inSSIDer

inSSIDer

Developer(s)	MetaGeek, LLC
Stable release	4.1.0 / January 22, 2015 (2015-01-22)
Development status	Current
Written in	C
Operating system	3.0 Microsoft Windows Vista or higher, OS X Snow Leopard or higher (via Mac App Store) 2.1 Microsoft Windows XP
Platform	.NET Framework
Size	5.5 MB (.msi)
Available in	English (US)
Type	Wi-Fi network analyzer
License	3.x: Proprietary 2.0: Apache License[1]
Website	InSSIDer

inSSIDer is a Wi-Fi network scanner application for Microsoft Windows and OS X developed by MetaGeek, LLC.^[2] It has received awards such as a 2008 Infoworld Bossie Award for "Best of Open Source Software in Networking",^[3] but as of inSSIDer 3, it is no longer open-source.

History

inSSIDer began as a replacement for NetStumbler, a popular Windows Wi-Fi scanner, which had not been actively developed for several years and reputedly did not work with modern 64-bit operating systems or versions of Windows higher than Windows XP. The project was inspired by Charles Putney on The Code Project.

Features

• Gathers information from wireless card and software
• Helps choose the best wireless channel available
• Wi-Fi network information such as SSID, MAC, vendor, data rate, signal strength, and security
• Graphs signal strength over time
• Shows which Wi-Fi network channels overlap

Version 4

Version 4 improvements:

• Adds ESSID/Radio grouping
• Coloring rules for co-channel and adjacent-channel interference
• Link icon
• 802.11ac support
• Expanded filtering capabilities

Version 4 changes:

• No longer free^[4]
• inSSIDer 4 for home/non-commercial use
• inSSIDer Office for commercial use

Version 3

Version 3.0.6.42 improvements:

• Allows "starring" of networks
• Introduces "Link Score" and "Max Rate"
• Revamped filtering capabilities

Version 3.0 changes:

• No longer open source
• Home edition for non-commercial use
• Office edition for commercial use
• Removed KML and GPS support

Version 2

Version 2.0 is a complete re-write of inSSIDer, featuring the following new features:

• A new more stable codebase
• A news tab to replace the ad
• More stable GPX and KML logging
• New Time Graph
  • Stale access points fade out over time
• Graphs are now in tabs
  • Separate graphs for 2.4 and 5 GHz channels
• A filtering system that allows you to only show networks that meet certain criteria
  • Great for hunting down hotspots
• A GPS status tab
  • Shows detailed GPS data (like location, speed, altitude, etc.)
  • Also shows signal levels of satellites in view (up to 12)
• Fullscreen mode
• Mini mode
  • Mini mode is designed for extremely small screens that may otherwise feel cramped with the full interface
  • All points of data are in tabs
  • Default reduced number of columns visible in data grid
  • 5 GHz channel view is broken into 2 graphs for lower (33-64) and upper (100-165) channels
  • Switching between full and mini mode preserves scan data and scan state
    • You can be scanning in Full mode and switch to mini to keep scanning without interruption
• Better paring of 802.11n data
  • Shows actual extended data rate
  • Channel graphs show 40 MHz secondary channel, if any

Stable Releases for Windows

• 4.2.0.12 (January 19, 2015)
• 4.0.0.0 (December ??, 2013)
• 3.1.2.1 (December 18, 2013)
• 3.0.7.48 (June 13, 2013)
• 3.0.6.42 (May 20, 2013)
• 3.0.5.80 (March 22, 2013)
• 3.0.4.37 Beta (March 7, 2013)
• 3.0.3.53 Beta (February 2013)
• 2.1.6.1394 (October 25, 2012)
• 2.1.5.1393 (June 26, 2012)
• 2.1.4.1391 (June 1, 2012)
• 2.1.1.13 (February 28, 2012)
• 2.1.0.1379 (January 30, 2012)
• 2.0.7.0126 (February 1, 2011)
• 2.0.5.1111 (December 4, 2010)
• 1.2.3.1014 (October 20, 2009)

System requirements

Windows

• Version 3.0: Microsoft Windows Vista or higher
• Version 2.1: Microsoft Windows XP SP2
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher

OS X

• OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 or higher

References

External links

• Official website
• User Guide for Version 2.1 (pdf, 3.2MB). Metageek.net.
• inSSIDer 2 Source code on GitHub (Apache 2.0 license)