Bypasses

Child bypassing parental controls: VPN, proxies and hotspots

Sooner or later, a child tries to go around the filter: a free VPN, a proxy site, another DNS server in the browser, or the shared connection of a phone. Here is what each trick does, what Warda closes, what it can only report, and where it stops.

The tricks

Kids using a VPN to bypass parental controls, and the other tricks

VPN and proxies

A VPN or a proxy sends the requests through a tunnel to another server: the filter of the home no longer sees the names. The known VPN, proxy and Tor services are blocked for children and teenagers in the free plan, and iCloud Private Relay on their devices at home.

Another DNS server

The secure DNS of a browser, the private DNS of Android or an address typed by hand: the device asks another resolver. The known encrypted DNS services are blocked for children and teenagers, and the check of the network finds the devices that never ask Warda.

Mobile data and the hotspot

The child turns the Wi-Fi off and uses the mobile data of the phone, or shares it with a tablet or a console: these devices leave the network of the home, and the box. It is the hardest gap to close.

VPN and proxies

Bypassing parental controls with a VPN: blocked, then reported

A VPN, a proxy or an encrypted DNS service must first be reached by its name. Warda knows the names of the known services and does not answer them for the profiles of children and teenagers.

1

The device of a child asks for the name of a VPN, a proxy or an encrypted DNS service: Warda does not answer it, in the free plan.
2

With the subscription, the parents get an alert: which device, which service, when. An adult is never watched: they are only told that their own device is no longer protected.
3

Every 5 minutes, the check of the network lists the devices that never ask Warda — a DNS typed by hand, a device with its own DNS — with what to change on each.

Hotspot

Hotspot bypassing parental controls: what Warda sees

A phone that shares its mobile data takes the devices of the child out of the network of the home. With the protection outside the home (subscription), Warda narrows the gap without promising to close it.

All the family features Comparison

An enrolled phone stays filtered on mobile data, and an enrolled laptop on the hotspot of a phone: their queries still reach your box through the online service of Warda.
Mobile data at home: when an enrolled device of a child asks from outside less than 15 minutes after being on your network, the parents are told; Warda cannot tell “mobile data at home” from “just gone out”, and says both.
Probable connection sharing: if, in the 2 minutes that follow, another device of the same child stops asking Warda, it has probably moved to the shared connection — a likelihood, not a proof.
To close the gap, enrol the devices of the child and, on an iPhone, forbid the changes of mobile data in Screen Time.

Where Warda stops

No filter at the DNS level is impossible to go around. What stays out of its reach:

A VPN not yet known, or one set up on a private server, is not recognised by its name.
A device that is not enrolled, on the hotspot of a phone, is reported as a likelihood, not filtered.
The device of a friend, or a device that was not asking Warda just before, is not seen.
The settings of the phone itself (Family Link, Screen Time) and talking with the child remain the first protection.

Questions

Can Warda block every VPN?

No. It blocks the known VPN, proxy, Tor and encrypted DNS services by their names, for children and teenagers, in the free plan. A new or private VPN may pass; with the subscription, the parents are told of each attempt seen.

Are the adults of the home watched too?

No. An adult whose device uses a VPN is only told that the device is no longer protected; the alerts to the parents concern the profiles of children and teenagers.

What about the hotspot of a friend's phone?

Warda cannot see it: the device leaves your network. Only a device enrolled in the protection outside the home (subscription) keeps its rules there, because its queries come back to your box.

Is this free?

Blocking the known VPN, proxy and encrypted DNS services for children and teenagers, and the check of the network, are free. The alerts to the parents and the protection outside the home come with the subscription: 2 € a month or 20 € a year, offered to every tester until subscriptions open.

Close the easy gaps first

The free plan already blocks the known VPN, proxy and encrypted DNS services for children; the subscription adds the alerts and the protection outside the home.