Network Scanning with Fing

When configuring, or even when just working in a given network it may be necessary for us to get an IP address of a network device or connect to a local server. There are applications like Fing that can help us discover devices and services present in a given network. And all of that may be accomplished from our Android or Apple phone or tablet.

Fing is a WiFi/LAN scanner for iOS as well as for Android. The features it boasts are:

WiFi/LAN scanner: discover all devices connected to any network
Full device details including IP address, MAC address, Device Name, Vendor, Device Manufacturer and more
Advanced analysis of NetBIOS, UPNP and Bonjour names, properties and device types
Inventory of devices and networks
Internet connectivity checker
ISP analysis and location
Port scanner: TCP port scanning that automatically finds open ports and available services
Ping and traceroute: for network quality measurement
WOL: remotely wake up devices
DNS Lookup and reverse DNS lookup
Connect to ports (Browser, SSH, FTP)
Network intruder detection
Network monitoring: device online and offline tracking
Supports device identification by IP address for bridged networks

To say it more simple – we start the application, scan for devices connected to a network we are currently connected to and then do something with discovered devices or their services. We may need an IP address of a network printer or a server to which we want to send some files. But that’s just the core features of this handy application.