How does category blocking rule work?

When creating a rule, you can choose from a set of system-managed target categories, such as All Gaming Sites, All Social Sites, All Video Sites, and more. 

Each category contains a list of domains or IP addresses associated with a specific type of activity. Firewalla automatically populates the list in each category by learning from the traffic in your network, but you can also view and edit the list manually.

However, you might find that you want to block a category but make an exception for a certain site – for example, block all social media sites but allow access to Pinterest.

Allowing access to a site blocked by category

There are two ways to make exceptions for certain sites.

Remove the site from the category list 

• Go to the rule detail page
• Tap on the rule target
• Find the category (e.g. All Video Sites), then tap the "i" icon on the right side
• Tap on the site you want to access and remove it from the list

Create an Allow rule for the site 

Allow rules will always take precedence over Block rules. 

• Go to Rules
• Tap Add Rule
• Set the action to "Allow"
• Specify which domain you'd like to access on which device.  
• Save the rule