Apple does not allow WiFi scanner apps for iOS. I for one would find having one very helpful for evaluating my WiFi network. I've used a WiFi scanning program on my Mac to, for example, help a coffee shop owner who had two competing WiFi routers going and was using the same frequencies as the shop next door (resulting in terrible WiFi in the shop).
Thanks.
- Winston
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iPhone 5, iOS 9.0.2, null
""yeah... we're having trouble keeping the flimflam capacitor from sending the IP noodle data to anybody with a grep recovering unit within 14 feet""
Funny! Thanks for injecting some humor.
To both LACAllen and etresoft, I think you are getting a lot deeper than what I intended. My interest is something as simple as what I found at the coffee shop, that they were set up on the same channels as the store next door. Sure, if I were setting up, say, an entire corporate campus for WiFi, then professional tools would be a help, maybe a requirement. But I've found a basic scanner on my Mac to be very helpful, and I think having one on an iPhone would be as well. Not everyone needs professional level tools to do something useful. etresoft you said iOS already shows SSIDs and signal strength. I have not been able to have it show channels, which is the most basic level of comparing interference. The scanner I have on my Mac does that, and shows multiple SSIDs and channels at the same time.
As a comparison, millions of people use iPhoto or Photos. Why don't they use Photoshop? Because they don't need it, the cost, or the complexity, to achieve what they want. Does that make iPhoto or Photos useless vs. Photoshop because they aren't "professional" tools?
Best,
- Winston
""yeah... we're having trouble keeping the flimflam capacitor from sending the IP noodle data to anybody with a grep recovering unit within 14 feet""
Funny! Thanks for injecting some humor.
To both LACAllen and etresoft, I think you are getting a lot deeper than what I intended. My interest is something as simple as what I found at the coffee shop, that they were set up on the same channels as the store next door. Sure, if I were setting up, say, an entire corporate campus for WiFi, then professional tools would be a help, maybe a requirement. But I've found a basic scanner on my Mac to be very helpful, and I think having one on an iPhone would be as well. Not everyone needs professional level tools to do something useful. etresoft you said iOS already shows SSIDs and signal strength. I have not been able to have it show channels, which is the most basic level of comparing interference. The scanner I have on my Mac does that, and shows multiple SSIDs and channels at the same time.
As a comparison, millions of people use iPhoto or Photos. Why don't they use Photoshop? Because they don't need it, the cost, or the complexity, to achieve what they want. Does that make iPhoto or Photos useless vs. Photoshop because they aren't "professional" tools?
Best,
- Winston
IMO, if there was a technical explanation of why Apple does not have this type of app in their store, it would not be a topic open to discussion by Apple or its army of independent developers. At any level.
Your questions about attack and integrity demonstrate why this would be. *IF* there is a vulnerability, why on earth would it be a topic for debate or open discussion?
Would you expect a developer of any sort who is or has worked on this type of app to disclose anything relevant to your question(s)?
"yeah... we're having trouble keeping the flimflam capacitor from sending the IP noodle data to anybody with a grep recovering unit within 14 feet"
It would seem you aren't really needing a wifi scanning app, as they can be had quite easily on other platforms. You seem to be wanting to know some of why Apple works the way they do. To peek behind the wizard's curtain.
There are places online where lots of people trade in speculation and iGossip. This is not one of them.
There is no need for speculation or iGossip. iOS is s consumer operating system. OS X is too. Both are completely unsuitable for a WiFi scanner. Maybe you can buy an app that shows SSIDs and signal strength. But iOS already does that. If you want to do real diagnostics on a wireless network, you need real diagnostic equipment. Consumer equipment is not suitable for that. You can call any professional networking company to come out to said wifi-challenged coffee shop. See what they bring with them. Do they have an iPad? A Mac? An android device? No. They have a Fluke meter. Well, at least they should. If they don't have a device like that, then you are being ripped off.
Hello Winson,
That kind of operation usually needs lower-level access to the OS and hardware than is normally possible on iOS. That would prevent a WiFi scanner being distributed via the App Store. However, if you had an enterprise account and good enough programmers, you may be able to develop a WiFi scanner. You wouldn't be able to sell the app but your consultants could use it to debug wireless networks for coffee shop owners.
Thanks. I'll remember to start a company and hire a bunch of programmers next time I'm in a small coffee shop that needs help with WiFi
. 😉
(OK< something really weird happened that reversed all sorts of things on this comment. I can't figure out how to fix it. The smiley is at the start instead of the end, and the comma and dash below are in the wrong places, as are the parens for this sentence. They look right when I view the HTML. Ugh
.)
What's interesting is that I just found out that Apple built a WiFi scanner into the last two or three versions of Mac OS X, accessible by holding the Option key when clicking on the AirPort icon. Now if the Mac OS developers would just talk to the iOS developers . . .
Best,
- Winston
Posting mostly cleaned up the last post, but it's still a bit odd since I couldn't tell what it would look like. Strange.
WinstonE wrote:
The scanner I have on my Mac does that, and shows multiple SSIDs and channels at the same time.
Then why not use the Mac?
As a comparison, millions of people use iPhoto or Photos. Why don't they use Photoshop? Because they don't need it, the cost, or the complexity, to achieve what they want. Does that make iPhoto or Photos useless vs. Photoshop because they aren't "professional" tools?
That's a good point and quite applicable to your original question. Why does Apple need to allow this kind of low-level access on a consumer device when a Mac can do what you want? That would be a huge hassle for Apple and its customers if that level of software were allowed. Scamware, adware, and incompatible software is a huge problem on OS X right now and Apple (and anyone trying to help with Mac problems on ASC) is really struggling with it. I can't speak for Apple but I'm pretty happy that I don't have to deal with that level of hassle on my iPad. I know there are a lot of people who don't like some of Apple's recent changes (i.e. the "dumbing down" of OS X), but I think many, many people would have a far more enjoyable experience with OS X if it were more like iOS.
As for Photoshop, that is a far more interesting and fascinating topic. In fact Photoshop does have millions of users (See http://www.business.com/graphic-design/photoshop-reigns-supreme-how-the-software -has-maintained-market-dominance/). Personally, I think Photoshop has more users than this and probably more users than iPhoto or Photos, at least on OS X. Adobe is very clever about marketing. They use a two-sided market. They don't worry too much about piracy because it builds customer demand. That huge market demand drives highly reliable and profitable institutional purchases. Apple isn't quite so clever as that, but Apple knows that things like WiFi scanning are not important for most customers, not even on OS X and definitely not on iOS.
You asked "why not use the Mac" for WiFi scanning. Well, I do. But it's less easy to carry than an iPhone would be. There are also lots of times (such as at the coffee shop I mentioned) where I normally would have my iPhone, but not necessarily my computer. There is a thread I read somewhere from when Apple dropped WiFi scanners from iOS from someone who was going to move to an Android phone so that he could still do WiFi scanning on a mobile device.
I agree that if allowing WiFi scanners would compromise iOS then it would not be a good idea. But, as Apple has added it to OS X, maybe they could also do so for iOS - if Apple did it I assume they could do so in a non-compromising way.
I'll have to disagree with you on Photoshop users vs. iPhoto/Photos. The latter are free, and come with OS X. In my family, there are a couple of computers that have a school version of Photoshop, but everyone who has a Mac (and I'm talking about 20 or so people) uses iPhoto or Photos. I know that's a "small sample", but Photoshop is expensive compared to free. The article said in 2010 there were 10 million Photoshop users worldwide, but I assume that includes Windows as well as Mac. Every Mac has had iPhoto/Photos for at least the last 10 years. I do agree that Photoshop has more professional users than other photo programs.
Best,
- Winston
No, sorry. Photoshop is free if you know what to do. There are lots of things that are free in that way. I'm sure that article was talking about legal licenses and included Windows users. Do you want to know a dirty little secret? Look around here on Apple Support Communities for my EtreCheck reports. Look for people who have around 12 entries in their /etc/hosts file. That is to prevent Adobe products from checking licenses. It might also prevent things like Flash updates for security vulnerabilities.
I don't know exactly how many copies of Photoshop are pirated. I have seen estimates of 50%, but that seems too low. Personally, I would rather people pay for other, more inexpensive products instead of pirating Adobe. That would help to create a market for other software developers. That has been happening lately as there are great new tools like Pixelmator, iDraw (now Graphic), Affinity products, and Logoist.
That's interesting. I prefer to pay for software, although I understand wanting to block it from "phoning home". Microsoft Office has given me problems in this regard, even when we had enough licenses to go around. We own a copy of Photoshop Essentials, but I don't think its ever been loaded onto a computer.
I've heard good things about Pixelmator. I think we actually have a copy on one of our computers that one of my kids bought. I don't buy much software these days because of the old Mac that I use, and maybe because I've gotten tired of perfectly good software being made obsolete by OS changes. When we were in OS 9 I bought a huge amount of software. Under PowerPC OS X we bought some. Now, very little. I also like to pay for Shareware/Donationware. I did so with Carbon Copy Cloner before it became a paid program. It's one of the few things I'm willing to pay to upgrade.
I haven't even loaded the later versions of MS Office that I've paid for (2004 and 2008) onto my PowerBook. I'm still using Office v.X, which dates from 2001. I did buy a 2011 license for my kids' MacBook Airs and my wife's iMac. But I did put an SSD in my PowerBook, and I have an external USB WiFi device that gives me 802.11n. So I'm not averse to useful upgrades.
Speaking of software, does EtreCheck work on a PowerPC Mac? Couldn't find any system requirement info for it.
And back to the topic of WiFi scanners, mine only does 2.4 GHz, because that's all the PowerBook supports.
Best,
- Winston
WinstonE wrote:
Speaking of software, does EtreCheck work on a PowerPC Mac? Couldn't find any system requirement info for it.
Hello again Winston,
No. EtreCheck requires an Intel Macintosh running 10.6 or later. I need to add that to the web site.
Thanks. I'd guessed EtreCheck was Intel only, but there's such a range of what works with which versions of OS X.
Best,
- Winston
Technical reasons why WiFi scanners not allowed for iOS
