New Features:
1. Application Blocking
Applications can now be blocked individually.
The App list is sort by alphabet and it will be continually updated. Only blocking rules are supported when matching Apps in the current release.
Note: The apps in the list are not final, we may adjust in the future.
2. Policy-based Routing (Gold only)
You can now forward traffic any way you want through the system.
- If you have a dual-WAN setup, you can route any traffic to any WAN connection no matter the WANs are set to failover or load balancing.
- You can specify any type of traffic and route them to your VPN servers, as long as the VPN is connected. For example, routing all video traffic to a 3rd party VPN server.
(Only available on Box beta release 1.972)
3. Smart Queue - Traffic Prioritization (Gold Only)
In addition to limiting bandwidth usage, you can prioritize traffic by creating smart queue rules. The priority applies to both Upload and Download traffic, it can be set to one of the followings:
- High: For video conferencing/voice chat/gaming and other traffic that requires minimum delay.
- Default: Default priority for all traffic.
- Low: For P2P or other non-essential services run in the background to prevent network congestion.
Application-based prioritization is also supported. You can now prioritize Zoom or Webex to achieve low latency in your online meetings.
Learn more about Firewalla Smart Queue
4. Add Device/ Group/ Network shortcut to the main screen
You can now add your most frequently used devices, groups, networks to the box main screen. It allows you to block/unblock internet access, or dive into the detail with one tap.
Up to 3 devices/ groups/ networks are supported in total.
Enhancement:
- Able to create Rules matching the combination of a Domain/ IP address / IP range and Remote Ports.
- Example: block traffic to apple[.]com:3478, to block all facetime traffic.
- Example: allow all traffic to iot-cloud[.]com:443, and block all other ports
- The ability to create rules matching an ip/domain: local port will be supported in app version 1.45
- Turn on/off New Device Quarantine per local network (Gold Only)
- In Help & Support -> Remote Support, we've merged ID and Password into Credential, you can easily copy it by tapping the copy icon next to it, and send to our support team for remote access.
- Feature IPv6 is moved from the features list into Monitoring -> Monitor IPv6 Traffic.
Firewalla is able to monitor IPv6 traffic only if IPv6 address is detected, traffic monitoring can be turned on/off in Simple Mode.
This release also supports features in 1.972.
- Snooze rules
- Flexible source NAT
- Better accounting for long-lived connections
Bug fixes:
- When creating a guest network, devices in the guest network will not be able to SSH Firewalla box.
Known Issues:
- iOS App may not able to log in to the web interface (https://my.firewalla.com) via the top-left camera icon, the "Sign In" button may always be greyed out. This is a bug in the iOS app version 1.44. The workaround is using the Firewalla Web button in the box main screen to login or using the Open in Desktop Browser button in Box Settings.
- Blocking Youtube may also block Google Team or Google Drive in certain parts of the world. We are looking at this and see if there are any solutions.
- TikTok block is still beta, when it is, there are cases where the block may block other sites.
Comments
16 comments
Any reason for the delay of release of 1.44?
How long is a few days? 3 days, a week or longer?
Both are released a couple of hours ago. Enjoy
and now waiting till testflight sees the release ;)
Does the new Policy-based Routing feature support multiple VPN connections? Currently the app only allows one VPN connection at a time.
Also waiting here for Testflight :)
at the time of this message, the 1.44 release is in early access.
If you are not an alpha user, yet interested in testing out these new features, please email us at help@firewalla.com.
It’s been two days since release and still not available via TestFlight. How long before its available via TestFlight?
Still nothing in test flight! Any update?
If you are not getting 1.44, it means, you are on the regular beta test flight list, not the "early access". Early access is likely to be a bit more buggy than beta. If you want to get on the list, please send your iTunes/google play email to help@firewalla.com
Love the app block and menu shortcut for my kid's devices. Just added it, let's see if they come to me later today to say they can't get to Roblox, Discord, and Youtube lol.
Can you add the app fortnite? All parents hate that game.
@brian, once we have the code released, it is relatively simple to add different APP's to the list. If everyone is happy of what's there, we will be very happy to add more apps to the list.
Hello:
I have 1.44 App with 1.971 FWG installed. I blocked YouTube using the new Application Blocking feature, but that's also blocking Google Classroom. I tried adding the ytimg.com allow rule for the device but that did not work.
This use case was one of my primary reasons for getting the FWG. I could use some help figuring this out. Thanks.
Let me forward this to our developers and see if we can make a signature for google classroom. The issue is, likely some google sites overlap with google classroom. (or google classroom uses youtube) You can send us an email help@firewalla.com and we can help you directly.
I've noticed the same problem with Google Classroom. I have to unblock YouTube in order for my daughter to use Classroom.
I also have major problems with the Roblox app block. It is normally blocked and unblocking does not allow the app to function properly. I need to enable Emergency Access for the device.
@Matt
When was the youtube blocking rule created? The youtube signature was updated about two weeks ago, and should have the classroom issue fixed. You may try to create the rule again which will use the latest signature.
Regarding to roblox, the roblox app may cache the DNS queries that it didn't work well after unblock. Usually it should recover after a while automatically.
Thanks. It's been several weeks since I tested the YouTube/Classroom issue. I'll verify that the next time my daughter is on remote learning.
I'll do further testing with Roblox as well, but if "Emergency Access" fixes the problem instantly, maybe this could be incorporated into rule changes? i.e. When a blocking rule is enabled/disabled, automatically enable emergency access for a couple seconds and then disable it?
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