Roll-out has started: FRITZ!OS 8.20 makes the home network smarter, faster, and more efficient

• New Online Monitor and greater energy efficiency in the home network
• Optimized parental controls
• FRITZ! Failsafe – the new fallback protection for stable internet
• New upload sharing makes sharing files easier
• Smart home: More options for energy management and automation

AVM is starting the roll-out of the FRITZ!OS 8.20 update with over 40 new features and improvements for FRITZ! devices. Roll-out begins today with an update for the FRITZ!Box 7590. The update also offers additional control functions for the smart home, such as reading feed-in data, improved fallback protection for the internet connection, and practical optimizations of the user interface. The update also adds new convenience features to the Mesh Wi-Fi and offers new energy-saving options. This greatly simplifies the setup and management of Mesh Repeaters, while the energy consumption of the FRITZ!Box can be controlled even more effectively thanks to the 'Energy Efficient Ethernet' feature. Additional FRITZ!Box models will follow in the next few weeks. FRITZ!OS 8.20 continually increases the security and stability of all FRITZ! devices across the board, ensuring a long service life. Users can update to FRITZ!OS 8.20 automatically if the Auto Update feature is activated or by clicking on 'Start Update' in the 'fritz.box' user interface. Find out more about all the new features and improvements at en.fritz.com/fritzos.

Clearer online monitor and improved energy efficiency in the home network

The Online Monitor was also improved. FRITZ!OS 8.20 adds a new time interval so that users can analyse network utilization more precisely: The categories 'Total', 'Top User', and 'Individual devices' can now show utilization for the past two weeks. This shows which network devices are using the internet the most. The selection of network devices for which the utilization data is to be recorded and displayed has also been simplified considerably. Now the Online Monitor can be used for the entire configuration – for even more intuitive operation and a better overview of the home network.

Thanks to Energy Efficient Ethernet, the FRITZ!Box can now reduce its energy consumption even more effectively. The function can now be configured separately for the WAN socket and individual LAN sockets – perfect for managing unused interfaces efficiently without sacrificing performance.

Optimized parental controls

With the new FRITZ!OS 8.20, the FRITZ!Box user interface features of number of practical improvements. The popular parental controls now clearly display the access profiles and corresponding devices on one page. Tickets for online time are easier to find on a separate tab and the number of tickets has been increased from 10 to 12. This makes managing family internet usage even simpler and more intuitive.

Always online with the new FRITZ! Failsafe

With FRITZ! Failsafe – the FRITZ!Box's new fallback protection – FRITZ!Box users stay online at all times. If the fibre optic, DSL or cable connection becomes unstable or fails, FRITZ! Failsafe ensures the home network's internet connection via an alternative internet connection. FRITZ! Failsafe does this by using a substitute connection via a fallback device connected upstream from the FRITZ!Box as a reserve via a WAN, LAN or USB socket. This device can be another FRITZ!Box, a USB mobile network dongle, or a smartphone in USB tethering mode. A particularly suitable fallback device would be a FRITZ!Box for a mobile network – for example, a FRITZ!Box 6860 5G or 6850 LTE. This feature is ideal for anyone who depends upon a reliable internet connection – whether in a home office or a retail store.

More stability in the Mesh Wi-Fi and simplified repeater integration

In addition, FRITZ!OS 8.20 contains noticeable improvements to the Mesh Wi-Fi: Now it is even easier for the Mesh Master to access connected FRITZ!Repeaters – re-entering the password is no longer necessary. Several repeaters can also be activated for Mesh operation at the same time, without having to press the connection button on the FRITZ!Box. Many additional Mesh optimizations also enhance the performance and stability of all Wi-Fi connections.

The new upload sharing makes sharing files easier

With the new upload sharing via FRITZ!NAS, sharing files has never been easier: Users can make a folder available via sharing link, allowing users with the sharing link to directly upload and download content – perfect for collecting shared photos or documents. Thanks to the new function, it is no longer necessary to create a FRITZ!Box user with special write permission – instead, all that is needed to allow friends and family to securely upload files is a single link.

New possibilities with the FRITZ!Smart Energy 250

FRITZ!OS 8.20 also offers new features in the Smart Home area: Now FRITZ!Smart Energy 250 can also read data from the export meter of a digital electricity meter (for example when using a balcony solar panel system). This data is shown in the energy display for devices in the menu 'Smart Home > Devices and Groups' – for greater transparency of energy consumption and feed-in. Registering smart home devices is now even more flexible. The registration of devices with another FRITZ!Box or a FRITZ!Smart Gateway can be started in the user interface of the FRITZ!Box used as the Mesh Master. This greatly simplifies the integration of new components into the smart home.

Additional improvements for the smart home

The update also brings additional control functions for the FRITZ!Smart Control 440 four-way smart switch. Now all of the functions that could be configured directly on the radiator control FRITZ!Smart Thermo 302 can also be controlled with the smart switch. It also offers more comprehensive options for lighting control. Besides switching on and off and dimming, it can now be used to change the colour and colour temperature. In addition, routines can now be activated and deactivated directly using the FRITZ!Smart Control 440. Routines can also be triggered by a call, reaching a target temperature, activating the boost or antifreeze function, as well as by important events on the FRITZ!Box. To make managing Wi-Fi even simpler, the FRITZ!Smart Control 440 can be used to switch off the main Wi-Fi network in addition to guest Wi-Fi.