Safe Surfer started providing filtering services in 2016, and our first product for families and individuals was a Wi-Fi-based solution. In fact, we still provide these today to some customers in Australia and New Zealand. Wi-Fi filtering is highly convenient and effective, especially for younger families. Wi-Fi filtering also provides the ability to provide some protection for tricker devices (where it's not practical or possible to develop an app, such as smart TVs and video game consoles). But there are a few reasons as to why Safe Surfer has moved its primary focus to developing and supporting app-based solutions:

Wi-Fi routers are difficult for us to support outside of Oceania.
Getting the custom blocking and monitoring features working through Wi-Fi DNS filtering is sometimes tricky.
Tech-savvy kids and individuals can sometimes find ways to bypass Wi-Fi filtering, whereas the Safe Surfer apps usually make this considerably more difficult to achieve.

Here are some things we can do for each kind of device when compared with Wi-Fi-based filtering:

Safe Surfer app safety features

You can find out how to get started with our installation walkthrough guides by clicking this link.

Android

Install custom block settings and device monitoring for protection on the go.
Prevent uninstallation, which works particularly well on Samsung devices.
Block apps themselves (including the blocking of VPNs), which also improves the user's screentime experience. This also blocks Tor Browser, an anti-censorship app specifically designed to bypass network filtering.
Monitor texting and social media notifications.
Monitor for sexual content on-screen.

iPhones and iPads

Install custom block settings and device monitoring for protection on the go.
Block eBook content marked as explicit in the Apple Books app automatically.

Windows

Install custom block settings and device monitoring for protection on the go.
Prevent uninstallation after changing Windows user account settings.
Enforce blocking built-in Windows VPN features to stop specific workaround methods.
Enforce blocking built-in Windows proxy features to stop specific workaround methods.
Enforce blocking Tor network systems, which blocks Tor Browser, an anti-censorship app specifically designed to bypass network filtering.
Enforce blocking VPN web browser extensions in most web browser apps (such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox).
Filter Bluetooth-based internet connections, and disable mobile broadband internet connections (which can't be filtered; this doesn't affect connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots).
Disable private browsing windows (and the deletion of browsing history wherever supported) in most web browser apps (such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox).
Enforce blocking unfilterable Microsoft News content when opening the Microsoft Edge web browser (along with blocking some other minor Windows features where this content can also be found).
Enforce blocking the VPN and Tor features in the Brave web browser app.

macOS

Install custom block settings and device monitoring for protection on the go.
Prevent uninstallation after changing Mac user account settings.
Enforce blocking VPN web browser extensions in most web browser apps (such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox).
Disable private browsing windows (and the deletion of browsing history wherever supported) in most web browser apps (such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox; the installation walkthrough guide takes you through disabling private windows for Safari).
Enforce blocking unfilterable Microsoft News content in the Microsoft Edge web browser.
Enforce blocking the VPN and Tor features in the Brave web browser app.

Chromebook and Chromebox

Install custom block settings and device monitoring for protection on the go.

Updated on: 13/11/2024