Best Mac Apps To Get

Jan 10, 2020 Best to-do apps for Mac in 2020 Get serious about getting things done with these great to-do apps for your Mac! 10 Jan 2020 1 For many of us, lists.

Get an app that fixes WiFi

WiFi Explorer analyzes and troubleshoots your network.

WiFi is something we all take advantage of, day to day, which makes it frustrating when your WiFi signal isn't reliable. Like so much technology we use often, we expect WiFi to just work!

But it doesn’t always “just work,” and finding the answers for why your WiFi is failing or not as performant can be confusing. Not to worry – we’ve got you covered. Here we’ll discuss the best Mac WiFi analyzer apps, why you should have a WiFi analyzer for Mac, and what a great analyzer can do for you.

What is WiFi Analyzer?

Here’s a scenario we’ve all run into often: our Mac or iPhone says it has a WiFi signal, but you can’t get online. There’s a WiFi available, and your device is accessing it, but nothing is happening.

Sometimes it’s your internet service provider; the company you get internet access through may be experiencing difficulties or disruptions, which can affect you. More often, it’s your WiFi signal that’s having issues. Something about the signal getting from the router in your home or via public WiFi is causing your signal to become unreliable, which can render you unproductive.

A WiFi analyzer helps you diagnose what the issue really is without toggling your computer or router off. While the ‘turn it off and on’ ethos often works, it’s not always indicative of what’s going on. With a proper wifi analyzer Mac computers can stay online via the strongest signal available.

Reasons why you might need to use WiFi Analyzer App

You may be wondering why you need a Mac OS WiFi analyzer. Finding the best wifi analyzer Mac computers can use will help you stay online, discover why your internet signal is poor, and how to fix it quickly.

Here are a few reasons to get a WiFi analyzer for your Mac:

Your home WiFi has dead spots. As you use your Mac around the home, you notice videos don’t stream clearly in some spots, or web pages don’t load as quickly.
Your Mac says you have a WiFi connection, but nothing is happening. We’ve all been there: your Mac says you’re connected to the internet, and your router indicates everything is fine – but pages won’t load and email isn’t coming through.
You have multiple WiFi signals available. Sometimes there are multiple signals available to you, but knowing which is best can be a guessing game. With a WiFi scanner Mac devices can analyze signal strength and reliability with ease. When your device knows WiFi signal strength Mac lets you switch signals easily; and a WiFi scanner tells you in real time if something changes with an internet connection.

Best WiFi Analyzers for macOS

Okay, now that you know why you want a WiFi analyzer for your Mac – which are the best?

There’s no single solution. Everyone’s needs are unique, and finding the right WiFi analyzer may take a bit of trial and error – but don’t worry, we’ve got some great advice for you. Here are some excellent services and apps for analyzing and troubleshooting your Mac’s WiFi connectivity.

Mac Wireless Diagnostics Tool

Your Mac has a built-in wireless diagnostics tool that does a serviceable job of monitoring your WiFi signal. It’s a bit hidden, though, so carefully follow the instructions below to use it:

Hold down the option key on your Mac keyboard, and select the WiFi icon in your Mac’s menu bar (Note: You can also press command+space and enter “wireless diagnostics” into Siri Spotlight Search to open your Mac’s wireless diagnostics tool.)
Select “Open Wireless Diagnostics” from the menu
In the ensuing popup window, select “Continue”

Your Mac will analyze your WiFi signal strength, and discover if it is working properly. If it isn’t working as your Mac feels it should, it will produce a report of all the things wrong with it at the time the tool was run, and create a summary of topics you should read up on (like “best practices”) or items that may fix your signal.

As you can imagine, this is limiting. Not only does the report only examine a snippet of time, it takes a long while to produce a report, which doesn’t give you a real time look at how your WiFi signal is performing. By the time your Mac is done creating a report on why the WiFi signal is poor, that same signal could have improved!

There are some impressive apps that do a much better job of analyzing, troubleshooting, and diagnosing your Mac’s WiFi in real-time.

NetSpot

When you’re analyzing a WiFi signal, chances are you’re met with a lot of data that’s difficult to make sense of. NetSpot has all of that data, too, but has one of the best visual representations of your Mac’s WiFi signal strength we’ve ever seen.

NetSpot’s main menu shows you a network’s name, channel, band, and other items like it’s signal to noise ratio. These are all really handy bits of data when you know what you’re looking for, but sometimes a visual aide is better.

Selecting a WiFi signal and selecting ‘details’ on the bottom left of the NetSpot window brings up a real time visual representation of that signal’s strength. You can also select multiple WiFi signals to compare them side by side on this evolving graphic; a great option for those with multiple signals or channels available in their home!

Another excellent feature of NetSpot is its ability to map your home, and discover dead spots for WiFi coverage. Rather than assuming why your signal strength is diminished in an area, NetSpot lets you know exactly where it’s not as great throughout your home!

WiFi Explorer

Where NetSpot has unique windows for visual graphics and data, WiFi Explorer keeps it all in one window so you don’t have to navigate. It uses familiar side bar options for discovering more about a signal, or navigating the app – but it’s main information window is where all the data is displayed.

You will see all of the data you’re looking for, like channel, signal strength, bands, and even the maximum speeds the band is capable of. Selecting a new WiFi signal automatically triggers the visual graphics at the bottom of the window to display that signal’s data in a morphing graph. You can even select bars on the center graph to change the view in the signal-strength app on the left side; a great option for those with mesh networks who are experiencing poor signal performance when they shouldn't be.

iStumbler

iStumbler is another great app for discovering which WiFi networks are available to you, and getting detailed information on their signal strength, including the signal to noise ratio for each signal. The app also has a great map view that shows you where routers are placed, providing a holistic view of how WiFi in your area is laid out, and where you may find the best signal.

WiFi Scanner

Another native Mac app, WiFi Scanner is much like WiFi Explorer in that it provides a single window that displays all the information about available WiFi signals in your area. It also has graphs to view when you’re more interested in visual aides, and allows you to toggle the information seen on-screen to suit your needs.

Monitor your Network connections

Sometimes you don’t need a ton of info, but you need to know why your WiFi is underperforming quickly. That’s where iStat Menus steps in. It lives in your menu bar, and provides quick-glance access to information like CPU performance, battery health, and yes – network performance.

iStat Menus has drop-down menus that provide high-level information about your WiFi signal, and hovering over items can surface even more sub-menus with additional data. Though it lives in your menu bar, iStat Menus can actually give some pretty granular detail on how your WiFi is performing. The menu bar icons show you upload and download speeds, too.

Conclusion

WiFi shouldn’t be a mystery. We tend to think of it as a thing that should ‘just work’ but it often doesn’t. Simple fixes like unplugging the modem and router for a short time may work, but they’re not indicative of what the problems are.

Instead, find a WiFi analyzer app that suits your needs, and offers the features you want. So often, simply switching to a better WiFi signal is the fix you need.

The apps mentioned here today – WiFi Explorer, iStat Menus, and NetSpot – are all available for free as part of a seven day trial of Setapp, an amazing suite of productivity apps for your Mac. In addition to these three apps, you’ll get immediate access to nearly 200 other native Mac apps, and retaining unlimited access to the full Setapp suite after your trial period is just $9.99 per month, so why wait? Give Setapp a try!

Setapp lives on Mac and iOS. Please come back from another device.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

Read on

Setapp uses cookies to personalize your experience on our website. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our cookie policy.

Best Free Mac Apps

All the best apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac were announced on the recent Apple event. It was held on Dec 2, 2020, in New York, where they highlighted the best apps and games of the year, available on App Store. It is the first time that an event was exclusively organized to lay focus on the best apps and games by Apple.

This article covers the latest announcements made by Apple for the best apps on the App Store. The games being an entire category they are separately placed, and the best among them are listed accordingly.

Best Apps on the AppStore for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV-

Best app for iPhone – Spectre Camera

This application which was developed by Halide takes fantastic photos. Based on the algorithms used to implement artificial intelligence to capture long exposure shots. Apply the effects on the live shot, which will show you what to capture directly in-app. Develop picture with beautiful light strikes, and water bodies making everything appear divine. The user interface is available in dark mode keeping the intent of the user to help them use at night time.

Best app for iPad – Flow by Moleskine

The application is basically a digital notebook used to draw sketches and take notes in your handwriting. The app shows you a traditional graphite pencil use as a tool to write. Other than that, you get a number of options to choose from. With infinite width, it will be limitless drawing. Dark and light background with dot grid, lines and blank styles to work on. On the iPad, use the picture in picture mode, split-screen, and drag and drop options for making multi-tasking easy. It supports the cloud storage which gives you an ease to backup your documents and lets you access it from other iOS devices.

Best App for Mac- Affinity Publisher

It is the best app possible for desktop publishing for creating designer reports, posters, magazines, books and much more. This tool helps you merge the graphics and text in the outstanding layouts to create a publishing article. This provides you with full controls on paragraph styles. Add the images in various formats like png, jpg, tiff and Affinity styles. The advanced features include the creation of index and table of contents automatically.

Best app for Apple TV – The Explorers

It is a work towards the Earth’s exploration through the lens by scientists, artists, professionals and associates. The people cover the area around them for its natural habitat, species living among them. It is basically a collective work showcased in the form of images and videos. You can search from the marked locations on the maps. One can also add to the earth inventory with the contribute option.

Best Apps on the AppStore for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV:

Best game of Appstore – Sky: Children of the light

Graphics are great and it is fun to be played on the iOS devices. This game places children as the hope-giving creatures in the enchanted kingdom of sky. The story of the game is all about bringing back the fallen stars back to their places in the constellations. Customize your characters and take a flight to save the kingdom from evil. Socialize with other players, spread happiness by appreciating with candles as the symbol. The game ranks the best with the highest ratings from the users.

Best arcade game – Sayonara Wild heart

This has to be the best arcade game with motorbike racing, skateboarding, and dance battles as the main focus. It uses popular songs which are the backdrop of the romantic story of the game. It has created a buzz around the users and loved by the gamers who love to use Mac. One can live their Hollywood dream with each level which includes you to run and cross the path with the amazing soundtrack.

Best game for iPad – Hyper Light Drifter

This game has been accoladed for its graphics a number of times before and wins to be the best game for iPad this year. It is an RPG game which is set in the ruins of the lands which is dominated by lost technology. It is also known for its combat mechanics, beautiful soundtrack and visuals. On iPad 120 fps gameplay is available which adds to make it the winning game of the year.

Best game for Mac – GRIS

This is awarded as the best game on AppStore for Mac of 2020. The original score in the background catches the player’s attention along with the sophisticated art which aligns with the story of the game. It is developed by Spanish indie Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital for Mac. It includes puzzles and basic skill-building hurdles to move forward in the game

Best game for Apple TV- Wonder Boy – The Dragon’s Trap

The story based on Wonderboy seeking a cure to its situation of being a half-human and half-lizard. You as a player sleigh dragons and step into the world of exotic animals which are fascinating. The action-packed game is awarded the best game on AppStore 2020 for Apple TV.

Wrapping up:

With the use of spectre app, most will not require to carry DSLR with them as it will do the trick to get your RAW images. apps such as Flow and Affinity Publisher hold valuable remarks from users, and thus they are productive and hold a place among the best apps on the Appstore. Others include various games for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

Best Mac Apps To Buy

We Love To Hear From You