Is the Gryphon router worth the premium price tag? An honest review from a parent
This review from a parent breaks down the parental control features, setup process, and overall quality of the router so that you can determine if it's a good fit for your family.
Gryphon is a parental control router that protects kids against adult websites and excessive screen time. With the price tag being on the higher side ($225-$300), this review will help you determine if the features justify a premium price point.
Purchase of a monthly subscription is not required! Everything in this review is available without the monthly subscription. That being said, mine came with a very generous ONE YEAR free trial.
Gryphon router setup difficulty
Gryphon provides the Gryphon Connect app that walks you through the whole router setup process, which is a better experience than what you might be used to with a typical router setup.
My setup was a bit quirky, however. The router got stuck in a reboot loop and also thought my phone was plugged into ethernet. Turning them off and on fixed it. It could be because I bought my router used on eBay.
Setting custom DNS servers on a Gryphon router
Most routers that are branded for parental controls don't let you set custom DNS servers. Gryphon stands out by allowing you to customize DNS servers at the router level, which can be used to setup ad blocking and additional rules via Tech Lockdown.
DNS-based blocking that you might set up with your own custom DNS works alongside Gryphon's own content filtering rule without overriding it.
This ability to have a dual blocking layer on the router level is one of the reasons that Gryphon is on our list of recommended parental control routers .
Requiring parental approval to connect a new device to WiFi
One of the features I love the most about the Gryphon router is that new devices are blocked from connecting to WiFi unless a parent approves it.
This feature alone is worth the price of the entire thing because it solves the biggest problem you probably didn’t know you had.
Did you know there is a way for iPads/iPhones to expose your WiFi password with minimal effort? As a result, your kids probably already know your “secret” WiFi password.
Armed with this password, kids can normally add any old device to your network and bypass restrictions. There are a myriad of WiFi devices that may be lying around: DVD players with Youtube, Smart TVs, old phones from friends at school, etc.
With Gryphon, when a new device tries to join your network, it's blocked until you approve it via the app. Problem solved!
Monitoring your child's internet activity with the Gryphon Router
One of the most important features of a parental control router is the ability to examine internet traffic logs so you can see what websites were visited on your WiFi network .
The Gryphon Router provides advanced reporting so you can see a breakdown of websites visited based on child/device.
Gryphon's age group content controls can result in over blocking
Gryphon has an age group user setting that simplifies setting up content restrictions based on the age of your child. Although this simplifies the setup process (I didn't have to figure out everything that should be blocked), I quickly ran into some quirkiness that I had to work around.
I saw this when I setup my son’s Amazon Fire Tablet. I set the age to be elementary school, but this setting was so restrictive that it blocked PBS Kids Video app.
So I set his age range to middle school and that let it through. But then, it wouldn’t let us play multiplayer Minecraft on our home network on the middle school profile; I had to put it to 18+ for that to work.
Although it is simple to select content controls based on age group, you'll quickly find that these "presets" aren't perfect and you'll need to work around over blocking.
My experience with Gryphon's customer support
I was about to return the Gryphon and go back to my old router because the Gryphon was taking over ten seconds to load each webpage. But I reached out to support and they sent me a firmware update which solved the issue!
The Gryphon Router might give parents a false sense of security
Parents may assume that the Gryphon will easily solve all their concerns about their kids accessing bad content on the internet without realizing that it is not technically possible for it to catch everything.
Because of how it works, it cannot inspect the content on websites or apps, meaning children can still access bad content through social media or mixed content sites.
For example, the router can block Instagram entirely , but can’t block “only the bad parts” of Instagram.
According to page 12 of a Common Sense Media survey , about half of the bad content that children accessed was via a social media platform.
This is where combining screenshot-based parental monitoring solutions with a blocking solution like Gryphon is a good idea. When your child knows that you can see their activity online, they are more likely to behave responsibly and not seek out these mixed content sites that might not be blocked by Gryphon.
Self hosting a VPN isn't possible with the Gryphon router
One of my favorite features of other routers like Asus is the ability to self-host a VPN.
This had been a great way to get a VPN without paying for one. It is available on some other routers, but not currently possible with the Gryphon router.
This isn't a dealbreaker and there are some workarounds (I may need to look into PiVPN).
Is the Gryphon Router an effective solution for parents?
Despite a few setup hiccups, the Gryphon router is a game-changer for our family since it blocks new devices by default and provides user and device level control and reporting. For the many cases it can’t cover, we use controls on each device. Overall, the Gryphon is an effective parental control router .
An internet router like Gryphon has a place in your overall strategy; but it won’t solve everything. Thankfully, there are monitoring solutions, such as LivingRoom , that you can install on your child’s device to get better visibility and control.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Gryphon router built for modern WiFi?
It offers a single network name for both 2.4/5GHz bands and supports wired or wireless mesh. Unlike my old router, I love how I can walk across the house without interrupting a video call; it seamlessly transfers from one mesh node to another.
It has a WiFi "low power mode" which is perfect for those concerned about EMFs. For our house, which is split by a concrete wall, two low-power mesh units provide perfect coverage where one high power router had failed.
Separate WiFi networks: This is great for quality of life because it allows you to put all your internet-connected devices on a separate network from all your screens. So if/when you need to change your WiFi network you aren’t stuck with the hour-long task of looking up how to do it on your TV, thermostat, doorbell, etc. It also makes managing the policies easier because these devices aren’t used by children.
Does the Gryphon router prevent bypassing restrictions through factory reset?
One common way to bypass parental controls on a router is to hard reset (factory reset) the device.
Fortunately, the Gryphon router closes down this loophole by requiring parental approval before the router can be factory reset.
Does Gryphon have good customer support?
I was about to return the Gryphon and go back to my old router because the Gryphon was taking over ten seconds to load each webpage. But I reached out to support and they sent me a firmware update which solved the issue!