How to look at Wi-Fi router history

We live in times where the internet contains almost everything that you can think of. However, you’ll agree with me that the information on the internet may either prove to be useful or negative.

The internet has no limits and even the smallest of barriers that are set are not enough to prevent you from accessing harmful sites. This is definitely a grey area that is still not looked at in depth because our children end up being exposed to non- productive sites. Unfortunately, there is still no specific way that you could block your router from giving access to certain sites. Therefore, making it such a difficult task for you to be able to control the sites that your children can gain access to.

However, the good news is that you can actually access the online activities that were ongoing on your router by following these three simple steps. First of all, you are supposed to log in to the router settings page on your browser or the router app if it has one. Either way, you will still need a device that is able to access the internet. Once you have logged in, you are required to key in your log in details which includes your username and password. After these two steps you will be able to see all the user activity that has been on going on your Wi-Fi router.

It is also important to note that you should limit checking your router’s browsing history for your own purpose or to monitor your child’s activities. This is because checking other people’s browsing history frequently is actually violation of their privacy and it is not advisable for you to do so. Therefore, you should only check the activity of your router if you are trying to control how your child uses the internet. You could also just check for your own personal reasons i.e. if you want to know your frequently visited sites.

Steps to follow to in order to access your router settings

Launch a web browser

You are required to log in to your router settings page through a web browser using your smartphone device or even tablet. This process will only be possible if you know your IP address as that’s what is going to direct you to your router’s configurations page.However, certain situations may occur where you may have forgotten your IP address or you simply just don’t know. If this is the case, then you simply click on the search bar of your computer and type “Command Prompt” and press Enter.

Once you press enter, the computer will go to the next screen where you will key in “ipconfig” on the command line and press Enter once again. The next page that will appear will contain a lot of data and numbers so you should look for “Default Gateway” as the number adjacent to it is the IP address of your router. Once you see it, you can copy paste it to the web browser search bar and click enter which will take you straight to your router’s configurations page. The process isn’t too complicated, is it?

However, you should also know that logging into the router’s configurations page depends on what router you are using. This is because some routers also come with their software apps where you can easily access and perform similar tasks. In my opinion, using an app to access your router settings is easier than accessing browser history that requires you to log in to a web browser. Reason being, most of the router software apps are usually user- friendly and easy to navigate through making your work easier throughout.

Key in your Log in details

You then key in your username and password in order to access the information you need saved on your router.Most routers, if not all, usually come with documents that have their username and password set by the company. However, there is absolutely no reason to panic if you threw away the paper that had this information. At the end of the day, quite a number of people throw away the documents that come with the box of the router. Now, there are two ways that you can go about this.

The first one being you can actually key in the default username and password that normally comes with most routers. Which is Admin for username and 1234 or password as the password. If this doesn’t work, you can actually search and find the default username and password for your specific router on the internet. It is also advisable that you change your username and password at this point so that you can enhance the security and privacy of your router.

Check browsing History

After you have gone through these two steps successfully, you can now check the devices that were connected to your router and their browser history. You just have to identify the specific device that you’d like to have a look at and click on its logs. The logs will display all the sites that have been accessed by that specific device.

Conclusion

Routers automatically save all the browsing sites that have been accessed by devices that have been connected to it. Therefore, you can be looking through the browser history of your router if you are really keen on controlling how your child is using the internet. Any reason more than that will be misusing this feature as you will be violating another person’s privacy.

FAQs

Can I reset the username and password of my router?

Yes you can. You simply hold the reset button for about 10 seconds then the router will automatically go back to default username and password.

Do all routers come with software apps?

No. Not all routers come with software apps.