Which app is best for measuring the wifi signal?

[Demiurgen]

Which app is best for measuring the wifi signal?
Is there a better way to measure the wifi signal than with an app on an iPhone?
I have tried Wifi-Sweetspots but I don't know if I can trust it.

 

[AreYouShpongled]

I’ve been using SweetSpots as well. I find it convenient.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[80211WiGuy]

Signal strength doesn't always indicate signal quality - an app like SweetSpots is great for this as it actually tells you the performance which is what we all really want to know. Something to note though is that sweetspots works by sending packets so it can only tell you the upstream speed from client to AP. I use it all the time for doing quick checks before I break out actual WiFi survey tools like a spectrum analyzer, AirMagnet, or Ekahau - all tools that are intended for professional use, not cost effective for consumers.

Most times a quick sweet spots check will suffice for informal checks of how good an AP's position or channel is. 1x1 iPhones such as the SE will have a lower speed than 2x2 iphones like the 6s,7,8,etc. It's important to keep you're phones physical limits in mind (as well as your AP) while using an app like sweetspots to determine good coverage/performance/interference.

The app does not test the speed beyond your AP however - a 100Mbps ethernet uplink, a 10Mbps internet connection will not be factored into your speed results - it's just raw wifi throughput - packets get discarded once they're received by the AP radio interface.

 

[Nullity]

I prefer "real world" benchmarks like iperf or simply starting a local file transfer and observing the speeds.

 

[Rossmon]

I prefer "real world" benchmarks like iperf or simply starting a local file transfer and observing the speeds.

I use two excellent apps on my Mac. WiFi Signal and the WiFi Explorer plus Airtool which captures frames for an app like Wireshark.
Ross

 

[MacG32]

I use Acrylic (link in sig) on a Windows laptop or Wifi Analyzer on an Android device. Both seem to work very well for my needs.

 

[Demiurgen]

Thanks for your replies guys. I guess I can keep using Wifi Sweetspots then

 

[RogerSC]

I use WiFi Analyzer on Android, and the Airport utility on iOS.

The Airport utility on iOS has a "buried" scan mode that you can burrow down to. While it isn't graphical, it gives the signal strength of each wireless network that it sees, and keeps scanning and sampling and updating the list of wireless networks until you stop it. Not beautiful like WiFi Analyzer, but functional.