Setup

Set up your PuriFi

Name: PuriFi
Brand: PuriFi
Price: 109 USD
Availability: PreOrder

There is more than one way to connect PuriFi, and each comes with its own advantages. Pick the one that suits your home — most people want the first. Everything here is drawn from the owner’s manual, which you can download in full.

A PuriFi device with its screen lit, showing a blocked company name along the bottom and the day’s blocked count in the corner. — Armed and working: the pairing banner is gone, a blocked name is showing along the bottom, and the counter in the corner is running.

Before you start

Everything you need is in the box, apart from the phone in your pocket. Setup takes a few minutes.

In the box

A PuriFi device beside its power supply and the USB-to-Ethernet cable. — The device, its power supply and the USB-to-Ethernet cable. The Ethernet cable is not shown here.

PuriFi device — the unit with the small screen on the front.
Power supply — 27 W USB-C.
USB-to-Ethernet cable — USB on one end, Ethernet on the other. This is PuriFi’s second network connection.
Ethernet cable — one end is right-angled, to sit flat against the device.

Between them, the two cables cover both of the connections PuriFi needs. You do not need to buy anything, and you will not need the cable currently joining your modem to your router — you can unplug it and put it away.

An Ethernet cable with a plug on both ends, one of them right-angled. — Ethernet cable. The right-angled end sits flat against the device.

A cable with a USB plug on one end and an Ethernet plug on the other. — USB-to-Ethernet cable — PuriFi’s second network connection.

You will also need

A phone, iPhone or Android, with Bluetooth switched on and the PuriFi app installed.

A way to sign in. You will create a PuriFi account during setup. Signing in with Google — or with Apple, on an iPhone — is the quickest route and needs nothing else. If you would rather use an email address and password, you will be sent a link to confirm the address, so pick an inbox you can check while standing next to the device.

Your Wi-Fi password, but only if you plan to connect PuriFi wirelessly rather than by cable.

PuriFi is set up entirely from the phone app. There is no web page to log into, no setup wizard on a computer, and no code to type in from the box.

Three ways to connect it

Choose your setup

Almost everyone should use the first one. It protects every device in the house, needs no changes to your router, and cannot be worked around.

Inline

The standard setup

PuriFi sits between your modem and your router, so everything your home sends passes through it.

Pros: Plug and play, best protection
Cons: Double NAT, no per-device configurations

Set this up →

Wired sidecar

One cable to a spare port

Your network stays exactly as it is. PuriFi hangs off a LAN port and answers your router’s lookups.

Pros: No double NAT, per-device configurations
Cons: One router setting to change; devices with their own DNS slip past

Set this up →

Wireless sidecar

No cable at all

The same as the wired sidecar, but PuriFi joins your Wi-Fi instead of taking a cable.

Pros: No cable to PuriFi, no double NAT, per-device configurations
Cons: Less steady than a wire; devices with their own DNS slip past

Set this up →

What each one gets you, side by side:

Setup	Tells devices apart	Catches devices with built-in DNS	Double NAT
Inline	Phones on Private VPN only	Yes	Yes
Inline, with your router as an access pointthe standard setup with one router setting changed	Yes, and enforced instantly	Yes	No
Wired or wireless sidecar	Yes	No	No

Double NAT is the one genuine trade-off of sitting between your modem and your router. Most people never notice it. What can notice are services that reach into your home from outside: Plex, remote play on consoles and handhelds, port forwarding, and self-hosted game servers. Putting your router into access point mode removes it entirely.

Setup 1

Inline — the standard setup

PuriFi sits between your modem and your router and checks every request your home makes before it leaves the house. Because it sits in the middle, it protects everything — phones, laptops, televisions, speakers, game consoles, doorbells — without you installing anything on them.

The back of a PuriFi device with the Ethernet cable in the built-in port and the USB-to-Ethernet cable in a USB port. — PuriFi has two network connections and they are not interchangeable. The built-in Ethernet port is the modem side; the USB-to-Ethernet cable is the router side.

Step 1 — Put PuriFi between your modem and your router

Unplug the Ethernet cable that runs from your modem to your router — take it out at both ends and put it aside. You will not need it.
Take the Ethernet cable from the box. Plug one end into your modem, and the other into PuriFi’s built-in Ethernet port.
Take the USB-to-Ethernet cable from the box. Plug the USB end into one of PuriFi’s USB ports.
Plug its Ethernet end into your router’s internet port — the one you just emptied. It is nearly always a different colour from the rest and labelled Internet or WAN.

The Ethernet cable being plugged into PuriFi’s built-in Ethernet port. — 2. The Ethernet cable goes into PuriFi’s built-in port.

The USB end of the USB-to-Ethernet cable being plugged into one of PuriFi’s USB ports. — 3. The USB-to-Ethernet cable goes into a USB port.

An Ethernet plug going into a router’s odd-coloured Internet port, set apart from the numbered LAN ports beside it. — 4. Its other end goes into your router’s Internet port — the odd-coloured one, set apart from the LAN ports beside it.

PuriFi has to sit between your modem and your router. Plugging it into a spare port on the side of your router will not protect your home — traffic would never pass through it.

Step 2 — Plug in the power

Connect the power supply to PuriFi and to a wall outlet. PuriFi starts on its own. Here is what you should see, and when:

When	On the screen
Straight away, for about 3 seconds	The screen lights up bright and blank
Then	Black, for a few seconds
Within about 20 seconds	The word PuriFi in cyan
Between 60 and 90 seconds	The full animation, with a pulsing green READY TO PAIR along the bottom

The PuriFi screen lit bright and blank during the first seconds of start-up. — First few seconds. A bright, blank screen here is not a fault.

The PuriFi name in cyan on a black screen. — About 20 seconds in. The PuriFi name means it is starting up.

The PuriFi animation with a pulsing green READY TO PAIR banner along the bottom of the screen. — When READY TO PAIR is pulsing on the screen, PuriFi is waiting for your phone.

Step 3 — Pair with the app

Open the PuriFi app and create your account. You can use an email address and password, sign in with Google, or on an iPhone sign in with Apple.
If you used an email address and password, check your email and click the link to confirm your address — the app will notice on its own and move you along. Signing in with Google or Apple skips this step.
On the main screen, drag the panel at the bottom upwards, then tap Add Device.
Allow Bluetooth when your phone asks. PuriFi is set up over Bluetooth, so stay near the device.
Your PuriFi appears in a list, named PuriFi followed by a short code. Tap Continue.
The app checks the device’s internet connection and shows Internet Connection OK.
If the app offers to remember your home Wi-Fi name, say yes. This lets Private VPN pause itself automatically when you are at home. You can skip it and set it later.
Tap Register Device and wait. You will see it work through Registering your device… and then Your PuriFi is linked!
Tap Done. Protection takes about another minute to arm itself. You can close the app — it finishes on its own.

The PuriFi app’s main screen with the bottom panel dragged up, showing the Add Device button. — Steps 3–4. Drag the panel up, then tap Add Device.

The app listing a discovered PuriFi device with a Continue button. — Step 5. Your PuriFi appears. Tap Continue.

The app confirming Internet Connection OK, with the option to save the home Wi-Fi name. — Steps 6–8. Internet checked. Save your home Wi-Fi, then register.

The app showing that the PuriFi is linked, with a Done button. — Step 9. Linked. Tap Done.

The app’s device row with an amber dot and greyed-out Ads and Sec indicators. — Right after Done. An amber dot means protection is still arming.

The app’s device row with a green dot and a blocked counter that has started moving. — About a minute later. A green dot, and the counter starts moving.

How you know it worked

The green READY TO PAIR banner disappears from the screen within about five seconds of a successful pairing. That is PuriFi confirming it, independently of the app.

Registration usually takes under a minute. On some routers the secure connection can take up to three minutes to establish the first time — this is normal and needs no action from you. Keep your phone near the device while it works.

Two things you will notice

Before you add a device, the app runs a demonstration — the numbers you see are examples, not your household. And for about a minute after linking, the dot beside your device name is amber and the Ads and Sec indicators are greyed out while protection arms itself. When the dot turns green and the blocked counter starts moving, you are protected.

Worth ten minutes: access point mode

PuriFi and your router are both handing out addresses. That is what puts your home behind two layers of address translation, and why PuriFi sees your household as one device rather than as your phones, TVs and consoles. Handing both jobs to PuriFi fixes both. This is the optimal way of using PuriFi.

In your router’s settings find Operation Mode — usually under Advanced or System — and choose Access Point. Router makers all call it something slightly different; look for Bridge Mode, AP Mode or Access Point Mode.
Keep the same Wi-Fi name and password so your devices reconnect on their own.
Move PuriFi’s cable out of the router’s Internet port into one of its numbered LAN ports: in access point mode the Internet port is unused.

Per-device profiles then work for everything in the house, not just phones.

Setup 2

Wired sidecar

If you would rather not put PuriFi between your modem and your router, there is a second way to run it. PuriFi hangs off one of your router’s LAN ports and acts purely as your home’s name-lookup server. Your traffic no longer flows through it — your router simply asks PuriFi to look addresses up.

The app’s Network screen and the owner’s manual call this DNS server mode.

This mode uses one cable — the plain Ethernet cable from the box. The USB-to-Ethernet cable is not used at all.

Step 1 — Connect the cable

Take the Ethernet cable from the box. Use the right-angled end at the device.
Plug it into PuriFi’s built-in Ethernet port.
Plug the other end into any LAN port on your router — one of the numbered ones. Leave the Internet port alone; your modem stays plugged into it.

The back of a PuriFi device with a single Ethernet cable in the built-in port and the USB ports empty. — One cable only, into PuriFi’s built-in Ethernet port.

An Ethernet plug going into one of a router’s numbered LAN ports, with the modem still in the Internet port. — The other end goes into any numbered LAN port. Leave the Internet port alone.

Step 2 — Power up and pair

Plug in the power and pair with the app exactly as in the standard setup. Setup, pairing and filtering all behave the same way here.

Step 3 — Find PuriFi’s address

You do not have to work this out yourself. Open Network in the device’s settings and it is there under DNS SERVER, labelled PuriFi address. It also appears at the end of pairing, and any time afterwards at the top of DEVICE SETTINGS for that device.

Use the one in DEVICE SETTINGS. That is the address PuriFi holds on to deliberately so it does not change — it usually ends in .53. Once your router is pointed at it you can leave it alone.

The top of the PuriFi app’s Device Settings screen showing the PuriFi address. — The address at the top of DEVICE SETTINGS — the one to use.

Step 4 — Point your router at it

In your router’s settings, find the DNS server fields. They are usually under LAN, DHCP, or Internet, and there are normally two of them.
Set both the primary and the secondary to PuriFi’s address.
Save the settings, then restart your devices or wait for them to pick up the change on their own. Most do within a day; restarting is faster.

A router’s administration page showing primary and secondary DNS fields with the same address in both. — One router’s DNS fields, with the same address in both. Yours will look different, and your address will not be this one.

Put the same address in both fields. If you leave your internet provider’s server in the secondary field, your devices will quietly fall back to it whenever PuriFi is busy — and everything that goes through that fallback is unfiltered, with no indication that anything has changed.

One red arrow is normal here

Because the USB-to-Ethernet cable is not used in this mode, PuriFi shows a red arrow and a blinking red X for that unused connection, permanently. That is expected — it is the device telling you a port has nothing plugged into it, not a fault. If you see two red arrows, the cable to your router has come out.

What is different in this mode

Better: no second layer of address translation, so Plex, remote play, port forwarding and game servers behave as they did before. PuriFi also sits on the same network as everything else, so it can tell your devices apart — per-device profiles work for televisions and consoles, not just phones.

Worse: coverage depends on your router passing PuriFi’s address to your devices. Anything with a name-lookup server built into it — some smart TVs, streaming sticks and IoT gadgets — ignores your router and slips past. Inline, those are caught anyway.

Setup 3

Wireless sidecar

PuriFi does not have to be wired at all. If you leave its Ethernet port empty, it can join your home Wi-Fi like any other device and serve filtered lookups over that instead. Everything in the wired sidecar section applies unchanged — it still takes an address, and you still point your router at it.

This is the same mode as above; the app and the owner’s manual call both of them DNS server mode. There is no separate button for the wireless version — the app offers Wi-Fi during setup when it sees the Ethernet port is empty.

Step 1 — Power up with the Ethernet port empty

Plug in the power and leave the Ethernet port free. Pair with the app as usual; your phone talks to PuriFi over Bluetooth while it does, so this works before PuriFi has any internet of its own.

Step 2 — Join your Wi-Fi

Choose your network from the ones PuriFi can see.
Enter the password and tap Connect.

The PuriFi app listing nearby Wi-Fi networks with a Select Network button. — Choose your network from the ones PuriFi can see.

The PuriFi app’s Wi-Fi password entry screen with a Connect button. — Enter the password and tap Connect.

Joining can take up to a minute

The app shows Connecting to Wi-Fi… while it works, and tells you plainly if the password was refused.

Step 3 — Point your router at it

Exactly as in the wired sidecar: find the address in DEVICE SETTINGS and put it in both of your router’s DNS fields.

A wired connection is steadier than Wi-Fi, and every device in your home depends on this one for name lookups. Use the cable where you reasonably can, and keep Wi-Fi for the places a cable cannot go.

Changing the network later

In Network, tap Change Wi-Fi network. Your phone finds the device over Bluetooth, you pick the new network — the one it is on now is named at the top — and it joins. This can take up to a minute.

Stand next to your PuriFi for this. Changing the network happens over Bluetooth, not over the internet, so your phone has to be within range of the device. That is also what makes it work when PuriFi has no working connection at all — which is exactly when you need it, if the password was wrong or your Wi-Fi has changed.

If you ever swap routers, PuriFi takes a new address on the new network. Open DEVICE SETTINGS again at that point and update your router to match.

While you set up

Reading the screen

The screen on the front is not decorative — it tells you what PuriFi is doing at a glance, and it is the fastest way to diagnose a problem. Learning these three-second checks will save you almost every support call.

What you see	What it means	What to do
Bright and blank	Powering up	Wait. It lasts about 3 seconds.
The word PuriFi in cyan on black	Starting up	Wait. About 20 seconds in.
The animation, with a pulsing green READY TO PAIR	Running, but not yet linked to an account	Open the app and tap Add Device
The full-brightness animation, with a count in the bottom-right corner	Working normally and protecting your home	Nothing
The whole picture dimmed, with red dots reaching the router	Filtering is off. Your internet works, but nothing is being blocked	Usually temporary — see the manual’s troubleshooting section
A red arrow and a blinking red X	A network connection is unplugged, or the USB adapter is not working. In sidecar mode, one arrow is normal	Check both cables

The PuriFi screen with blue dots travelling from the earth toward the router and red dots being shot down in the middle. — A working screen. Blue dots are ordinary requests on their way out; red ones are being shot down.

The PuriFi screen dimmed, with red dots reaching the router untouched. — Protection off: the picture dims and red dots reach the router untouched.

The earth on the left is the internet, the router on the right is your home, and the ball in the middle is PuriFi, catching what should not get through. The number in the bottom-right corner is how many requests PuriFi has blocked today, followed by what share of all traffic that represents. When PuriFi blocks something, the name of the company behind it appears briefly along the bottom with the reason underneath.

Give the screen a day to settle

The display calibrates itself over its first 24 hours, and it keeps improving for a while after that.

Changing your mind later

You do not have to pair again to change your mind. Open Network in the device’s settings: under SETUP there are two rows, Inline router and DNS server, with a check on the one you are running. Tap the other one and PuriFi walks you through it. It takes about a minute, and your router’s address for PuriFi stays the same when PuriFi is on your Wi-Fi.

The order matters, and it is different in each direction.

To inline — wire first, then tap

Plug the modem into PuriFi’s built-in Ethernet port and the USB-to-Ethernet cable into your router’s Internet port, exactly as in the standard setup. Then tap Inline router. PuriFi checks the wiring before it changes anything: if the USB adapter is missing, the modem is not on its Ethernet port, or the adapter’s cable is on a LAN port instead of Internet, it tells you and leaves everything as it was.

To a sidecar — tap first, then wire

Tap DNS server while PuriFi is still wired inline; once the modem cable is moved, the app cannot reach it. Then move the modem cable back to your router’s Internet port and plug PuriFi’s Ethernet cable into any LAN port — or leave it on your Wi-Fi. Your home is offline between the tap and the re-wire, about a minute. Until you re-wire, Mode still says Inline router; the note under SETUP reminds you what to move.

This ordering applies only to switching a device that is already paired. Setting one up for the first time is always wired first.

Everything else

The owner’s manual

This page covers getting connected. The manual covers the rest: profiles and per-device rules, Private VPN, sharing with your household, content controls, alerts, troubleshooting, care and safety, specifications, the warranty, and your privacy.

PuriFi Owner’s Manual (PDF)

78 pages · 8.8 MB · English

The complete manual — the same one the QR code inside your box lid points at. It is updated as the product changes, so the copy you reach here is always the current one. Worth a bookmark.

If something is not right

The manual’s troubleshooting section covers the screen never reaching READY TO PAIR, the app not finding your device, red arrows, and websites that stop working. If none of it helps, write to us.

support@purifi.io — a real person answers. We aim to reply within three business days, and usually much sooner.
Frequently asked questions — answers to the questions we are asked most.
Privacy policy

It saves a round trip if your first email has your device name as shown in the app, your order number, what the screen is showing — a photograph is ideal — and what you were doing when the problem started.