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Circle Go (for iPhone)

Neil J. Rubenking
 & Neil J. Rubenking Principal Writer, Security

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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When Circle Go is installed on your children's iOS devices, it extends the reach of the Circle with Disney whole-network parental control device. Its protection and monitoring continues even outside the home network. - Parental Control
3.0 Average

The Bottom Line

When Circle Go is installed on your children's iOS devices, it extends the reach of the Circle with Disney whole-network parental control device. Its protection and monitoring continues even outside the home network.

Pros & Cons

    • Easy setup.
    • Age-based parental control profiles.
    • Category-based content filtering.
    • Cuts off Internet access at bedtime.
    • Includes Internet Pause button.
    • Currently only compatible with iOS.
    • Easily turned off.
    • Expensive.

Installing parental control software on every device your kids use is a Sisyphean task. For households with a ton of devices, a whole-network solution makes a lot of sense. You manage every device on the network from a single, central control point. The problem is, once the kids go out the door, once they're not on your home network, all control and monitoring ceases. Circle Go aims to solve that problem, at least for mobile devices. Available now for iPhone and soon for Android, Circle Go extends the reach of the hardware-based Circle with DisneySee it at Amazon UK parental control device beyond the home network. In testing, I found the experience of roaming with Circle Go indistinguishable from the hardware-based in-network experience.

A Circle Go subscription costs $9.95 per month and lets you protect up to 10 iOS devices. If you decide you don't like it before 30 days have elapsed, you can get your money back. It's not an independent product; you can't even sign up for a subscription if the Circle website doesn't detect the Circle with Disney device on your network. And you don't just go sign up. Instead, you enter your email address and wait for an invitation, which, according to the site, might come right away or might take a week or more. For me, it took one day.

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Final Thoughts

When Circle Go is installed on your children's iOS devices, it extends the reach of the Circle with Disney whole-network parental control device. Its protection and monitoring continues even outside the home network. - Parental Control

Circle Go (for iPhone)

3.0 Average

When Circle Go is installed on your children's iOS devices, it extends the reach of the Circle with Disney whole-network parental control device. Its protection and monitoring continues even outside the home network.

About Our Expert

Neil J. Rubenking

Neil J. Rubenking

Principal Writer, Security

My Experience

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that fateful meeting, I’ve become PCMag’s expert on security, privacy, and identity protection, putting antivirus tools, security suites, and all kinds of security software through their paces.

Before my current security gig, I supplied PCMag readers with tips and solutions on using popular applications, operating systems, and programming languages in my "User to User" and "Ask Neil" columns, which began in 1990 and ran for almost 20 years. Along the way, I wrote more than 40 utility articles, as well as Delphi Programming for Dummies and six other books covering DOS, Windows, and programming. I also reviewed thousands of products of all kinds, ranging from early Sierra Online adventure games to AOL’s precursor Q-Link.

In the early 2000s, I turned my focus to security and the growing antivirus industry. After years of working with antivirus, I’m known throughout the security industry as an expert on evaluating antivirus tools. I serve as an advisory board member for the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), an international nonprofit group dedicated to coordinating and improving testing of anti-malware solutions.

The Technology I Use

Much of the testing I do, particularly testing with real-world ransomware, is just plain dangerous. To perform such tests safely, I sequester them inside virtual machines managed by VMWare Workstation. For cross-platform testing, I use a MacBook Air, a Google Pixel 4, and a 6th-generation iPad.

I rely on my Delphi coding skills to create and maintain small applications. These include programs to check whether an antivirus correctly handled the malware it detected, launch dangerous URLs and record the security program’s reaction, and analyze the malware that I collect for use in testing. I also wrote a tiny browser and text editor for use in testing security apps that have predefined reactions for known products.

I do my writing and research on a Dell OptiPlex desktop, relying on Microsoft Word (my fingers know all the shortcuts). Many of my articles include charts and analysis; Excel is my go-to for those. When work hours end, though, I escape the bounds of Microsoft and Windows. There’s an iPhone in my pocket, I relax with my oversized iPad, and my Kindle Oasis is always loaded with the best science fiction and fantasy.

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