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.