cybersecurity information underpinning this device.
Plans and pricing
Family Shield will get off to a delightful begin – as a result of it’s totally free, identical to the customizable Home product.
Despite that free standing, Family Shield covers an infinite variety of gadgets, and it doesn’t require an account to make use of – in contrast to the free Home product, which requires account creation with the intention to use its customization skills.
Features
Family Shield is free, then, however what does it do? Put merely, it’s a preconfigured net filter which you can arrange in your router, PC, smartphone or server. Once it’s configured, it blocks doubtlessly dangerous visitors.
The greatest manner to make use of OpenDNS is to set it up in your router – that manner, it’ll filter all of the visitors that goes by way of your router, whether or not that’s from telephones, video games consoles, laptops or anything.
Family Shield’s preconfigured filter blocks content material in 4 classes: pornography, tasteless, proxy/anonymizer, and sexuality. You’ll discover nearly the whole lot you don’t need your youngsters seeing inside these 4 classes. On high of that, OpenDNS Family Shield additionally blocks phishing websites and different doubtlessly harmful web sites.
The filter works extraordinarily effectively, and the very fact it really works on routers means it really works throughout a broader vary of gadgets than most parental management instruments.
Bear in thoughts, although, that extra standard instruments like Qustodio or MMGuardian will let you filter utilizing a far wider array of classes.
If you need a wider array of classes or if you wish to add your individual permitted or blocked websites to lists, then you definitely’ll have to make use of OpenDNS Home – a extra customizable product that’s admittedly a bit extra technical.
Once Family Shield is configured, there’s no dashboard, management panel or app to fret about – you apply the settings and let it work.
It couldn’t be simpler, then, however it’s price noting that OpenDNS Family Shield is a filter, not a standard parental management app, so that you miss many options you’ll discover elsewhere.
You gained’t discover display time controls, location monitoring, app blocking or anything right here, as an illustration – as a result of OpenDNS Family Shield is just not that sort of product.
If you need these, you’ll need to discover a free device from Microsoft, Google or Mobicip, or a paid product like Norton Family Safety, Qustodio or Bark.
Interface and use
The simplest manner to make use of OpenDNS Family Shield is by setting it up in your router – that manner, it filters the entire net visitors that goes by way of the router throughout your array of gadgets.
To arrange Family Shield in your router, you’ll have to enter your router’s browser settings and alter its DNS settings – the numbers that management how net visitors flows by way of the router. Once these settings are saved, net visitors is routed by way of OpenDNS’s filters, which suggests inappropriate websites are blocked.
The course of will doubtless be nearly equivalent for many routers, however OpenDNS offers dozens of helpful guides, with footage, for a lot of frequent fashions.
That’s nice, though individuals who aren’t technically savvy should wrestle to set OpenDNS Family Shield up as a result of they’re uncertain about delving into router or system networking settings – and that’s totally comprehensible.
If you wish to set up OpenDNS filtering on particular person gadgets, like smartphones, then it’s simply as simple – and that is an efficient approach to apply filtering on know-how that gained’t at all times be related to the web by way of your property router.
On Android and iOS, it’s so simple as heading to the community settings and altering the DNS configuration. On Windows and macOS, it’s an identical course of. And for an enormous number of gadgets, from telephones and video games consoles to Linux laptops and Windows gadgets, OpenDNS offers clear tutorials.
If you wish to use OpenDNS Home as an alternative, setup is basically related – and you need to use a web-based dashboard to handle your community, alter filters, and examine statistics about community utilization.
Support
We’ve already talked about the wealth of setup guides you need to use with OpenDNS Family Shield, and help is complete elsewhere. The Documentation part is stuffed with guides that take a deeper take a look at OpenDNS know-how, and you’ll delve into configuration should you’d like to make use of OpenDNS Home as an alternative.
The person discussion board is extraordinarily busy, so it ought to be comparatively simple to get solutions to frequent technical points, and there’s a ticket-based system for submitting help requests. Reports on-line counsel that replies are each fast and useful.
The solely factor lacking right here is telephone help or reside chat, however that tends to be supplied by bigger organizations with parental management apps which have extra options. While OpenDNS is actually an enormous firm, Family Shield is a comparatively fundamental filter moderately than a fully-featured parental management app.
The competitors
That standing signifies that it’s fairly troublesome to weigh up OpenDNS Family Shield with any shut rivals – as a result of this net filtering product is exclusive.
It does an important job of filtering your community, as an illustration, however you’ll additionally discover glorious filtering in Qustodio and MMGuardian – albeit on particular person gadgets. Both of these merchandise, and Bark, additionally present a broader slate of parental management options, though they’re paid-for merchandise.
And in order for you parental management with out paying a penny, then store round: Microsoft Family Safety and Google Family Link each have fundamental filtering, and Qustodio provides a free parental management app for single-device monitoring.
Final verdict
There’s little doubt that OpenDNS Family Shield is a wonderful net filter. When utilized to your router, it’ll do an incredible job of blocking inappropriate visitors throughout each system in your house – and all without cost.
When used on smartphones and laptops, it’ll block those self same web sites when youngsters are utilizing different networks, too, and OpenDNS Home is a perfect subsequent step for personalization should you’re snug with extra technical setup and customization.
Beyond the filter, although, OpenDNS Family Shield has little to supply as a result of it’s not a full parental management suite.
If you’re proud of utilizing a filter in your networks, then Family Shield is a free and efficient choice. But in order for you parental management options like location monitoring, display time restrictions and app management, then you definitely’ll need to look elsewhere – and perhaps spend some cash, too.