Blog
Goodbye, airport!
It finally happened. Apple has officially retired the airport command-line utility on macOS Sonoma 14.4. Although it was considered deprecated, the airport command was still very helpful for quickly getting the status of the Wi-Fi interface and showing basic [...]
Introducing WiFi Explorer Pro for Windows
For many years, WiFi Explorer has been Mac's leading Wi-Fi scanner and analyzer and the preferred choice for many WLAN professionals and enthusiasts. After announcing our desire to offer a similar alternative for Windows users, we're excited to introduce [...]
Yet another Wi-Fi details shortcut for iOS
Apple recently launched iOS 17 with new options to retrieve details about your Wi-Fi connection using Shortcuts. When adding the "Get Network Details" action to a shortcut, you can choose from network name (SSID), BSSID, Wi-Fi standard, receive and [...]
WiFi Explorer Lite now available on the Windows Store
WiFi Explorer's been Mac's leading Wi-Fi scanner and analyzer for many years and the preferred choice for many WLAN professionals. Last October, we announced our desire to make WiFi Explorer available on Windows, too. After making substantial progress during [...]
Making your WLAN Pi R4 fully portable
This post is a follow-up to our previous blog, which discussed the parts and steps to build a WLAN Pi R4 that you can use as a Wi-Fi 6E remote sensor for WiFi Explorer Pro 3 and Airtool 2. [...]
Building your own remote sensor with 6 GHz support
Even though Macs don't support Wi-Fi 6E, WiFi Explorer Pro 3 and Airtool 2 offer visibility into the 6 GHz band when using remote sensors that can scan or capture traffic on 6 GHz. One of these remote sensors is the [...]
WLPC México 2022
See below for the English version. Un éxito total. Así podemos resumir la Conferencia para Profesionales en Redes Inalámbricas (WLPC por sus siglas en inglés) realizada el pasado 5 al 9 de noviembre en la ciudad de México. En [...]
Meet Airtool 2’s little brother: Airtool Pi
Airtool Pi allows you to perform remote Wi-Fi packet captures from your iPhone or iPad using Linux-based sensors. Airtool Pi is Airtool 2's little brother. Both Airtool Pi and Airtool 2 use the same components for connecting and capturing Wi-Fi [...]
Happy 10th Anniversary, WiFi Explorer!
Today is the 10th Anniversary of WiFi Explorer! I released the first version of WiFi Explorer on the Mac App Store ten years ago, on January 17, 2012. I came up with the idea of developing a Wi-Fi scanner for [...]
The Multiple BSSID element: Improving airtime efficiency
An access point (AP) can create two or more networks on the same Wi-Fi radio. This capability, known as Virtual AP (VAP), makes a single physical AP appear as if it were multiple APs. It allows APs to create separate [...]
Using coloring rules in WiFi Explorer Pro 3
We recently revamped filtering in WiFi Explorer Pro 3 and added a new feature that we believe is very helpful: Coloring rules (WiFi Explorer Pro 3 > Preferences > Coloring Rules). Coloring rules are custom filters that have a color [...]
A new filters cheat sheet for WiFi Explorer and WiFi Explorer Pro 3
Starting in version 3.3 of WiFi Explorer and WiFi Explorer Pro 3, we've added new filtering capabilities, including the ability to filter by network attributes and information element fields. We've also changed the syntax for logical operators (and, or, not) and [...]
Customizing WiFi Signal’s menu bar status display
WiFi Signal is a menu bar app that lets you monitor your Wi-Fi network’s status and signal quality. When you click the WiFi Signal's menu bar icon, a popup window appears, showing basic information about the Wi-Fi network, such [...]
Capturing Wi-Fi packets on your Mac using external adapters
If you don't have a remote sensor, you can still do packet captures on one or more channels using external USB Wi-Fi adapters. However, because we can't use external adapters natively as we do with the Mac's built-in Wi-Fi adapter, we need EASE (External Adapter Support Environment).
Capturing packet traces from your iOS device
You can capture packet traces from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using Airtool 2. A packet trace capture from an iOS device records traffic at the network layer (Layer 3) passing through all interfaces, including Wi-Fi, AWDL, and [...]
Using a Raspberry Pi 4 as a remote sensor for WiFi Explorer Pro and Airtool
This blog post will show you how to configure a Raspberry Pi 4 with an external Wi-Fi adapter to be used as a remote sensor in WiFi Explorer Pro and Airtool. We will assume you have a fresh installed Raspberry Pi 4 using Raspberry Pi OS.
What’s going on, Apple? – Part 2
For years, packet capturing in the Mac using the built-in Wi-Fi adapter has always worked reliably out of the box, and it is one of the main reasons many Wi-Fi professionals love their Macs to do their jobs. Unfortunately, packet capturing is now broken in the new M1 Mac.
Multi-channel captures in Airtool 2
Airtool 2 makes it possible to perform affordable, multi-channel captures using multiple remote sensors and Wi-Fi adapters. As each source (a sensor/interface combination) sends captured packets back, Airtool 2 automatically merges them to generate a single capture file or an aggregated live capture in Wireshark.
Column profiles in WiFi Explorer Pro 3
One of the useful features you can find in WiFi Explorer Pro 3 is custom column profiles. You can use profiles to define and display different sets of columns for specific troubleshooting tasks and scenarios. For example, you can create [...]
The new WiFi Explorer Pro 3
We are happy to announce the new WiFi Explorer Pro 3. We worked really hard behind the scenes to bring the app up-to-date with the latest enhancements in macOS Big Sur, but you will also notice a refreshed user [...]
Using the WLAN Pi to scan for networks in WiFi Explorer Pro
The WLAN Pi is a device designed for assessing, testing, and troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. It's a small computer based on the NanoPi Neo2 board that is pre-loaded with a comprehensive set of tools for Wi-Fi professionals, including Kismet, bettercap, [...]
Transfer: Simple and reliable TFTP server for macOS
Transfer is a reliable and straightforward TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) server application for macOS. TFTP is a high-level protocol to read and write files from or to a remote server. The protocol was developed in the 1970s; however, it [...]
What’s going on, Apple?
One of the many reasons we enjoy developing for Mac is that during all these years, we've encountered very few bugs in macOS. In other words, from a system and development perspective, things just worked. For many years, macOS [...]
Filtering scan results in WiFi Explorer
One of the things I didn't spend too much time with at the beginning of the development of WiFi Explorer was filtering. As the tool matured, it was more than evident that some filtering capabilities were needed. Nevertheless, I [...]
Using external USB Wi-Fi adapters with WiFi Explorer Pro
For many years we've been asked to provide support for external USB Wi-Fi adapters in WiFi Explorer. Many of these adapters are either not compatible with macOS or require the use of proprietary drivers provided by the manufacturer of [...]
A practical introduction to Dynamic Frequency Selection
Have you ever wondered why certain channels in the 5 GHz band, more specifically in the 5.25-5.35 GHz (UNII-2) and 5.47-5.725 GHz (UNII-2e) frequency bands are (almost) never in use by Wi-Fi devices? Well, it happens that, worldwide, these [...]
Importing scan results from AirPort Utility into WiFi Explorer Pro
Apple’s AirPort Utility for iOS includes a Wi-Fi scanner you can use to scan for nearby networks from your iPhone or iPad. Scan results are presented as a list and include only a few fields to describe the networks [...]
Post processing captures in Airtool with Python
For the past WLAN Professionals Conference in Phoenix, AZ (February 21-23, 2017), I collaborated with Brian Long for the development of a feature in Airtool to allow users to run a Python script for post processing capture files. The [...]
Honey, I shrunk the beacon interval!
A beacon is a type of management frame in 802.11 networks that describes the network and its capabilities. Beacon frames are transmitted by access points to announce the presence of the network to nearby clients and for other important [...]
Understanding the scan modes in WiFi Explorer Pro
Wi-Fi scanning is one of the basic functions in a wireless network. It is the mechanism by which a client device (e.g. computer) or an application discovers the wireless networks that are in range of the Wi-Fi adapter. As [...]
Automatic data frame slicing in Airtool
Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks at the protocol level involves the analysis of control, management, and data frames. When doing save-to-disk captures of these frames for analysis, files sizes can grow very rapidly because of the payloads that can be found in [...]
Using WiFi Explorer’s annotations in WiFi Signal
WiFi Signal offers a simple integration with WiFi Explorer that allows it to automatically import and display annotations. Annotations in WiFi Explorer are used for assigning custom labels to a particular access point. These custom labels can be used, [...]
WiFi Signal 4.0 demystified
The latest version of WiFi Signal brings a new set of features that most users will find useful for monitoring and troubleshooting certain aspects of their Wi-Fi network, such as association and roaming. It also includes various UI fixes [...]
Conversion of signal strength in dBm to percentage in WiFi Explorer
WiFi Explorer, as well as other wireless scanning tools, provides an option to display signal strength in dBm or percentage values. The purpose of this blog is to describe this conversion process in WiFi Explorer. It should also help [...]
Six things you probably didn’t know you could do in WiFi Explorer
The design of WiFi Explorer aims to make it easy for non-technical users to troubleshoot home or a small office wireless networks, but also to provide IT and WLAN professionals a tool for preliminary assessments and troubleshooting of larger [...]
Link-layer header types: what do I need to know?
A few weeks ago I released Airtool, a simple menubar app for OS X that allows you to easily perform 802.11 frame captures on a single or multiple channels. One of the options in Airtool lets you configure the [...]
There’s nothing hidden about hidden networks
Every now and then I'm told by users of WiFi Explorer that the app does not detect "hidden" networks. Unfortunately, this is true. The CoreWLAN framework used by WiFi Explorer, and other similar apps in the Mac App Store, [...]
Troubleshooting wireless networks with WiFi Explorer
Wireless networks are everywhere and we use them everyday. However, there are many factors that influence the performance of wireless networks and getting the most out of them is not an easy task. In this post, I'll try to [...]
