Any way to block youtube from specific devices on the network?

[neatfeatguy]

So yeah, we're all in a new age of teaching our kids with schools being closed.....

The kids need to do school work and are required to use their school iPads. They can't access the apple store to download anything, that's already restricted on the iPads. But, the school has the iPads locked down in their "education" access, so as a parent you have zero control over putting any kind of restrictions on the iPad. The problem is, as soon as they can stream media services, they're f'ing off on youtube watching the most asinine crap and not getting their work done. I want to be able to control this better at home. During the day they're with the wife at her job and she has zero control over the network, she has to fight with them constantly to not sit on youtube while she's trying to work and while she's trying to help them do their school work.

It's a giant pain in the ass and I'd like some kind of control at home over it.

At home the wife does use youtube on a handful of other devices, watching shows or some crap - she can do what she wants. So I don't want to outright block youtube on the network, I'd like to restrict it to the iPad devices.

Here are the options I can think of, but they don't fit my needs:
1) I can outright block all streaming/media services to their devices using the parental controls on the router, but that in return blocks any streaming service and prevents them from viewing posted videos their teachers do for their lessons.

2) I can outright block youtube on the network, but then I have to listen to the wife bitch if she can't access it.

Router is ASUS RT-AC68U. The parental controls are useful, but feel limited.

I find the MAC address for their device in the drop down list and I check off Adult content and I can check off media streaming under "Streaming and Entertainment" - this prevents the use of youtube, but also blocks their school's streaming service the teachers use. I cannot just setup specific URLs here, it would be ideal if I could.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can restrict youtube to the kid's ipads? Am I overlooking something simple?

 

[Vario]

Looks like you go in Firewall and select URL filter. I am looking at my RT-N65U at the moment for this.
One solution might be to get a separate router and have your personal devices on that seperate network (password protected).

 

[newtekie1]

Have you looked at setting up OpenDNS on their devices? You can set the DNS for your network to the OpenDNS servers, then on any devices you want to have full access you can hard code in regular DNS servers.

 

[Toothless]

Have you looked at setting up OpenDNS on their devices? You can set the DNS for your network to the OpenDNS servers, then on any devices you want to have full access you can hard code in regular DNS servers.

Typically you can't install or removed school devices since they lock them down so much. OP would need an external fix.

 

[newtekie1]

Typically you can't install or removed school devices since they lock them down so much. OP would need an external fix.

This is an external fix.

 

[biffzinker]

OP would need an external fix.

OpenDNS at the WIFI router level would block it on all devices that lookup DNS through WIFI/Ethernet connections to the router.

It works for me.

2) I can outright block youtube on the network, but then I have to listen to the wife bitch if she can't access it.

OpenDNS might not be the way go then.

 

[windwhirl]

Have you looked at setting up OpenDNS on their devices? You can set the DNS for your network to the OpenDNS servers, then on any devices you want to have full access you can hard code in regular DNS servers.

This.

Make yourself an OpenDNS account, and in the dashboard add a new network using your IP address (it should already be filled out)



Inside the network settings, you will be able to select OpenDNS' own general filters for certain contents and add domains to be always blocked or always allowed



Then in your router settings, change the DNS servers for OpenDNS ones. On the devices where you don't want any sort of filtering or "parental control", just set up another DNS, like Google's or Cloudflare's and that should be it.

There are a couple downsides though:
1 - This only works as long as the kids iPads don't have their own DNS servers manually configured (can't imagine why the school would do that, though) and if the devices flushed their DNS caches (if iPads have such thing, which I figure they do).
2 - The public IP address of your network must remain the same. In case you have dynamic IP address, then you should read this

 

[Jetster]

You can't without blocking the entire stream. Your wife wants YouTube, their lessons are on it. Just check on them and log their history.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Appreciate the ideas everyone.

The current immediate solution of outright blocking youtube is what I'm doing. Told the wife she'll have to deal with it for now. I have thought about adding a second router, but I'd rather not spend extra money unless it becomes necessary.

I also thought about setting up a guest network and set all my other devices to use it and let the kids be on the current SSID with youtube blocked there. I can't do any kind of restrictions for the guest network except add a time limit and/or allow intranet access....I'd let the time limit be unlimited and allow intranet access so all devices can still access the plex server, but I'm not sure if this is a good route to try?

I'll poke around with the idea of OpenDNS later and see if that can fit my needs at all.

 

[newtekie1]

OpenDNS at the WIFI router level would block it on all devices that lookup DNS through WIFI/Ethernet connections to the router.

It works for me.

I've set it up at the main router level, so the applies to the whole network. Any device that I want to bypass the OpenDNS limit, I just set the DNS manually on it to either Google's DNS servers or the ISPs(or one of each usually).

But a separate wireless router just for the kids with the OpenDNS servers configured there would also work too and probably make it easier to manage. Anything that you want to run through OpenDNS gets connected to the second router, anything you want to have full access connects to the primary router. Anything connected to the second router would be double NAT'd but that shouldn't be a problem for anything they're doing from the sounds of it.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

How to Restrict YouTube Access on Your iPad | dummies

www.dummies.com

How to Block Websites on an iPad Using Screen Time

An easy guide to restricting websites on an iPad deviceWant to make sure that you or your child can't access a certain website on your iPad? Apple makes it simple to block websites on an iPad (or any iOS device) using Content Restrictions...

www.wikihow.com

If you can get at it, that second link is the most secure path. Can black list everything and only allow the few domain names they're supposed to be using. It's a ton of work but it's great.

You can try URL Filter under Firewall but that feature has largely been rendered worthless by the move to HTTPS. It'll be network wide if it works...no option to restrict to clients.

 

[AsRock]

Tuff love, best with coins.

You could ask the teacher too if you can, they can block a hell lot more at our local school.

 

[Fizban]

If your kids are smart they'll find a way around it.

Example:

I was like 10 when my mother installed software to limit my daily usage, and restrict the sites I could go to.

So I installed a keylogger on the computer, found a site I knew she'd allow me to view, but that the restriction blocked anyway, had her override it by entering her password, had the keylogger active when she did so, and from then on I just logged in as her and never used my own account again.

 

[Assimilator]

I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, but... why can't you just block YouTube for those iPads' MAC addresses?

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Ive been wanting to do something similar for my son. He watches some strange inappropriate shit on Youtube and even more so on Tik Tok and I want to block both of those apps from being accessible on any device he uses.

 

[Vario]

I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, but... why can't you just block YouTube for those iPads' MAC addresses?

With his out of the box router setup, he cannot use the Asus router software to block a URL on only one MAC addresses, the router software will block that URL for the entire network instead. His wife enjoys using Youtube so that is not an option. Likewise, he cannot use the parental controls mode, which can discriminate between different MAC addresses because it blocks the online lessons. There are some very good suggestions in this thread to solve this.

It's too bad the schools don't assign analog book work (read a chapter, complete a homework on it), and then email in completed assignments in instead of this overreliance on devices.

Personally I always learned more from an analog book than from a lecture, and when in college in the mid 2000s, I could barely focus on the few online only web classes, it was always easier to learn (absorb, understand, and retain knowledge) out of a physical text book, less distractions.

 

[Assimilator]

With his out of the box router setup, he cannot use the Asus router software to block a URL on only one MAC addresses, the router software will block that URL for the entire network instead. His wife enjoys using Youtube so that is not an option. Likewise, he cannot use the parental controls mode, which can discriminate between different MAC addresses because it blocks the online lessons. There are some very good suggestions in this thread to solve this.

Yeah it probably would've helped if I'd read this bit of OP's post:

I cannot just setup specific URLs here, it would be ideal if I could.

In my (lazy) defence it was below the big image, so I scrolled past it.

@neatfeatguy You might consider installing DD-WRT firmware on your router, there are step-by-step instructions for your particular model: https://alphaev7.com/2016/03/install-dd-wrt-asus-rt-ac68u-or-supported-routers/ and DD-WRT itself offers a massively customisable set of access control options that should easily cover your use-case: https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Access_Restrictions

 

[neatfeatguy]

Yeah it probably would've helped if I'd read this bit of OP's post:



In my (lazy) defence it was below the big image, so I scrolled past it.

@neatfeatguy You might consider installing DD-WRT firmware on your router, there are step-by-step instructions for your particular model: https://alphaev7.com/2016/03/install-dd-wrt-asus-rt-ac68u-or-supported-routers/ and DD-WRT itself offers a massively customisable set of access control options that should easily cover your use-case: https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Access_Restrictions

Thanks. I never used DD-WRT before so I'll have to check it out. I have used Tomato before in the past, so I'm kind of familiar with that software. These suggestions will keep me busy for a bit and hopefully get me to where I want to be.

 

[xrobwx71]

How to Restrict YouTube Access on Your iPad | dummies

www.dummies.com

 

[mateonox]

kids are definitely smart these days
remember myself crying because my mother archived the ICONS of the programs on our PC and set a password.
i was in pain )

anyways, to block youtube, I think a good parental control can be useful. Some of my friends actually use those programs to monitor their children's activities.
there is also family link or something like that but I haven't tried it myself.

 

[jat_shion]

not sure if you still need it, I found this information on the web

How To Block YouTube Completely? - | Mobicip

Learn how to block YouTube for kids and how to block YouTube channels across various devices and platforms.

www.mobicip.com

 

[Ferrum Master]

You do it the wrong way.

You must take over admin right on the child devices and set up limitations there using parental controls.

The real question is why children have such high end device on their hands in the first place. It is meant for doing stupid things and last most remote thing they do is for calls and education.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Looks like you go in Firewall and select URL filter. I am looking at my RT-N65U at the moment for this.
One solution might be to get a separate router and have your personal devices on that seperate network (password protected).

When it comes to kids, never underestimate them and what their friends might know about installed 'parental' programs and device settings.

I am in favor of secondary routers. They can be programmed completely separate from the main router with separate passwords, connection ( on/off ) time, and other filters. So unless they gain access thru Dads accidentally left open computer to bypass restrictions, the potential amount of protective measures far out-weight many other alternatives.

 

[thesmokingman]

If your kids are smart they'll find a way around it.

Example:

I was like 10 when my mother installed software to limit my daily usage, and restrict the sites I could go to.

So I installed a keylogger on the computer, found a site I knew she'd allow me to view, but that the restriction blocked anyway, had her override it by entering her password, had the keylogger active when she did so, and from then on I just logged in as her and never used my own account again.

Kids these days...

 

[blobster21]

If it's available in an ipad, edit the /etc/hosts and add the following lines:

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
127.0.0.1 googlevideo.com
127.0.0.1 ytimg.com
127.0.0.1 youtube-ui.l.google.com
127.0.0.1 ytimg.l.google.com
127.0.0.1 ytstatic.l.google.com
127.0.0.1 youtubei.googleapis.com
127.0.0.1 m.youtube.com
127.0.0.1 www.youtube.com

this would prevent the site and its "content" to load.