Note for customers with Apple devices:
Apple’s new releases of iOS 15 and macOS Monterey include an internet privacy service called iCloud Private Relay. If this feature is enabled, xFi Parental Controls filtering and Active Time Details reporting won’t work. Learn more about iCloud Private Relay.
Downtime
What is Downtime and how does it work?
Setting up a scheduled pause through Downtime allows you to automatically pause WiFi access over your home network during scheduled times for all devices assigned to a person. Each person can have multiple scheduled pauses per day, up to a total of 30.
How do I set up a scheduled pause?
To set a scheduled pause, select a person and then select the gear icon in the upper-right corner. From the Settings page, select Create Schedule next to Downtime. Select a schedule icon, personalize the schedule name and select Next. Then, select the day(s) of the week for the scheduled pause, pick the Pause (start) and Resume (end) time and select Apply.
If any device assigned to that person attempts to access a website, app or service outside a web browser (e.g., mobile email app) during a scheduled pause, the user will see the device's default message that the website cannot be reached or that it is not connected to the internet.
How can I set a scheduled pause for a single device?
Devices need to be assigned to a person in order to be set up with a scheduled pause. If you have a device you would like to schedule pauses for, first assign them to a person and then set the scheduled for that person.
Parental Controls
How do I turn on Parental Controls?
To set Parental Controls, you'll need to first create a person and assign devices to them. Once created, select that person and then select the gear icon in the upper-right corner. From the Settings page, select Parental Controls and choose On.
Attempts to access inappropriate content on devices that are assigned to a person with Parental Controls turned on will be redirected to a block page when connected to your home network. In the case of secure (https) websites or mobile applications, the block page may not be displayed, but access is still prevented.
Parental Controls for xFi will not block inappropriate content that is available through your Xfinity TV Stream (Xfinity app or web portal). Learn how to set parental controls for your Xfinity TV service, Xfinity Stream app or Xfinity Stream portal.Note: For households that receive internet through the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) program, Parental Controls will be automatically enabled on your gateway. Any device that connects to your network will automatically be blocked from accessing inappropriate content. Customers can disable this setting for specific devices, create a person, assign those devices to the person and turn Parental Controls off.
What criteria does the Parental Controls feature for xFi use to determine if content is appropriate to access?Comcast has engaged a third-party vendor who maintains a database that maps online content to a set of over 400 categories, such as social media, automotive, gambling, violence, adult content and more. Based on industry standards, best practices and experience, our vendor has recommended which categories are generally deemed appropriate for all ages. Content deemed as appropriate generally does not include profanity, sexual content, violence, child abuse, software piracy, copyright theft, malware, spyware, depictions of alcohol, tobacco, weapons, gambling or drug use.
Content mapping is updated regularly by the vendor to help ensure a comprehensive list is maintained.
Once I turn on Parental Controls for xFi, will content immediately be blocked?Content should be blocked fairly quickly once Parental Controls are enabled. However, content that was already accessed on a device may be cached and, therefore, may still be accessible on that device for up to 24 hours.
Do Parental Controls for xFi guarantee that access to all inappropriate content will be blocked?
Parental Controls are intended to help prevent devices from accessing inappropriate online content; however, they are not guaranteed to block access to all inappropriate sites and applications.
Do Parental Controls for xFi restrict access when using a public Xfinity WiFi Hotspot or cellular network?
Parental Controls only restrict access for devices connected to your personal home network.
Can I add or remove specific websites from Parental Controls for xFi?
Not at this time. To access blocked content, you'll need turn off Parental Controls.
How can I turn on Parental Controls for xFi for a single device?
Devices need to be assigned to a person in order to be blocked through Parental Controls. If you have a device you would like to turn Parental Controls on for, first assign them to a person and then enable Parental Controls.
What are the protective settings for Google, Bing and YouTube that are enabled with Parental Controls?
Several websites offer protective settings (safe search) that limit access to inappropriate or mature images, videos and search results using those sites’ respective safe search filters. The following third-party settings are automatically applied to any device that’s connected to the home network and has xFi Parental Controls turned on:
| Service | Enabled Setting |
| Google SafeSearch | On |
| Bing SafeSearch | Strict |
| YouTube Restricted Mode | On |
When Parental Controls are turned on, these services’ protective settings help limit exposure to potentially explicit content for the associated websites, as well as the Google and YouTube apps.
Active Time Limits
What is an Active Time Limit?An Active Time Limit provides the ability to set time limits for people on your home network to help your family promote healthy internet usage habits. When enabled, the Xfinity primary user will receive a text message, email and/or push notification (depending on you xFi notifications preferences) when a person's devices are close to reaching their active time limit on your home network. Devices assigned to the person can be automatically paused for the remainder of the day once the time limit is reached.
How do I set up an Active Time Limit?
Select the person that you'd like to set a limit for and select the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen. From the Settings page, select Active Time Limit. Choose Weekdays or Weekends and adjust the bar to set the active time limit. This will be the daily limit for the person, starting at 12:00 AM each day. By default, the option to automatically pause devices is enabled when creating new active time limits. This pauses a person's devices for the rest of the day (until midnight) once their active time limit has been reached. If you do not want their devices to automatically pause, be sure to disable this setting for the active time limit.
Note: The automatic pause setting will not be enabled on any Active Time Limits that were set up prior to the introduction of this feature. You'll need to enable this option for each existing active time limit.
What counts as "active time"?
Activities such as streaming music or videos, surfing, shopping, gaming and downloading books, pictures and videos, count towards "active time."
Applications that you may not be actively using, but are running in the background, may count towards active time. For example, an app downloading an update would likely be considered active time, while a text message with no attachment likely won’t. Devices may download updates overnight and this will count as active time. Some devices, like Chromecast, continuously download data and are not recommended to be assigned to people with an Active Time Limit.
Note: Access using cellular data, a public Xfinity WiFi hotspot or other available WiFi networks will not count towards active time.What happens when the active time limit is reached?
When the limit has been reached, the devices assigned to that person will be paused for the remainder of the day, until midnight. When this time limit is close to being reached, a text message, email and/or push notification will be sent to the Xfinity primary user depending on your xFi notification preferences. Be sure that you have Network Activity notifications turned on to receive these alerts.
Note: If you don't want the devices assigned to a person to automatically pause once the time limit is reached, be sure to disable this option in the active time limit.
Can I unpause devices after they have hit their active time limit?
If you want to unpause a person’s devices after they've reached their active time limit, you Unpause All Devices for that person from the Connected to your WiFi section of the WiFi tab.
Why are some devices still paused from the previous day?
The device may still be paused under a separate pause rule or may be paused due to a schedule. Check these settings to ensure that all pause rules have been removed from the device/person and that the schedule has ended.
Active Time Details
What are Active Time Details?
Active Time Details offers a detailed view of how much time you and your kids are spending on supported applications, or their associated websites, when connected to your home network. It is an optional feature (disabled by default) and can only be enabled at the person/people level. Once you enable it for a person, time spent online will be tracked and categorized.
Comcast takes customer privacy seriously. It is important to understand that we do not track your online activity. Active Time Details in xFi is an optional feature and is not enabled by default. This means that network traffic will not be tracked and made viewable to you until you enable this feature in xFi. Additionally, this information is not used for any other purposes.
Is the Active Time Details feature available to all customers with an xFi Gateway?
Active Time Details is available to Xfinity Internet subscribers who rent a compatible xFi Advanced Gateway (XB6 and higher).
How do I enable Active Time Details in xFi?
Active Time Details can be enabled through the Xfinity app. To enable, select a person and then select the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page. From the Settings page, select Active Time Details and choose Turn On.
Note: To turn it on, you’ll need to accept the user consent that appears onscreen.
Active Time Details can't be enabled for the default Household and Guest groups.
What devices will I see activity for?
Network traffic can only be reported on devices running one of the following supported platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Chrome OS (e.g., phones, tablets and computers), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Active Time Details cannot be tracked on Smart TVs or on Amazon platforms (Kindle, Kindle Fire, etc.).
Which apps are currently supported?
Comcast has engaged a third-party vendor who maintains the list of applications for Active Time Details. They, in partnership with Comcast, review the most popular apps and those used by kids that require internet connectivity to determine which ones to support. You can see the supported applications list here. Any online activity that does not occur on a supported application will be captured as “other browsing” and roll up into the “Other” category.
Devices must be connected to your home network and use the internet for activity to be captured. Applications that do not require internet connectivity cannot be properly identified for Active Time Details.
What are the different categories supported for Active Time Details?
Comcast has engaged a third-party vendor who maintains a database that maps websites and applications to a category classification. Content mapping is updated regularly by the vendor to help ensure a comprehensive list is maintained.
Categories include: Adult, Education, Gaming, Kids, Social, Entertainment, Shopping, News & Media, Search & Utilities and Other.
How accurate is the application usage tracking?
Usage statistics are accurate up to a five-minute granularity, and the data is updated every 15 minutes. Usage is rounded up, so if a person spends three minutes out of five on a given platform, five minutes of usage will be logged.
Why do I see apps I don’t recognize?
Activity for some apps will be reported under the company name rather than the application name. This is most common with gaming applications. For example, the company Epic Games has a number of gaming applications available for download in the app stores, including Fortnite. Time spent playing Fortnite on the mobile app, along with time spent playing on any other app released by the company Epic Games, will show as “Epic Games” in Active Time Details.
It is possible to see activity from an application you have not recently used due to background app activity (e.g., app updates, etc.).
It is also possible to see activity from an app that you do not have. Many applications and websites include embedded content that is sourced from other platforms. Depending on how those platforms are integrated, this embedded content can use enough data to be included in Active Time Details. Some examples of embedded content include social media posts that get shared across platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) and in-app advertisements.
This app activity will typically show in five-minute increments.
Why doesn't the sum of my detailed active time add up to the total daily time?
Activity can occur on multiple devices at the same time or across multiple applications on the same device at the same time. When activity occurs concurrently, total time spent is calculated as the sum of time from the point when activity started to when it ended. For example, if you stream music on a computer from 1:00-2:00 p.m. and you also play a game on a mobile device from 1:30-2:00 p.m. that same day, total daily time spent will be one hour. Separately, you will see the amount of time spent for each activity classified as one hour of Entertainment and 30 minutes of Gaming.
Will my activity be tracked if I use a private browser tab?
Yes, Active Time Details is still able to monitor activity on websites of supported applications (e.g., www.facebook.com) even when accessing using a private browser.
Will my activity be tracked if I use a VPN?
No, activity cannot be tracked and reported for devices using a VPN to access the internet.
Once I turn Active Time Details off, can I still view the data?
No, once Active Time Details is turned off, the Application and Category data will no longer be accessible. Details will not be captured while Active Time Details is turned off. When you turn Active Time Details back on, you can view activity that was captured prior to turning it off if it was within the last seven days.
We’re serious about privacy. We’ve designed this reporting feature to let you manage screen time for yourself and your kids. The data being reported is not being used for any other purposes and we don’t share your data with third parties. Data collected for purposes of Active Time Details in xFi is only stored for a period of 10 days. Any tracking data older than 10 days gets permanently deleted.
We adhere to the standards of our Web Services Privacy Policy and the Web Services Terms of Service.
Why can’t I see Active Time Details in a person's settings?First, check your gateway make and model in xFi under the Network tab to make sure it’s one of the compatible gateways.
If you have a compatible gateway but still don’t see Active Time Details, try restarting your gateway to make sure you have the latest firmware.