Feature Review: NETGEAR Genie App for Android and iOS

For a while now, several newer NETGEAR wireless routers have been shipping with support for a utility called "NETGEAR Genie." In a nutshell, NETGEAR Genie allows you to manage a variety of settings for your router directly from your desktop, without having to log in to a browser window, making it easy to tweak settings on the fly. We cover the NETGEAR Genie in our WNDR3800 review and also demo it in our video.

NETGEAR is now taking the convenience factor a step further and has bestowed upon us a mobile app, available for lovers of both Apple and Android. I took the app for a spin on my Samsung Galaxy SII to see what it's capable of.

Main Splash Screen

Once the app is installed, a login is required, just as if the router was being logged in to. Once the login is completed, the user has access to all the main features of the app through a colorful and straightforward interface.

Wireless Settings

Once inside the app, the settings of the main wireless network can be tweaked directly, including the SSID, password, and wireless channel.

Guest Access

Have friends or co-workers over and discover last-minute that you forgot to set up Wi-Fi access for them? Use the NETGEAR Genie app to set up a guest network for them in a jiffy.

Network Map

Even though a list of network attached devices can be accessed from the router directly, the Genie app makes this a visual thing, enabling users to see quickly what's accessing your network.

Details of each device can be accessed, including the signal strength, MAC address, and other statistics of each.

Parental Controls

With a free OpenDNS account, parental controls can be set up from directly within the app.

All one really has to do is input login settings and the app takes care of the rest of the interaction, based on the filtering settings chosen.

Traffic Monitoring

The built in traffic meter gives you at-a-glance information about the traffic and bandwidth used by the network.

My Media

Supported Routers and More Information

As of the writing of this article, here are the routers supported by the Genie mobile app:

• WNR1000v2
• WNR2000v3
• WNR2200
• WNR3500Lv2
• WNDRMAC
• WNDR3400v2
• WNDR3800
• WNDR4000
• WNDR4500

For more information, see NETGEAR's official site.

The Genie app also allows users to stream media from storage devices connected to the router through the mobile interface, giving the opportunity to select from various sources and formats.