WarDriving & Tethering
WiFi WarDriving
No, it's not about "war games" (and also not about tanks – unless they are designed as WiFi APs). Wikipedia defines the term "Wardrive" as follows:
Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer, smartphone or personal digital assistant (PDA).
Wardriving originated from wardialing, a method popularized by a character played by Matthew Broderick in the film WarGames, and named after that film. War dialing consists of dialing every phone number in a specific sequence in search of modems.
There are also indications for a backronym being involved: Wireless Access Revolution, to take away the martial touch from the term. In short: goal of the game is to collect APNs of a given area on a map.
So the goal is to show found networks on a map, or provide this data to projects like OpenCellId or Mozilla Location Service. Comparable apps for cell towers can be found in Monitoring & Mapping.
- OpenWLANMini (4.7@20) 8
LastUpdate: 2016-01-04 / OpenWLANMap (4.2@74) 11
LastUpdate: 2020-05-09 Wikipedia DE; Intro 5/2018
- Opensignal - 5G, 4G Speed Test (4.1@447,964) Ǥ 10
4
Wikipedia
- Wifi Collector (4.1@506) 5
LastUpdate: 2019-04-13
- WiGLE WiFi Wardriving (3.8@4,853) Ǥ 24
Github; Intro & Howto 8/2017; Tutorial 6/2020; Wikipedia EN
- Mozilla Stumbler (3.8@1,527) 10
1 LastUpdate: 2019-04-06 Github; Intro 8/2016; Data gathering for Mozilla Location Service
- G-MoN (3.6@4,949) Ǥ 13
5
LastUpdate: 2020-03-28
Tethering
WiFi Tethering
Starting with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), this comes as a stock-feature, and no longer requires additional apps. Unless your manufacturer removed the feature …
- TetherFi (4.3@1,697) Ǥ 14
1
Github; no root required
- NetShare - no-root-tethering (4.1@43,827) Ǥ 12
1
Video Howto 11/2017 (Text); Anleitung 2/2019; can act as WiFi repeater
- TetherSetting | free tethering (3.4@760) 4
4
LastUpdate: 2020-05-20 no root required
- FoxFi (WiFi Tether w/o Root) (3.3@15) 10
LastUpdate: 2017-12-18 / FoxFi Key (supports PdaNet) (3@14,245; ~EUR 8.50) Ǥ 2
LastUpdate: 2023-09-08
Bluetooth Tethering
- PdaNet+ (4.2@84,386) 15
LastUpdate: 2023-09-28 Review 7/2018; Howto 11/2019
- FoxFi (WiFi Tether w/o Root) (3.3@15) 10
LastUpdate: 2017-12-18 / FoxFi Key (supports PdaNet) (3@14,245; ~EUR 8.50) Ǥ 2
LastUpdate: 2023-09-08
- Easy Tether Lite (No root) (2.4@22,858) 6
LastUpdate: 2018-12-06 / EasyTether Full (4@9,091) 5
LastUpdate: 2023-08-23 / EasyTether Pro (4@2,277; ~EUR 10.75) 5
LastUpdate: 2023-08-29
USB Tethering
- Quick USB Tethering Wifi (4.3@1,740) Ǥ 7
2
- FoxFi (WiFi Tether w/o Root) (3.3@15) 10
LastUpdate: 2017-12-18 / FoxFi Key (supports PdaNet) (3@14,245; ~EUR 8.50) Ǥ 2
LastUpdate: 2023-09-08
- Free USB Tethering (3.1@656) Ǥ 6
2
LastUpdate: 2018-09-17
- USB Tethering (3@6,931) 6
2
LastUpdate: 2023-05-09
- Easy Tether Lite (No root) (2.4@22,858) 6
LastUpdate: 2018-12-06 / EasyTether Full (4@9,091) 5
LastUpdate: 2023-08-23 / EasyTether Pro (4@2,277; ~EUR 10.75) 5
LastUpdate: 2023-08-29
- SimpleRT (0@0) 2
LastUpdate: 2021-12-02 Github
USB Reverse Tethering
- Reverse Tethering NoRoot (4.3@1,017) Ǥ 10
1
LastUpdate: 2019-05-25
- Reverse Tether [Trial] (2.4@694) 7
LastUpdate: 2014-12-29
WiFi Tether Toggler (Android 2.2+)
Further Readings:
- 11 Best Tethering Apps for Android (8/2021 - 6/2023)