Open-source macOS app for looking at the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio environment around your Mac. MIT licensed.
Screenshots use the built-in --demo data; the networks and devices are fictional.
- Releases: https://github.com/avrahamr/signal-analyzer/releases — tagged
versions, plus a rolling Nightly pre-release built from every commit on
master. - Unzip and drag Signal Analyzer.app to Applications. Requires macOS 14 or newer.
The app is signed ad hoc and not notarised (that needs a paid Apple Developer account), so the first launch is blocked by Gatekeeper. Either open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway, or clear the quarantine flag once:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Signal Analyzer.app"Grant Location access when asked; without it macOS hides network names. Because the signature changes with every build, macOS may ask for Location and Bluetooth permission again after updating.
Every pull request also produces a build as a workflow artifact (login required, kept 30 days).
A macOS app that shows the radio environment around you: Wi-Fi networks with live signal strength, a spectrum view of channel occupancy, RSSI history, a deep-dive page per access point, and nearby Bluetooth LE devices.
- Networks — table sorted by signal. Click a row to open the detail inspector: signal/SNR/estimated distance with a history sparkline, radio (generation, standards, spatial streams, width, frequency), load (connected clients, channel utilisation) and roaming support (802.11k/v/r) decoded from the beacon's information elements, security details (cipher suites, authentication, management-frame protection, WPS), your own connection (PHY mode, link rate, IP, router, DNS) when connected, and an Advanced section with Join / Disconnect, copy, CSV export, raw IE dump and a shortcut to Apple's Wireless Diagnostics.
- Charts — Spectrum: analyzer-style view with one bell curve per network over the channels it occupies, peak = RSSI, coloured labels, per-channel occupancy badges, hover tooltips and a least-crowded-channel recommendation; switch band 2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz. History: RSSI over time for the strongest networks, same colours as the spectrum.
- Bluetooth — live Bluetooth LE advertisers. Devices: table with smoothed RSSI, manufacturer (from the SIG company ID), Apple Continuity type (AirPods, Find My, Handoff…), connectable flag, service count and last-seen. History: RSSI over time per device. Radar: devices as dots on estimated-distance rings around your Mac (angle is arbitrary; BLE gives no direction).
Settings (⌘,) control scan interval, hidden-network visibility, history length, the distance model, and Bluetooth smoothing/expiry.
| Layer | Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Scanning | CoreWLAN (CWInterface.scanForNetworks) |
The only supported public API for nearby-network scans. The airport CLI was removed in macOS 14.4 and wdutil needs sudo. |
| Permission | CoreLocation (requestWhenInUseAuthorization) |
Since macOS 14, CoreWLAN returns nil SSID/BSSID unless the app has Location access. |
| Beacon decoding | Own parser over CWNetwork.informationElementData |
Exposes Wi-Fi generation, MIMO streams, BSS load, RSN ciphers and roaming flags that CoreWLAN does not surface. |
| Bluetooth | CoreBluetooth (CBCentralManager.scanForPeripherals) |
LE advertisements carry RSSI; classic Bluetooth only reports RSSI once connected. |
| Charts | Swift Charts | Spectrum and history views with no third-party dependency. |
| UI | SwiftUI (Table) |
Native look, minimal code, easy to extend with Swift Charts later. |
| Project | XcodeGen (project.yml) |
The .xcodeproj is generated, so the repo has no merge-prone project file. |
Scans run on a background task (each one blocks for a few seconds while the
radio sweeps channels) and results are published to the main actor via
ScanStore.
- macOS 14 or newer (built and tested on macOS 26 / Xcode 26).
- Xcode with
xcode-selectpointing at it. - XcodeGen:
brew install xcodegen.
make run # generate project, build Debug, open the app
make open # generate project and open it in Xcode
make test # run unit tests
make cleanThe first launch shows a banner asking for Location access. Click Allow Location Access and approve the system prompt. Without it the app still scans, but every network shows as "Hidden network" with no BSSID.
The app is signed ad hoc ("Sign to Run Locally"), so no Apple Developer account is required. macOS may re-ask for Location permission after a rebuild because the ad-hoc signature changes.
project.yml XcodeGen spec (targets, Info.plist keys, signing)
Sources/WiFiSignal/
WiFiSignalApp.swift @main, window, menu commands, Settings scene
ContentView.swift TabView shell + shared toolbar
AppSettings.swift Persisted preferences
SettingsView.swift Preferences window
Components.swift SignalBars, InfoBanner, helpers
WiFi/
WiFiNetwork.swift Value type, channel↔frequency maths, distance model
InformationElements.swift 802.11 IE parser → NetworkCapabilities
WiFiScanner.swift CoreWLAN scan, interface status, join/disconnect
ScanStore.swift Main-actor state, history, presence, actions
LocationPermission.swift CoreLocation authorization state
NetworksView.swift Table + inspector + status bar
NetworkDetailView.swift Per-network detail page
ChartsView.swift Spectrum and history charts
SpectrumAnalysis.swift Channel lists, congestion scoring, stable colours
SpectrumView.swift Custom-drawn analyzer spectrum
Bluetooth/
BluetoothDevice.swift Value type + company/Continuity decoding + distance
BluetoothScanner.swift CBCentralManager wrapper with RSSI history
BluetoothView.swift Devices / History / Radar modes
BluetoothRadarView.swift Proximity radar
Tests/WiFiSignalTests/ XCTest unit tests (parser, maths, decoding)
Recommended next tasks, with reasoning and scope, live in ROADMAP.md.
Issues and pull requests are welcome; see CONTRIBUTING.md. Every PR needs a green CI run and the maintainer's review. Planned work is in ROADMAP.md.
MIT. Use it for anything.