To scan WiFi frequency, channel, strength.

As a business of our company, we are setting up WiFi hotspots in office.

In order to select the optimal WiFi frequency band or channel, it is necessary to scan WiFi when set up a WiFi hotspot in an office.

We are looking for a method that can be easily scan WiFi with iPhone and application(only limited organizations can use this).


We would like to develop the same function as the Wi-Fi diagnostic tool operating on Mac OS using the latest iOS, but we can not be realized on iOS with published API (such as NEHotspotHelper).

(In iOS 9.0 and later, if we use NEHotspotHelper, we can scan SSID and BSSID in application, but we can not scan WiFi frequency, channel, strength.)


What should we do in order to realize for scanning WiFi frequency, channel, strength?

Is there a way to get a customized iOS from Apple?

Accepted Reply

What should we do in order to realize for scanning WiFi frequency, channel, strength?

The short answer here is that this is simply not possible within the boundaries of the iOS SDK. iOS has very limited Wi-Fi APIs (you’ve probably already seen the Q&A that covers this but, if not, here’s a [link][qa1942]) and none of them meet your needs.

Is there a way to get a customized iOS from Apple?

No.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"

Replies

What should we do in order to realize for scanning WiFi frequency, channel, strength?

The short answer here is that this is simply not possible within the boundaries of the iOS SDK. iOS has very limited Wi-Fi APIs (you’ve probably already seen the Q&A that covers this but, if not, here’s a [link][qa1942]) and none of them meet your needs.

Is there a way to get a customized iOS from Apple?

No.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"

Thank you for answering.


As an additional question, is it possible to ask Apple to develop a specially customized iOS if we pay development costs?

While that's incredibly unlikely, you should be aware that no one from Apple is going to conduct business negotiations for that sort of money or contract terms on the Developer forum.


If you want to ask in a serious manner, Apple has numerous "Contact Us" pages which list phone numbers and e-mail addresses to use. But be prepared to be told "No."

>(only limited organizations can use this).


In your example, for iOS, I think MDM w/beacons and/or kiosk mode are your best bet.

Tanks.

We will contact to Apple from "Contact us" page.

Hi Guys,


Found this posting https://wlanbook.com/free-wifi-scanner-iphone-ipad-no-jailbreak-required/ shows how the Airport Utility is now able to scan the wifi networks in the area and report signal strengths / Channel / MAC for each BSS.


Is it possible for mortal apps to do the same ?


O.

I have the same question in 2022.

Airport Utility is an iPhone app which shows the channel of nearby wifi networks.

How is this possible?

-iPhone 12 Pro -iOS 16

Airport Utility is an iPhone app which shows the channel of nearby wifi networks.

QA1942 has now been replaced by TN3111 iOS Wi-Fi API overview. The message is the same, just in nicer packaging.

And, to reiterate my point from earlier, iOS does not have a general-purpose API for Wi-Fi scanning. This isn’t an omission but a deliberate design choice by Apple. In support of that design choice, the sandbox applied to iOS apps has been regularly enhanced to prevent apps from doing this via unsupported means.

Share and Enjoy

Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"