Network
Most tools here talk to devices on your own network. On Android 17 and later they first ask for “Local network” access; without it every device would look offline. See Permissions.
Find where the internet stops working
“Internet checkup” tests your connection step by step, from the phone outwards. It runs when you open it; “Run again” repeats it. A failing step means the problem is at or before that step.
| Step | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Connection | Whether Android sees internet on this network, or a sign-in page (as in hotels and cafés) that you must complete in the browser first. |
| Router | Five pings to your router. An average of 30 ms or more is slow for a local hop and points to weak Wi-Fi or a busy channel. Some routers ignore ping; that's fine if the next steps pass. |
| DNS | Whether names resolve, and how fast. If they don't, sites won't load by name: check your router's DNS servers. |
| Internet (IPv4) | A connection to 1.1.1.1. If DNS fails but this works, the problem is name lookup, not the line. |
| Public IP | The address the internet sees. If it isn't a public address, you're behind your provider's NAT. |
| NAT | “One router between you and the internet” is the normal case. “Double NAT” means two routers in a row: port forwarding has to be set up on both, and some games and calls struggle. “Carrier-grade NAT” means your provider shares one public address between customers, so port forwarding to your network can't work. |
| IPv6 | Whether you have IPv6 and it reaches the internet. An IPv6 address that doesn't work can slow down sites that try IPv6 first. |
| Clock | How far the phone's clock is from network time. A wrong clock breaks certificate checks and sign-ins. |
Test your internet speed
Switch to the “Speed test” tab and tap “Start speed test”. It downloads, then uploads, for 8 seconds each, over 4 parallel connections, and shows:
- “↓ Download” and “↑ Upload” in Mb/s.
- “Latency idle”: the delay to the server with the line quiet.
- “Under load”: the delay while the line is full. A big rise is called bufferbloat. It makes calls and games lag even when the speed is fine. The app grades the rise: under 30 ms “Good”, under 100 ms “Fair”, otherwise “Poor”.
Over Wi-Fi, your Wi-Fi link can be the limit rather than the internet line. Tap “Server: …” to choose the server: Cloudflare (nearest data center, the default), a public LibreSpeed server from the list, or “Custom LibreSpeed server…” for one you run yourself, for example on a NAS. On mobile data the app asks first, since a test on a fast connection can use 1 GB or more.
See where connection drops start
When video calls freeze or games lag now and then, open “Latency monitor” and tap “Start” while the problem is happening. It pings your router, your DNS server and the internet (1.1.1.1) once a second each, side by side, for up to an hour. The screen stays on. Pro
- If the router already loses replies or jumps in delay, the problem is your Wi-Fi or local network.
- If the router is “stable” but the internet target loses replies, the problem is beyond your network, usually at your provider.
For each target it shows the average delay, the jitter (how much the delay varies, ±) and the loss.
See every device on your network
“LAN discovery” starts on the network you're connected to and lists devices as they answer, with their response time. Names fill in as they're found.
- The app pings every address and tries a few common ports, and also listens for devices announcing themselves (UPnP). Names come from DNS, mDNS, NetBIOS and UPnP. Each row says how the device was found.
- This phone is marked “This device” and your router “Gateway”.
- Search by IP, name, maker or MAC with the search field.
- Tap a device to open its host page. Long-press to copy its IP address, or its MAC when known.
- “Rescan” runs it again; “Stop” ends a running scan.
Networks larger than a /22 (1,024 addresses) are only probed in the /22 around the phone. Devices that ignore pings and the common ports, or that the router isolates from other devices, stay hidden.
MAC addresses
Since Android 10, apps can't read the phone's table of MAC addresses. LAN discovery therefore shows a MAC only when a device announces it, as Windows computers do. Tap “MAC ?” in the title bar for the explanation.
Get told about new devices
LAN discovery remembers the devices it finds on each network (see “Device history” at the bottom of the list). From the second scan on, devices seen for the first time carry a “New” tag, and remembered devices that didn't answer are listed under “Not here now”. Long-press one there and choose “Forget this device” to drop it. “Clear this network's history” starts over.
Switch on “Alert me to new devices” to have the app check this network in the background every 15 minutes, 1 hour or 6 hours while the phone is on it, and notify you when a device joins that it hasn't seen before. Pro
- In the background the app knows the network by its addresses and by finding at least two of its known devices again. Another network that happens to use the same addresses (a café, a hotel) is skipped, not reported as full of new devices.
- Devices are recognized by MAC address when one is known, otherwise by name, otherwise by address. Phones that change their random MAC address and give no name can show up as new.
- While the phone sleeps, Android may run checks later than the interval you picked.
Look at one device
A host page shows everything the app can find out about one address. Open it by tapping a device in LAN discovery, a host in Ping, a hop in Traceroute, the gateway on the start page, or from the “Port scan” tile.
- Identity: the name from DNS, mDNS and NetBIOS, and the MAC and maker when known.
- Ping: pinged once a second while the page is open, with a chart, minimum, average, maximum and loss. Some devices ignore ping; open ports confirm they're up.
- Open ports: tap “Scan 32 common ports” to try the usual services (web, SSH, file sharing, printing, Remote Desktop, cameras and so on). Open web ports get an “Open” link to the browser. Only scan devices you're allowed to test.
- Public addresses show the country they're registered in and “Look up owner”, which asks the regional internet registry who holds the address. The address shown is the owner's office, not where the device is.
Scan the ports of an address
The “Port scan” tile asks for an address on the IP keypad, then opens its host page. The IP keypad is SSIDekick's own number pad for addresses: digits, “.”, “:” and “/”, with a key that switches to the hex letters a–f. It is used instead of the phone keyboard because some languages put a comma where the dot belongs. A chip above it offers your gateway.
The scan connects to each port in turn (a TCP connect scan). Android doesn't let apps send the raw packets that faster or stealthier scans need.
Ping several hosts at once
“Ping” pings up to 8 hosts side by side, once a second each, on one chart. Type a name or address in “Host or IP” and tap “Add”, or use the quick picks: your gateway, your DNS server, 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8. Then tap “Start”.
Each row shows the last reply, the average and the loss. When several hosts are pinged together, the one that starts losing packets first shows where the trouble is. Tap an IPv4 host to open its host page. The free version pings one host; Pro pings up to 8.
Get told when a host goes down
“Host watch” checks hosts on a schedule, also with the app closed, and notifies you when one stops answering and when it's back.
- Under “Add a host”, choose how to check it: “Ping”, “TCP port” (also type the port) or “HTTPS” (type the site).
- Type the host and tap “Add”. It's checked at once.
- Turn on “Watch in the background” (allow notifications when asked) and choose “Check every” 1, 5 or 15 minutes.
A host counts as down after two failed checks in a row, so one lost reply doesn't wake you. Each host lists its outages from the last 24 hours. Nothing is checked while the phone itself is offline, and the screen says so. While the phone sleeps, Android may space checks out more than the interval you picked. The free version watches one host; Pro watches up to 8.
Check what your router opens to the internet
“Port forwarding” asks your router, over UPnP, which ports devices on your network have opened to the internet. It runs when you open it; “Check again” repeats it. You can also reach it from the bottom of the Security check.
- Findings come first: risky services such as Remote Desktop or Telnet forwarded from the internet, UPnP being on, and a router whose own internet address is private (double NAT or carrier-grade NAT, so forwards don't reach the internet).
- Then the router's forwards, risky ones on top. Forwards to this phone are marked “this phone”.
- Tap the remove button on a forward to delete it from the router. The device or app that made it may open it again.
- “Add forward” adds one, for example to reach this phone's bandwidth server from outside. It defaults to this phone and a 1-hour lease, so a forgotten test closes itself. Pro
Two things the router doesn't tell apps: forwards you set up by hand in the router's admin page, and firewall rules that may block a forward anyway. Check both in the router itself.
Look up DNS records
“DNS lookup” asks for a name's records. Type a name, pick a record type (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, NS, SOA, SRV or CAA) and a resolver, and tap “Look up”. Type an IP address instead and it looks up the name for it.
Resolvers: your network's own (usually the router), Cloudflare, Quad9 and Google, and Cloudflare and Google over HTTPS. “Compare all” asks every resolver at once, fastest first. Different answers can mean filtering or a stale cache.
“Look up registration” shows a domain's registrar, dates, name servers and whether it's signed with DNSSEC. For an address, “Look up owner” shows who holds it.
Trace the route to a host
“Traceroute” lists every router between you and a host. Type a name or address (or use 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8 or iceamp.com) and tap “Trace”.
- Each hop shows its address, name, country and time. “* no reply” means that router didn't answer, which is common and usually harmless.
- Times before the destination are upper bounds.
- A hop in 100.64.0.0/10 is marked “Carrier-grade”: your provider uses carrier-grade NAT, so port forwarding won't work.
- Countries come from a database built into the app, so the addresses aren't sent anywhere. They show where an address is registered, which is usually but not always where the router is: anycast services like 1.1.1.1 and global carriers can show a far-away country. A map draws the countries in order.
- Tap a hop for its host page.
Check a website's HTTPS
“HTTPS check” connects to a site and times each step: DNS, connect, TLS (the encryption handshake) and first byte. It follows up to 5 redirects and shows the status of each.
- The Encryption panel grades the connection “Strong”, “Good”, “Weak” or “Insecure”, with reasons: TLS version, cipher, forward secrecy and the server's key size. “Compare TLS versions ›” explains the versions.
- The certificate shows who it's for, who issued it, and how many days are left until it expires. “Show details” shows the rest.
- “Save certificate (.pem)” saves the server's certificate chain, also when it isn't trusted, as with a router's self-signed page.
Wake a computer
“Wake-on-LAN” sends a magic packet to wake a computer on your network. Type its MAC address on the keypad (six pairs of hex digits, for example 3c:52:82:0a:8a:d7) and tap “Wake”. Wake-on-LAN must be turned on in the computer's firmware and network adapter.
The packet goes to this network's broadcast address. Routers don't pass broadcasts between subnets, so for a computer on another subnet, type that subnet's broadcast address under “Send to (optional)”, for example 192.168.1.255. It arrives only if the router forwards such broadcasts, which most don't by default.
Save MAC addresses you use often as favorites and wake them with one tap (shown on screen as “Favorites”). Pro
Measure throughput on your network
“Bandwidth test” measures how fast data moves between this phone and another device on your network, without the internet. Pro
- Against a computer or NAS: run
iperf3 -son it. In the “Test” tab choose “iperf3”, type its address, and tap “Start test”. - Against another phone: on the other phone, open the “Server” tab and tap “Start server”. It's listed on this phone automatically. The server only accepts devices on the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet network and runs while that screen is open.
- Against a MikroTik router: choose “MikroTik btest”. The router's bandwidth server must be enabled; the router generates the traffic, so on small devices its processor can be the limit.
Choose the “Direction” (“Upload”, “Download” or “Both”), the “Duration” (5, 10 or 30 s) and, for iperf3, “Parallel streams”. The result is the average at the receiving end. Phone to phone over Wi-Fi on one access point, data crosses the air twice, so expect about half a wired result.
“Save…” keeps a result with a comment in the “Saved” tab. The save icon in the title bar writes all saved tests to one PDF, Markdown or text file.
Check a wired connection
With a USB-C Ethernet adapter, “USB Ethernet” shows the wired connection: the adapter, IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, gateway, DHCP server, DNS, search domain, MTU and whether it has internet. “Link events” logs each plug-in with its address and how long it lasted, while the screen is open.
Android hides the negotiated link speed (it always reports 100 Mb/s; “Up to” is the adapter's limit), the adapter's MAC, the switch port and VLANs. Use the bandwidth test to measure throughput.