STEP 1. Verify Firewalla is blocking 

Step 1.1: Turn on Emergency Access 

Emergency Access instantly unblocks internet access by suspending all blocking mechanisms (but still retaining monitoring and basic protection). To turn on Emergency Access:

• Go to Main -> Devices
• Tap on the device that's having problems connecting 
• Scroll to the bottom and turn on Emergency Access

You can also turn on Emergency Access globally (Rules -> "…" on the top right corner -> Emergency Access)

• Emergency access may take some time to be effective (due to DNS cache). You can speed up this process by either turn off and on the WIFI on the device or reboot it.
• If it eliminates the access problem, it confirms that something in Firewalla is blocking the site, continue to Step 2
• If this still doesn't work, go to Step 1.2

Step 1.2: Turn off monitoring on the device 

• Go to Main -> Devices
• Tap on the device that's having problems connecting
• Scroll to the bottom and turn off monitoring. 

If you are running DHCP mode, you may need to turn off and on the WIFI on the device to let it acquire a new IP address. 

• If it doesn't fix the problem, you should stop and check your network (wiring, router configuration, etc) or contact us.
• If this fixes the problem, go to Step 2.

STEP 2. Check Block Features

Go through the following features that perform various blocking. Try turning each one off, and see if it makes any difference.  These three features will require you to flush DNS by turning WIFI off and on or reboot the device.

Ad Block

• Tap on Ad Block
• Turn off Ad Block globally or on the device experiencing the problem

For example, some google search results from "shopping" may be blocked because they are ads.

Family Protect

• Go to Main -> Family
• Turn off Family Protect globally or on the device experiencing the problem

Safe Search

• Go to Main -> Family
• Turn off Safe Search globally or on the device experiencing the problem

For example, if you have a problem accessing certain YouTube videos, it could be due to Safe Search (see this article).

Active Protect

Finally, try turning off Active Protect from Main -> Settings -> Features -> Active Protect. However, if the site is indeed blocked by Active Protect, chances are it's not a trusted site, and should be avoided. 

DNS Over HTTPS (DoH)

• Try to turn off DoH or Change Providers

• Tap on DNS over HTTPS button

We have seen DoH does some type of filtering and the results returned are not consistent from provider to provider.  

STEP 3. Check Block Rules

Step 3.1: Identify the Blocking Rule

Option 1: Scan over Your Rules

Most likely the block is due to an existing rule. A rule could be created by you from scratch or could be automatically created (from block actions in the alarm view, the flow history view, etc). So you might have forgotten that there is a block rule related to the site.

• Tap on the Rules button
• Make sure to check both global rules and device-specific rules
• Pause each rule. If it unblocks, then you've found the problem. If not, un-pause and continue to go through other rules. 

Option 2: Run Rule Diagnostics 

The Rule Diagnostic tool helps you pinpoint the rule that's blocking the access. For example, if you are having trouble accessing a gaming site "king.com" on your iPhone, 

• Main -> Rules  -> the top right corner "…" -> Diagnostics. 
• Type in the site you can't access - "king.com"
• Select the device you are having an issue with
• Diagnose

Note, If an Allow rule shows up as result, it is still possible that the access is blocked other features such as Ad Block, Family Protect, Safe search, etc. Please go to Step 2 to double confirm. 

Step 3.2: After the Blocking Rule is Identified

Case 1: If it's a rule blocking a domain required by the site

For example, if you can't access docs.google.com, and you found that it's due to a global block rule on ytimg.com (which is a service/resource required by Google Doc), then pause or remove the rule. See more examples with google and youtube access.

Case 2: If it's a rule blocking a seemingly unrelated domain

For example, if you can not access help.firewalla.com, it could surprise you that it's due to a blocking rule on roblox.com. This is because of Firewalla by default blocks at the IP level. Blocking of roblox.com will block IP used by help.roblox.com, which is the same IP as help.firewalla.com ... See this article for more explanations. 

To resolve this:

• pause/remove the rule, or
• change the Block Mode of the rule to "Domain Only" 

Case 3. If it's a category block rule

For example, if you can not access pinterest.com because you have a block on "All Social Sites", you can do one of the following:

1. unblock "All Social Site"
2. remove pinterest.com and related domains from the All Social Sites category list
3. create an Allow rule for pinterest.com 

 See this article for instruction details for the above example. 

Need Help

If you still can not resolve the problem, please feel free to open a support case. We will guarantee to respond in less than 24 hours.