How to block porn on an ASUS router
It’s easy with Safe Surfer to install an effective porn blocker on an ASUS router. Along with protecting your privacy, we use our behind-the-scenes technology to block porn and other harmful online content. Let’s get started with installing protection.
Note: some ASUS router models may not support installing Safe Surfer with a custom protection link (that is, for custom block settings and monitoring), although all should support installing traditional DNS servers as an alternative solution for at least some form of blocking. With regard to using a custom protection link, we have successfully tested the following models ourselves:
Wi-Fi 6:
RT-AX55
RT-AX57
RT-AX86U
The following untested models also support installing a custom protection link:
Wi-Fi 6:
GT-AX11000 PRO
RT-AX5400
RT-AX59U
RT-AX86S
RT-AX86U Pro
RT-AX88U
TUF-AX4200
TUF-AX5400
TUF-AX6000
Wi-Fi 6E:
GT-AXE16000
RT-AXE7800
If you have previously enabled any of the built-in parental controls or VPN features on the ASUS router, the protection might not work correctly. If the installation doesn't work correctly, we suggest performing a factory reset to make sure that everything works correctly.
On your personal computer, make sure that you’re connected to your ASUS router through either a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection. Open a web browser app (such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Safari).
Click the address bar at the top of your browser. The local IP address of your ASUS router will likely be either 192.168.50.1 or 192.168.1.1—you should be able to find this information printed somewhere on the router itself. Type the IP address into the address bar and press the Enter key to search.
Click the text that says “Click here to continue.”
Click the Yes button.
Your web browser will warn you than your connection isn’t private. It’s safe to proceed from here because you will be performing the following actions on your local network. Click the Advanced button.
Click the text that says “Continue to [IP address] (unsafe)”.
Enter the login details for your ASUS router control panel, then click the Sign In button. These details would have been set during the time that the router was installed in your home.
If you have previously turned on either the ASUS parental controls or VPN features, you will need to turn these off because they could interfere with Safe Surfer. Once you've turned everything off in these menus (on all menu tabs), restart the router before proceeding.
On the left-hand sidebar, click the WAN menu.
Click the Assign button found under the WAN DNS Setting section.
Click the button found under the Manual Setting section, then enter the following addresses:
DNS Server1: 4.150.168.57
DNS Server2: 104.197.28.121
Once you’ve done this, click the OK button.
Under the WAN DNS Setting section, click the drop-down box found next to DNS Privacy Protocol. Click DNS-over-TLS (DoT).
On the table that appears, type 34.36.100.185 into the IP Address text box.
Open a new tab and visit the Safe Surfer dashboard. Click the Devices menu on the left-hand sidebar, then click the “+ New Device” button.
Click "Wi-Fi and network".
Click “Use my existing router”.
Enter a name for this device listing, then click the Accept button.
Click the title for step 3, then click the copy button found next to the DoT protection link.
Once you’ve copied the DoT protection link, click the Blocking menu on the left-hand sidebar. Click the blue bubble list, then click the device listing for your ASUS router.
Click the switches to either block or unblock categories—grey means not blocked, and red means blocked. Once you’re done, click the Save button at the upper-right corner. You might need to scroll to the top of the list for the Save button to appear.
Back on the ASUS router tab, paste the DoT protection link into the TLS Hostname text box. Click the Add (+) button.
The protection settings will be added to the table.
At the bottom of the page, click the Apply button. You can now log out of your ASUS router by clicking the Logout button at the top of the page.
Visit the Safe Surfer website and check the protection bubble at the top of the page to verify that this device is protected.
To see blocking in action, try visiting ExampleAdultSite.com. This is a safe website for testing to see if pornographic websites are being blocked. If it's not blocked, review the previous steps.
If you have any Apple devices (that is, iPhones, iPads, or Macs), and you're not directly protecting them via the Safe Surfer dashboard, you will also need to enable the Limit Adult Websites setting on those devices to disable the Private Browsing Mode feature for Safari—this feature ignores the Safe Surfer filtering received from your home router:
For each iPhone and iPad device, navigate to the Settings app > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions (and enable this feature if it’s not already turned on) > Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content (on older devices, this menu is called Content Restrictions) > Web Content > set to Limit Adult Websites. Once you’re done, navigate back to the Screen Time main menu, which will save the changes.
For each Mac device, navigate to the System Settings app > Screen Time > Content & Privacy (and enable this feature if it’s not already turned on) > Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content (on older devices, this menu is called Content Restrictions) > under Web Content, set Access to Web Content to Limit Adult Websites, then click the Done button at the lower-right corner. Once you’re done, navigate back to the Screen Time main menu, which will save the changes. Open the Safari app > click the Safari text on the left-hand side of the menu bar (at the top of the screen) > click the Quit option. Repeat this process for every user account on the Mac.
If you connected the ASUS router into the back of your pre-existing Wi-Fi router, you can disconnect devices from the old Wi-Fi by either changing the Wi-Fi password on the pre-existing router or turning off the Wi-Fi entirely. You can do this by connecting a device to the old Wi-Fi and accessing its settings page. If you don't manage the pre-existing Wi-Fi router through an app, this information can usually be found printed on the rear or the bottom of the pre-existing Wi-Fi router.
Great work! The devices connected to your ASUS router should now be protected. Visit our easy-to-use online dashboard to start monitoring traffic and blocking content from our premium categories with an affordable Pro Surfer subscription.
All traffic leaving this router from your local network will be under a single device listing. If you would like to protect a different kind of device, visit our Guides page.
Note: some ASUS router models may not support installing Safe Surfer with a custom protection link (that is, for custom block settings and monitoring), although all should support installing traditional DNS servers as an alternative solution for at least some form of blocking. With regard to using a custom protection link, we have successfully tested the following models ourselves:
Wi-Fi 6:
RT-AX55
RT-AX57
RT-AX86U
The following untested models also support installing a custom protection link:
Wi-Fi 6:
GT-AX11000 PRO
RT-AX5400
RT-AX59U
RT-AX86S
RT-AX86U Pro
RT-AX88U
TUF-AX4200
TUF-AX5400
TUF-AX6000
Wi-Fi 6E:
GT-AXE16000
RT-AXE7800
Step 1: Install protection
If you have previously enabled any of the built-in parental controls or VPN features on the ASUS router, the protection might not work correctly. If the installation doesn't work correctly, we suggest performing a factory reset to make sure that everything works correctly.
On your personal computer, make sure that you’re connected to your ASUS router through either a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection. Open a web browser app (such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Safari).
Click the address bar at the top of your browser. The local IP address of your ASUS router will likely be either 192.168.50.1 or 192.168.1.1—you should be able to find this information printed somewhere on the router itself. Type the IP address into the address bar and press the Enter key to search.
Click the text that says “Click here to continue.”
Click the Yes button.
Your web browser will warn you than your connection isn’t private. It’s safe to proceed from here because you will be performing the following actions on your local network. Click the Advanced button.
Click the text that says “Continue to [IP address] (unsafe)”.
Enter the login details for your ASUS router control panel, then click the Sign In button. These details would have been set during the time that the router was installed in your home.
If you have previously turned on either the ASUS parental controls or VPN features, you will need to turn these off because they could interfere with Safe Surfer. Once you've turned everything off in these menus (on all menu tabs), restart the router before proceeding.
On the left-hand sidebar, click the WAN menu.
Click the Assign button found under the WAN DNS Setting section.
Click the button found under the Manual Setting section, then enter the following addresses:
DNS Server1: 4.150.168.57
DNS Server2: 104.197.28.121
Once you’ve done this, click the OK button.
Under the WAN DNS Setting section, click the drop-down box found next to DNS Privacy Protocol. Click DNS-over-TLS (DoT).
On the table that appears, type 34.36.100.185 into the IP Address text box.
Open a new tab and visit the Safe Surfer dashboard. Click the Devices menu on the left-hand sidebar, then click the “+ New Device” button.
Click "Wi-Fi and network".
Click “Use my existing router”.
Enter a name for this device listing, then click the Accept button.
Click the title for step 3, then click the copy button found next to the DoT protection link.
Once you’ve copied the DoT protection link, click the Blocking menu on the left-hand sidebar. Click the blue bubble list, then click the device listing for your ASUS router.
Click the switches to either block or unblock categories—grey means not blocked, and red means blocked. Once you’re done, click the Save button at the upper-right corner. You might need to scroll to the top of the list for the Save button to appear.
Back on the ASUS router tab, paste the DoT protection link into the TLS Hostname text box. Click the Add (+) button.
The protection settings will be added to the table.
At the bottom of the page, click the Apply button. You can now log out of your ASUS router by clicking the Logout button at the top of the page.
Step 2: Verify protection
Visit the Safe Surfer website and check the protection bubble at the top of the page to verify that this device is protected.
To see blocking in action, try visiting ExampleAdultSite.com. This is a safe website for testing to see if pornographic websites are being blocked. If it's not blocked, review the previous steps.
If you have any Apple devices (that is, iPhones, iPads, or Macs), and you're not directly protecting them via the Safe Surfer dashboard, you will also need to enable the Limit Adult Websites setting on those devices to disable the Private Browsing Mode feature for Safari—this feature ignores the Safe Surfer filtering received from your home router:
For each iPhone and iPad device, navigate to the Settings app > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions (and enable this feature if it’s not already turned on) > Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content (on older devices, this menu is called Content Restrictions) > Web Content > set to Limit Adult Websites. Once you’re done, navigate back to the Screen Time main menu, which will save the changes.
For each Mac device, navigate to the System Settings app > Screen Time > Content & Privacy (and enable this feature if it’s not already turned on) > Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content (on older devices, this menu is called Content Restrictions) > under Web Content, set Access to Web Content to Limit Adult Websites, then click the Done button at the lower-right corner. Once you’re done, navigate back to the Screen Time main menu, which will save the changes. Open the Safari app > click the Safari text on the left-hand side of the menu bar (at the top of the screen) > click the Quit option. Repeat this process for every user account on the Mac.
Protection complete
If you connected the ASUS router into the back of your pre-existing Wi-Fi router, you can disconnect devices from the old Wi-Fi by either changing the Wi-Fi password on the pre-existing router or turning off the Wi-Fi entirely. You can do this by connecting a device to the old Wi-Fi and accessing its settings page. If you don't manage the pre-existing Wi-Fi router through an app, this information can usually be found printed on the rear or the bottom of the pre-existing Wi-Fi router.
Great work! The devices connected to your ASUS router should now be protected. Visit our easy-to-use online dashboard to start monitoring traffic and blocking content from our premium categories with an affordable Pro Surfer subscription.
All traffic leaving this router from your local network will be under a single device listing. If you would like to protect a different kind of device, visit our Guides page.
Updated on: 19/11/2024
Thank you!