These free Wi-Fi apps will help you scan to find open networks around you, or to analyze your own Wi-Fi network to keep track of devices connected to it and how secure your network appears to others.
All of these apps are different, but a Wi-Fi analyzer might check the network for which devices are connected to it, the strength of the channel, the IP address of the devices and network itself, open ports, and more. It’s really a must have when you’re checking out your own Wi-Fi network to see how secure it is.
There are also free Wi-Fi scanners here that will help you identify networks around you, telling you if they’re open or closed as well as the strength of the connection.
You’ll also want to find free Wi-Fi locations so you can get online cheap, whether it be through your ISP, at a near location, or to locate public Wi-Fi hotspots.
The best Wi-Fi apps listed below work on a variety of devices, including mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, but also computers.
Fing
Fing is our favorite free Wi-Fi app because it provides very useful information for wireless networks but isn’t at all hard to use.
Great network discovery tools.
Highly rated mobile client.
Updates often with new/improved features.
Login requirements to “unlock” some basic behaviors and trends.
When Fing is first opened, the app will automatically scan the network you’re on to find all the different devices that are connected to it. Each device’s IP address, physical MAC address, and hostname are shown and can be easily shared and saved.
Selecting a device shows information such as its vendor, open ports (RDP, HTTP, POP3, etc.), and ping response, as well as the ability to wake it up if Wake On LAN is supported.
Other features include a traceroute option, alerts for when the state of a device changes, an internet speed test, a live internet outage map from around the world, and an export option to save the list of connected devices.
Fing is a free Wi-Fi app for Android, iPhone, and iPad which also has desktop apps for Windows and Mac available.
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Network Analyzer Lite
This free Wi-Fi app for iOS and Android devices shows you everything you could want to know about the Wi-Fi and cellular network you’re connected to.
Easy-to-use interface.
Highly rated in the app stores.
Runs on iOS and Android.
Offers a “pro” version for a fee.
Annoying footer ad overlays some content.
iOS app hasn’t been updated since 2018.
The SSID, BSSID, vendor, IP address, and subnet mask are shown for the Wi-Fi network you’re on, and the IP address, mobile carrier name, country code, and MMC/MNS are given if you’re connected to a cellular network. Copying is supported so you can save this information elsewhere.
Network Analyzer Lite also has a LAN tool that scans the Wi-Fi network to show which other devices are using the same network. A ping utility is available, too.
Network Analyzer Pro is the non-free version of this Wi-Fi app that removes the ads and includes other features like a speed test and port scanner. You can download Network Analyzer Pro for iOS or Network Analyzer Pro for Android.
iPhone, iPad, and Android users can install Network Analyzer Lite.
Angry IP Scanner
Angry IP Scanner is another free Wi-Fi app that simplifies network scanning. It’s portable so it can run from a flash drive or other temporary location.
Runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Portable mode option for Windows.
Fast performance.
Totally free with no upsells.
Really just a glorified scanner.
Doesn’t offer much additional context.
This program is useful if you need to find every device connected to your network, as you make a scan between any two IP addresses. It even automatically determines which addresses to scan based on the default gateway’s address.
In addition to identifying a device’s IP, ping response, hostname, and open ports, the settings in Angry IP Scanner let you toggle on other fetchers to see details like NetBIOS info, the MAC address, and the MAC vendor.
Advanced settings let you change the ping method and timeout, define which ports should be scanned, and eliminate all devices from the results list that either doesn’t respond to a ping or have no open ports.
You can copy all the details of any device to the clipboard as well as export some or all of the results to a TXT, CSV, XML, or LST file.
This free Wi-Fi app is for Windows, Linux, and Mac computers.
Acrylic WiFi Home
Acrylic WiFi Home is another desktop Wi-Fi app that displays lots of information on the wireless networks in range.
Rich info display for Windows-based computers.
Good for complex, multi-router setups.
Limited features since there’s a professional version, too.
Must enter your email address to get the download link.
You can see each network’s SSID, MAC address, connection strength, network security, and vendor. Each router’s channel is also shown so that you can adjust the channel your own router uses if there seems to be interference between them.
A color-coded live graph shows the signal strength of each Wi-Fi network so you can get a visual understanding of the best networks to connect to.
You can right-click any network and save all of its information to the clipboard.
Features like unlimited inventory, more network details, monitor mode, and commercial use are only available in Acrylic WiFi Professional.
You can download Acrylic WiFi Home on Windows Vista and newer versions of Windows.
SoftPerfect Network Scanner
SoftPerfect Network Scanner is full of basic networking features like finding the ping response of every device on the network, plus their hostname, IP address, and MAC address, but there’s much more this app is capable of.
Clean design that’s easy to grasp.
Powerful scanning features.
One of the few GUI-based tools that uses the interface effectively.
Might be overwhelming if you’re not interested in all the features.
Fairly pricey licensing model.
macOS version hasn’t been updated since 2017.
If the proper credentials exist and the devices support the features, you can also find use in the Wake-On-LAN, remote shutdown, hidden shares, remote registry, remote services, remote performance, and remote PowerShell features.
All results can be copied individually or exported to various text file formats.
This Wi-Fi scanner has a bunch of buttons that make it seem confusing, but you can see what each one means if you hover your mouse over them or just open them.
The SoftPerfect Wi-Fi scanning program works on Windows (10, 8, and 7) and macOS (10.7 and higher).
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