I’m trying to limit my kids’ screen time but I’m confused whether these controls work at the router level or just on each device-can someone break down how home network filtering actually blocks stuff?
Great question — basically you’ve got two layers: router-level filtering blocks stuff for every device on your WiFi (phones, tablets, gaming consoles, all of it) without touching each gadget individually, while device-level controls (like Apple Screen Time or Google Family Link) only cover that one specific device.
The catch with router-only filtering is that a savvy kid can just flip to mobile data and completely bypass it, so most parents do both — router filtering for the home network plus device controls to catch the mobile data loophole.
Easiest starting point: check if your router supports DNS filtering (Circle, Eero, or even free OpenDNS) — takes like 20 minutes to set up and covers everything on your home WiFi without installing anything on their devices. 