AX50 user here.

An option for flushing stored devices that have not connected for x days would be the right approach, in my opinion.  I understand that the saved parental controls configs would also have to be updated to ensure that no orphan records exist in that table.  Also, you do have to be sensitive to the possibility that the date 'last seen' is not currently stored but surely it's possible to add it and also disable the flush feature for x days after the firmware update, to get around this.

Beyond that I'm struggling to see any real complexity in the requested task.

@Kevin_Z 

So this is becoming a lot worse to manage now that Apple has wi-fi privacy and Android MAC randomisation.

@Kevin_Z    Two years since the original post and still no firmware update to fix this annoying problem?  Come on, tp-link support!  Storing the MAC address of EVERY device when Windows 10 has a default feature to "Use Random Hardware Addresses" ?  This makes no sense.  How to parents know which device to select in Homecare Parental controls?  And we can't select everything because of the 16 device limit.

Kevin_Z wrote

@Whammamoosha 

 

Hello, sorry to respond late. 

 

We take some time to confirm with our engineers, it is designed so to make you add the devices into parental control list once they had connected to the TP-Link device; while there is no option to delete them manually as you know.

 

While the good news is that there is a plan to modify the parental control settings to make it much easier and more convenient; But I have to say, it will take some time to release a firmware, you can keep an eye on official website for the updates. 

 

Thanks for your support and understanding in advance, have a good day. 

 

 

@Kevin_Z 

This answer was given almost 2 year ago. Yes there must be a plan: a plan to do nothing and let this thread die off in oblivion.

The "problem" is that by what I see the thread refuses do die off, and is even growing faster.

In the mean time lots of sensible suggestions were given, but none were taken unto consideration by TP-LIMP.

floridakevin wrote

@Kevin_Z    Two years since the original post and still no firmware update to fix this annoying problem?  Come on, tp-link support!  Storing the MAC address of EVERY device when Windows 10 has a default feature to "Use Random Hardware Addresses" ?  This makes no sense.  How to parents know which device to select in Homecare Parental controls?  And we can't select everything because of the 16 device limit.

@floridakevin 

The current firmware is so dumb in regard to this that when a connecting device has MAC randomization tuned on for the network (it's usually a per-network setting) the firmware ends up storing tons of entries with the same device name and each randomized address, with no warning or specific handling. By default my current cellphone uses MAC randomization and the router stored a ridiculously long list just for it, same f***ing name but different MACs.

I turned randomization off and AGAIN had to reset/reconfigure the router from scratch to eliminate the bogus entries AND reconfigure/make the parental controls manageable again.

Storing an interminable device list completely defeats the parental control configuration dialogs. Without the proposed client list management, the router might even crash eventually, when the list grows beyond the space reserved to store it (or all of the router's available space for that matter), and the user might have to perform a hard reset in order to make it work again. For for routers serving public places like a restaurant, the feature would better be removed in order to avoid this from happening.

Galan wrote

AX50 user here.

An option for flushing stored devices that have not connected for x days would be the right approach, in my opinion.  I understand that the saved parental controls configs would also have to be updated to ensure that no orphan records exist in that table.  Also, you do have to be sensitive to the possibility that the date 'last seen' is not currently stored but surely it's possible to add it and also disable the flush feature for x days after the firmware update, to get around this.

 

Beyond that I'm struggling to see any real complexity in the requested task.

@Galan 

Do you mean that the AX50 suffers from the same issue? And so do ALL TP-LIMP devices that have the parental control feature? If that's the case, this is one BIG TIME motivation to implement the feature and backport it to current and earlier routers. This alone is a reason for every home to avoid TP-LIMP routers at all costs.

BTW your suggestion is a really sensible one, a king-of-the-hill post.

ember wrote

@Disgruntled2 At this point I would simply advise you to just reflash the router with OpenWRT. Google it, do it, no more pr

@ember 

No Broadcom-based routers are supported by OpenWRT, because BC doesn't publish source code.

xmascreek wrote

@Whammamoosha It's doubtful you'll get this fixed, whilst many Shenzhen based companies are awesome at building hardware, there is little thought about investment in software or usability from my experience (I worked with various pc consumer companies in China in the IT business for 10 years). The good news is that this is changing fast as Chinese consumers are getting as demanding as Americans and Europeans, but I doubt you'll see your issue solved as this team will be 100% focussed on the next product they can $ell. 

 

My advice is to 'factory reset' every now and then - whilst a pain it should clear all historic data. 

 

 

@xmascreek 

That's the same advice and the only workaround to the problem. I posted it here almost 2 years ago.

Saving and restoring the router config after reset should be easier but won't work because the goddamned list is also saved and comes back.

@Whammamoosha Same issue here with AX50. I have upgraded firmware today which is released recently. Still the same issue. There is no option to remove unwanted/inactive devices from the list/database manually

This has to be fixed.. My 13yr old figured out that parental controls are divvied up by mac address.. I block, he creates a new one fml.. Gotta give him credit though.

Sidenote* I know whitelisting would be an option but that's a lot of work to maintain with friends/family that stop over.. "Hey what's your MAC if you wanna get online." Approval required before a new device connects with maybe a push to the app to approve it would be a nice quality of life improvement. 

 I now have 12 pages of bogus clients.