Network Survey

Network Survey turns an Android phone into a wireless survey tool. Pick what to survey, pick where the data goes, and press Start survey.

What it records
• Cellular: serving and neighbor cells for GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE and 5G NR, including 5G Standalone or Non-Standalone and carrier aggregation
• Phone state: what the radio is doing
• Wi-Fi: access points nearby, with channel, security and 802.11 standard
• Bluetooth: Classic and BLE devices, with company names and Find My trackers
• GNSS: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, IRNSS and SBAS satellites
• Call records: calls and cell tower changes, saved to log files

Where the data goes
Turn on one destination or several at once. Each gets every record type it can take, and "What goes where" shows the mapping.
• Log files: CSV files on the phone, ready to share
• NS Analytics: uploads to your team's workspace
• MQTT stream: JSON records to your own broker, with TLS. Scan a QR code to set one up
• gRPC stream: records to your own gRPC server
• Community databases: contribute cellular data to OpenCelliD, and cellular and Wi-Fi data to BeaconDB

NS Analytics
NS Analytics is the web analytics companion for Network Survey data. Each connected phone uploads its records to your workspace, so nobody copies files off phones. See your surveys on one map, open an analysis page for each record type, and export the raw records when you need them. To connect a phone, choose Register on your workspace's Devices page and scan the QR code. No password to type. Only records from surveys that send to NS Analytics are uploaded. NS Analytics is a separate web service: https://networksurvey.app/analytics

Signals
Live views for Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GNSS. Cellular shows the serving cell with a signal chart. Wi-Fi lists every access point, or groups them by SSID. Bluetooth filters by name, address, company or trackers only. GNSS has a Status page with AGC and C/N0 trends by band, and a Sky plot that turns with the phone. Long press copies a value.

Map
Towers from OpenCelliD and BTSearch, BeaconDB coverage, your serving cell, and My survey points colored by signal strength, technology, provider and more. Survey points come from surveys that send to NS Analytics or the Community databases.

Tools
• Watchlist: a notification when a saved Wi-Fi network (SSID or BSSID) is seen, with a history of sightings
• Cellular tools: LTE and 5G NR bands, channel to band, and cell ID decoders
• PLMN lookup and OUI lookup
• Wi-Fi spectrum: channel usage

Make it yours
Save what to record and where it goes as a setup, and switch back with one tap. Choose a light, dark or system theme and one of nine accent colors. Turn on Start survey automatically to start the survey when the app opens and when the phone restarts.

For teams and fleets
• Managed configuration (MDM): an organization can set each record type and destination, Always on or off, provide the MQTT broker, and start the survey automatically. Its settings show "Set by your organization", and an Organization settings page lists them.
• Intent API: other apps can start and stop a survey, with its record types and destinations. An organization can turn this off.
• Each survey gets its own Mission ID, shown on the Survey tab.

Permissions and privacy
Location is needed because every record needs a position, and Android requires it to scan Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Background location is requested only if you turn on Start survey automatically. Survey records go only to the destinations you turn on. This Google Play version uses Firebase Crashlytics and Analytics for crash reports and app usage statistics.

Open source
Network Survey is open source under the Apache 2.0 license: https://github.com/christianrowlands/android-network-survey
User manual: https://networksurvey.app/manual
Privacy policy: https://www.networksurvey.app/privacy-policy

Requires Android 8.0 or later.

Recent changes:
Network Survey 2.0 rebuilds the whole app.
• One survey with one Start and Stop: pick what to record and where it goes
• Save setups and switch with one tap
• Four tabs: Survey, Signals, Map, More
• One Map tab with your survey points (the Cellular map button is gone)
• Rebuilt Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GNSS screens
• Light and dark themes, accent colors, new icon
• New MDM keys for record types and destinations
• GeoPackage logging removed; log files are CSV