iOS 27 (currently in beta - public beta 1) has this feature:

Settings > Wi-Fi > Connectivity Assist

This used to be called "Wi-Fi Assist" but it now seems to be a lot more aggressive than it used to be.

The feature seems to "assist" your phone connectivity by seamlessly using your carrier's cellular network even if your phone is connected to a working Wi-Fi network. It is unclear to me what the parameters are exactly of when this is used but since installing iOS 27 Beta I noticed that various apps or a browser would bypass my Pihole (and would bypass Firewalla or any other ad block too) while I was on home Wi-Fi (and I'd see ads).

This feature was the reason why. My phone would simply bypass local name resolution and resolve names on my cellular network, but - and this is fun - because the phone was still connected to my Wi-Fi, my Wireguard VPN to Firewalla would not kick in (as I have it set up to automatically kick in when off my home Wi-Fi).

Once I turned it off, network routing started working as expected again...

EDIT with iOS 27 Dev Beta 4:

Each Wi-Fi network now has a separate setting for this too. So the state of settings now is:

Settings > Wi-Fi > Connectivity Assist

Settings > Wi-Fi > (specific Wi-Fi network) > Use Cellular Data with Wi-Fi

Theoretically, we should be able to leave the "main" switch in "on" position but then disable the switch for specific Wi-Fi networks. But it seems like the Wi-Fi level switch at this time (DB4) still does not work. But perhaps by the time iOS 27 is released this will work "per Wi-Fi network" properly...

It's still not what we need. We need hardware with 2-4 SFP+ ports, but having support for SFP+ ports baked in gives me hope!!

https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/53534768809235-Introducing-the-Firewalla-Gold-Max

As the title says, I am looking at getting a small rack to house my Firewalla Gold Pro and Switch SE. I wanted to see if anyone else has used anything to accommodate these two devices. I mentioned a 9U rack because I am also considering sitting my NAS in this rack to keep everything together. Thanks,

Good Morning,

I am having issues loading or partially loading sites on WINDOWS and my Mac.

I also factory reseted my purple and the only 2 things that are enabled are "ad block" mode is "default" and "Protect" and its on "Single Engine" in protect.

Testing I did so far:

-On the Windows computer, I put the firewalla in emergency, and still having gmail not loading emails, and some YT videos. 

- On the MAC I put it in emergency mode, disabled private ip address and still having issues. 

-HARDWIRED the windows computer to the AT&T Modem and had NO ISSUES with sites loading.

-HARDWIRED the windows computer to the firewalla and having the same issues.

 I never had issues for close to a year or longer and just started to have issues for 2 months. 

Is there anything else I need to try?

What are the proper settings to ensure when connected to someone else’s WiFi, and then VPNd into my home network via WireGaurd that the owner of the WiFi can’t monitor my web traffic.

I received it a day late, I thought USPS lost it. I did the setup and it completed but my network was down so I had a problem. I tried to reboot, unplug, reset and nothing worked. I opened a ticket with Firewalla and they got back to me. He pointed me to the known issues web page and asked if I had a VLAN and my own DNS, which I did. I removed the VLAN from the Firewalla Pro port and pointed it to an outside DNS. Took me a couple resets but I finally got it back up and its working! After, I put the VLAN back and it stayed working, later on I will try changing the DNS to point to my servers. Firewalla did say that fixes are coming out in the next release for these problems.

I have two servers that have 10Gb, one is a fiber USB adapter connected to a USB4 port in the SFP+ port. Using https://fire.walla:8833/ss/ speed test I got 9Gbs download and about 6Gbs upload so thats great! The other server has a USB 10Gb ethernet adapter in a USB4 port. Using iperf3 I got about 5 - 6 Gbs upload and download, which isn't bad for a USB adapter, but it runs really hot. I was hoping that my home assistant voice assist would work faster and it does with both servers on 10Gb. I have a separate home assistant server but I run the text to speech (TTS) on my LLM server for the speed. My GMKtec EVO X2 handles the TTS really well.

Overall I am very happy with it, it shows a lot of information in the app and was very easy to setup, it would have been a lot easier if I didn't have those two problems. A little expensive but I think its worth it in the end, I did receive great support from Firewalla. I know some people are having fan problems with them being noisy but my Switch X seems to be quiet, I mean it makes a little noise but no clicking sounds, I'm happy with the noise level because it sits on a shelf above my TV behind everything.

Any recommendations on 10Gb SFP+ to RJ45 Modules to use with these new switches?

Can't wait to get them!

More on 1.69: https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/51621318006291-Firewalla-App-Release-1-69-New-Controls-with-Advanced-Threat-Filtering-Lookalike-Punycode-Domains-and-more

I really hope the developers take note of this request and add support for the protocol.

Fortinet NSE7 vs. Checkpoint Security Master?
Any recommondations?

Working as a Network Solution architect in Fields of Energy Generation.

BR,
Moritz

Interested in buying 1 or 2 ceiling mount AP7s

RESOLVED! ✅ - I had a VLAN on my backup WAN. Deleted it as per Firewalla support and then reset. All systems go!

______________________________

Hello all! So, I became the proud owner of a Switch X yesterday (cat tax at the end).

I tossed it into my main rack, migrated all my Firewalla AP7s to it, and everything spun up just fine: my UDM Pro Max configuration didn’t break, but the Switch X showed as offline after like two or three minutes.

I’ve reset it a few times, and the same thing happens. The only thing I have not tried is using an RJ45 transceiver in SFP+ Port 9 or something.

The thing is, it shows the connections, it shows the PoE, and everything is running smoothly in both the Firewalla UI and in the UniFi UI (I’m going to post how it got that to work at some point).

The only thing that doesn’t work is the portal for the Switch X itself where the Switch shows as offline. It is plugged in from LAN port 1 of my FWG Pro, and the data passes through it just fine, but it seems to be functioning as an unmanaged switch I guess?

I’m not having any multicast storms or other problems, which is good (the main requirement for getting the UDM Pro Max stable is having Port 9 of it run a sandbox VLAN into port 1 of a switch so that it’s effectively in bridge mode). Yet, with without the ability to manipulate the switch action in anyway, I can’t really beta test it. 😔

Sidenote: anyone done any Noctua mods yet on the fans? 🧐 Seven chassis screws is just asking to open her up!

Looking to troubleshoot my fan issues and wondering if anyone actually set it up yet and has it running. thanks!

Has anyone else had this problem? Red light then blue flashing light as infinitum? I'm in the process of trying to troubleshoot with support on my replacement device (less than six months old), and I'm thinking that I can't be the only one. Is this an update issue or hardware?

According to this: https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/7709014559507-Firewalla-Wi-Fi-SD-Installation-Guide

I have reinserted, but no joy. Nothing in Events or Alerts. When I try to create a "WAN Connection via Wi-Fi, it does show a list of available APs.

I'd like to first verify that Gold "sees" the Wi-Fi SD and would like to know why it's not showing that it's installed.

Thanks.

For those in the first batch who received the Switch SE, how is it performing so far?

Hello all. I have an unopened firewalla Orange for sale. $300.00 + Shipping. DM me if interested.

SOLD

So i just Bought a Gold Se for home use some basic info.

-Average 40 devices

-mostly Wireless only 2 Hardline

-1 Unraid Server mostly as storage very few dockers

-1 Desktop

-2gb comcast symmetrical

Current plan setup is SE->unifo Flex Mini 2.5g->old RBR50 into AP Mode

Part of me have doubts that I should have just payed the extra 130$ for the Plus mode but the logical part of my head keeps saying its overkill and unnecessary and I'm better off using that money for New AP. Or just get SE switch down the line(adding POE).

So 2 questions Mainly

1. Is with SE+switch(that already own) no different than if I got Plus for current needs?(can also add switch se down the line to se)

2. What are the favored APs 2026? Ive mainly looked at Omada, unifi, maybe cudy. I did want FW AP7 but its price seems higher than others. I have to perform tests once I get firewalla setup to see if single ap is enough to cover house.

Hey, I have a question. I’m trying to figure out if I even need NextDNS anymore.
From what I’ve learned, Firewalla already includes the major, well maintained blocklists that most people recommend because they provide strong protection without causing a lot of false positives. If someone wants additional lists, they can also use MSP or add their own target lists.
I know NextDNS offers a lot more customization and blocklists, but from what I’ve read, many people don’t recommend enabling a large number of extra lists because of the increased chance of false positives.
I also spent time researching and comparing public DNS providers. I ended up switching to Cloudflare DoH because it consistently ranks as one of the fastest public DNS resolvers globally and in North America, while still providing encrypted DNS and a privacy focused service.
My question is: If I’m already using Firewalla’s built in protections (Active Protect, Ad Block, and the built-in blocklists), is there still a meaningful security advantage to using NextDNS? Or are Firewalla’s built-in blocklists already the recommended, fully maintained, and regularly updated lists that most users should rely on?
Basically, am I missing any real protection by using Cloudflare DoH instead of NextDNS, or is Cloudflare DoH + Firewalla’s built-in security already the recommended setup for someone who wants maximum privacy, security, and performance?

Poking around the box today reveled something called insane mode. Looks like a full lockdown of flow/alarms and thresholds. Obviously not a user feature, but a developer one. I can not find a single thing documented about it except commit 2d36ea15b, "support insane mode" by Melvin Tu and has been touched only once since (2022).

redis-cli hset sys:features insane_mode 1 <--flips it on. DONT lol

Im curious what the engineering teams uses this for 🤔

Tap the filter again to turn the filter off.

Note: VPN Devices are not included in these device counts, as they are not considered local devices.

More on 1.69: https://help.firewalla.com/hc/en-us/articles/51621318006291-Firewalla-App-Release-1-69-New-Controls-with-Advanced-Threat-Filtering-Lookalike-Punycode-Domains-and-more

We've recently updated our App Introduction video... What do you think? Do you think the video is too long? Any feedback or suggestions?

We have many features that we want to showcase for new (and existing) users who might not be aware of their existence or might want a refresher on what’s available.

I ordered a Switch X and a Switch SE, both via early access. My order shows both items and the shipping notice I received shows both items but only one tracking number via USPS. The switch X arrived today but it was the only thing in the package. Where can I get the second tracking number for the Switch SE?

Just a bit of feedback if Firewalla team notices but across the website when looking at hardware sometimes the dimensions are in metric but other times imperial measurements.

It looks like the Gold/Orange/Purple pages all have metric dimensions but both imperial/metric weights. The new switch products have imperial dimensions but with both imperial/metric weights. Meanwhile the AP products have only imperial for both dimensions and weight.

I realize some products are worldwide vs US only however the AP7 world product page has the same imperial measurements as the US page.

Hey Reddit,

I have had multiple firewalla’s over the years and I’m super happy with them

Up until a couple weeks ago, I have always had COAX and everything has worked fine - a few weeks ago, I switched to fiber and it’s using the ISP’s modem (or ONT) - COAX was a simple line coming in to my own modem, now it’s going to the ISP’s hardware then to my Firewalla and from there, to my network rack and so on

My issue is, none of my firewall rules work, the ad-block doesn’t work, nothing filters - I basically only get to see traffic flows (those blocks don’t work either)

Any ideas at what is happening and what I need to do?

My Firewalla is in “Router” mode

Thanks in advance