Need parental controls for devices inside and outside your home? Want the ability to ping your kiddo's location? Faster speeds? Learn more about our new product, Circle Parental Controls and Circle Home Plus, at our main website. You can find out about it improvements from our first generation product in this article.
To manage your Circle 1st generation device or Circle on NETGEAR router you'll need to connect via the Circle 1st generation app. You'll need your Circle passcode to do so. This guide will help you retrieve that passcode!
Using Circle Parental Controls and can't log in using your email and password to the app? Check out this help article instead.
What is the Circle passcode?
When you first set up your Circle 1st generation account you enter your name, email, and phone number for the account. We use that info to secure your account. If you need to add another device to manage your Circle 1st generation device or Circle on NETGEAR router we ask you to enter the Circle passcode. You can view this passcode from another associated Circle app under Menu >> Manage >> Get Circle Passcode or we can text your phone number the passcode.
Note: you cannot set the Circle passcode yourself and it changes each time another app associates with your Circle device.
Having issues with the passcode?
Because this passcode travels through several different network types and security gates, occasionally you may not receive it. See the first section below in that case. Getting the passcode but it's not verifying? Check out the second section of this article.
Your phone number changed since you set up Circle? Trying to set up a used Circle 1st generation device? Want to skip all the fuss and just start over? Reset your Circle and set up as new.
I'm not receiving a passcode
Get it from another device
If you're not getting Circle's passcode texted to you, you can get it from another device with the app already installed and connected to your Circle. Open that app and navigate to Menu >> Manage >> Get Circle Passcode to see that.
Try again after some troubleshooting
- (Circle 1st generation device only) Power Circle off and then on (this ensures the right processes are running on Circle).
- Power your router off and on, then wait 15 minutes for things to come back online (this ensures your Circle device can connect to the Internet).
- Reboot your phone or tablet.
- Connect to your home network and check that your device is able to access the Internet.
- Open the app: the Circle app should automatically detect that a Circle device is on the network. Tap "Manage Circle" to continue.
- Tap "I'm the only Circle admin" then "Text Me" to send that to your phone number.
- Enter the passcode as shown or received, making sure you are on your home Wi-Fi network.
If the issue continues:
- If your Circle device is only connected over Wi-Fi trying connecting it to your router over Ethernet then wait a couple of minutes and try again. You can also try the opposite and unplug the ethernet cord from your Circle device.
- The Circle device might be having issues sending the passcode because of your router’s firewall settings. If you feel comfortable doing so, try setting your firewall to a lower setting and then retry the pairing process.
- Simplify your network setup temporarily. If you use an extender on your network, it might interfere with retrieving your passcode. Try unplugging the extender, pairing, and then reconnecting the extender back into your network setup.
- As a last resort: Reset your Circle and set up as new.
Requirements for Receiving the Passcode
- Make sure you are using a device that can receive SMS texts.
- Ensure that you still have access to the phone number you set up for your account. If not, you'll need to reset your Circle and set it up again as new.
- Make sure you have not blocked the number (503) 345-5542. This is our passcode number and should be set to allowed on your phone to receive messages.
- Your Circle device must be paired to the network or your NETGEAR router must be enabled to use Circle on NETGEAR.
Trouble Verifying the Passcode
Pairing a new admin. device to Circle is easy, but occasionally the passcode in the app or that you are sent via text might fail to verify. This can occur because of a network issue, or because a process on Circle stopped working.
Troubleshooting for the Circle 1st generation device
- Power Circle off and then on (this ensures the right processes are running on Circle).
- Power your router off and on (this ensures your Circle device can connect to the Internet).
- Reboot your phone or tablet.
- Uninstall your Circle 1st generation app and reinstall the app.
- Connect to your home network and check that your device is able to access the Internet.
- Wait 15 minutes and then move on to the next step. (This allows any services on your Circle device to restart.)
- Open the app: the Circle app should automatically detect that a Circle device is on the network. Tap "Manage Circle" to continue.
- Get the passcode from another associated device or tap "I'm the only Circle admin" then "Text Me" to send that to your phone number.
- Enter the passcode as shown or received, making sure you are on your home Wi-Fi network.
If the issue verifying continues:
- Connect Circle over a different network connection then try again: If your Circle device is only connected over Wi-Fi trying connecting it to your router over Ethernet then wait a couple of minutes. You can also try the opposite and unplug the ethernet cord from your Circle device.
- If the issue continues, make sure the admin device you are trying to add is updated to the latest software version. As well, make sure the Circle app is updated fully.
- As a last resort: reset your Circle and set up as new.
Troubleshooting for Circle on NETGEAR
- Power your router off and on, then wait 15 minutes for things to come back online (this ensures your Circle device can connect to the Internet).
- Reboot your phone or tablet.
- Uninstall and reinstall the Circle 1st generation app on your phone or tablet.
- Connect to your home network and check that your device is able to access the Internet.
- Wait 15 minutes and then move on to the next step. (This allows any services on your Circle device to restart.)
- Open the Circle app, start Circle on NETGEAR set up let Circle know you are the only admin.
- When prompted tap "Resend Code".
- Enter the passcode as shown or received, making sure you are on your home Wi-Fi network.
If the issue verifying continues:
- Uninstall the Circle 1st generation App
- Disable Circle on NETGEAR from the router settings under >> Parental Controls after logging in
- Reboot the router
- Enable Circle on NETGEAR from the router settings >> Parental Controls
- Install the Circle 1st generation app on the phone/tablet and try again to retrieve the passcode using the app
As a last resort: Reset your router, set it up again, then and set up Circle on NETGEAR as new.
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