Best WiFi Heat Maps Software for Windows and Mobile Apps

Wi-Fi heat maps will let us know in detail the coverage that our Wi-Fi router or access point provides to the different locations of our home or office. There are tools that will greatly facilitate the task of knowing where Wi-Fi coverage is weakest, and therefore, where we should improve it to have a very good wireless speed and not have cuts due to low coverage. Today in this article we are going to recommend a series of tools for both Windows and Android and iOS.

A Wi-Fi heat map is a graph that represents the strength of the Wi-Fi network signal, depending on where you are. Regardless of where you are, whether in a small or large house, a building or in a residential complex, it is a great support to have adequate Wi-Fi coverage. According to the strength of the signal, the graphic is colored in different colors. For example, if the coverage is optimal, you will paint the area involved in green, however, if the coverage is very bad, you will paint the area in red.

wifi-coverage

Heat maps provide us with a summary of the characteristics of our network, in addition to the people who are connected to it. Regardless of whether your role is to be a Wi-Fi network administrator in a company, or simply manage your home network, it is a great support tool , especially when solving frequent problems such as low signal level in certain parts of the area Of course, Wi-Fi heat maps support the prevention of potential connectivity problems before mounting the wireless network itself, so it is ideal to use them before starting to deploy the different Wi-Fi access points.

Although mapping the network coverage area may take some time, it is important to do so before deploying the wireless network. Missing this activity can result in unnecessary high costs afterwards. Logically we will always be able to count on adding another AP in the wireless network, but it would not necessarily solve the problem of “dead zones” or those areas with weak signal. You can also opt for the typical Wi-Fi repeaters to extend the emitted signal, although this could further degrade the signal speed, considering that, at a greater distance, there will be lower level and signal quality.

There are also external interferences that generally involve certain devices and parts of the structure of the place where we are. Nor should we forget the electrical / radial interference and those that are characteristic of the environment, since they influence the quality of the signal emitted by the Wi-Fi network. For this reason, it is essential to use these types of heat map applications to determine where there is a low coverage area, and take an effective solution.

The best heat mapping applications (Wi-Fi Heatmapping)

We currently have a large number of tools for heat maps, both for computers and mobile phones. However, we present some of the best solutions that will help you assemble the heat maps and get more information about the Wi-Fi network, among other things. Some of them require subscription after the trial version, but we believe it is worth it if you are a professional of Wi-Fi wireless networks.

Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps

Acrylic WiFi Heatmaps is the best tool for Windows for the realization of Wi-Fi heat maps. In addition to allowing the creation of heat maps, it also performs radio frequency analysis in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, both the “low” and the “high” channels, although this will depend on the Wi-Fi card that use It is interesting that, at the time of creating the map, you can draw walls, furniture and other materials that could be an interference to the wireless network. Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps is a great ally for our networks to be of the utility we are looking for. Because there is nothing worse than going through the area in search of a section with adequate signal quality.

What the application does is measure the signal levels of the Wi-Fi network, scan access points that are around us and capture information related to our network traffic. With all this information, it is possible to get the creation of heat maps. On the other hand, you have the reports that you can generate in a personalized way. Whichever type of report you choose, Wi-Fi network diagnostics and recommendations to improve connectivity to it will be included in general.

You can access the official website of Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps where you will find all the details of this great tool. You have a trial version of 15 days and then you must buy the license, depending on the time you want to use it, you can choose between a one-month or perpetual license. This according to the number of months you will be using this heat mapping application.


Netpot

It is one of the most complete solutions for managing and supporting problems with the Wi-Fi network. You don’t need to be a professional to use it. You can also use it for home wireless networks . In addition to allowing you to define the coverage area of the wireless network, it also provides the necessary information for an analysis and implementation of security measures to improve the conditions of use of the network. Of course, you will be able to create heat maps to verify areas with coverage, dead zones and all the information you need to know about the network.

Now how can you start? You must upload the map of the place where you are, whether it be the house, a floor of a building. You may need to create more than one heat map if you manage the multi-story network of a building. After that, follow these steps:

  1. Indicate your current location on the plane so that the tool calculates the current signal level at that location
  2. Move throughout the area you want to analyze so that NetSpot collects all the information necessary to determine coverage
  3. Once finished, confirm the creation of heat map. And ready!

NetSpot - Diseño de red

You can have real-time graphics of your Wi-Fi network to have constant monitoring of the signal level and noise generated by interference. If you need it, have a Discover mode to get information about neighboring networks.

We recommend you to visit our complete analysis of NetSpot , a highly recommended tool that will help us to create Wi-Fi heat maps. You can access the NetSpot download from the official website. Go to the last option to download the permanent free version. They also have other paid versions with more additional functions, according to the needs.


Ekahau Heatmapper

It is a free tool that is designed to function in both home and small office networks. It is quite simple to use and in a couple of minutes we will have it installed and working perfectly. In addition to guiding you in a simple creation of a Wi-Fi heat map, it allows you to learn more about neighboring Wi-Fi networks and their security settings.

You just have to upload a file from the map where you are and start moving. In this easy way, you will be creating the heat map. The tool will detect the level and quality of the emitted signal wherever you are. In this way, the heat map will be truly effective in identifying the areas where coverage is compromised.

It is good to consider that the application is compatible only with the Windows operating system. You can access the download link .


Wi-Fi heat mapping applications for mobile

We consider that these types of applications are better exploited thanks to mobile phones, since today the vast majority of users use both smartphones and tablets, and these types of devices have less reception and broadcast capacity than laptops or cards External Wi-Fi, therefore, we can guarantee good coverage if we test with this type of applications.

Another positive aspect of using a smartphone or a tablet is the comfort we feel when moving around all the points that our network should cover without having to take the laptop from one side to another. Next, we share the most recommended solutions for both Android and iOS mobiles. They all have the same function. However, each one is characterized by its particular user interface, usability in general and additional functionalities.

Wi-Fi heat mapping apps for Android

It is a free application and very simple to use. It is possible to verify the signal strength of the network to which we are connected. Also, you can obtain information related to neighboring wireless networks, including IP information and network quality in general.


One of the peculiarities of this heat map application is that it is under the framework of ARCore , of Google itself. That is, thanks to the facilities of Augmented Reality, you can create your map.

However, the installation of additional software will be necessary to enable ARCore.


iMapper Wifi
Developer: Fullsunning Inc.
Price: Free

It is one of the most complete mobile solutions professionally and has no cost. In addition to creating Wi-Fi heat maps, you can analyze the network to which you are currently connected, as well as neighboring networks.

Wi-Fi heat mapping apps for iOS

Wi-Fi SweetSpots
Developer: ASSIA-Inc
Price: Free

A great facilitator to find the ideal location of the Wi-Fi router you are going to use. On the other hand, it helps you find the points where the highest signal level and the quality of the signal are concentrated.


It is an application oriented to home use. You can easily monitor and high level of detail what is happening with your network. Including coverage status and creation of heat maps. In short, you can restart the Wi-Fi router from your iPhone.