Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PCAPdroid VS wigle.net

Compare PCAPdroid VS wigle.net and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

PCAPdroid logo PCAPdroid

PCAPdroid is an android app to capture the phone traffic and analyze it remotely (e.g. via Wireshark). The traffic can be easily downloaded from a remote device thanks to the integrated HTTP server, or streamed to a remote UDP receiver.

wigle.net logo wigle.net

WiGLE (Wireless Geographic Logging Engine)
  • PCAPdroid Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-03
  • wigle.net Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-17

PCAPdroid features and specs

  • Open Source
    PCAPdroid is an open-source tool, meaning that its source code is publicly available. This allows developers to review, modify, and improve the software, enhancing transparency and trust in the tool.
  • Network Packet Capture
    PCAPdroid allows users to capture network traffic on Android devices without requiring root access. This is useful for network analysis, diagnostics, and security inspections.
  • Data Privacy
    The software emphasizes data privacy by capturing traffic locally on the device and not sending it to external servers. This provides users with the assurance that their data is not being inadvertently shared.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    PCAPdroid provides an intuitive interface that makes it easier for users to navigate and operate the tool even if they are not network experts.

Possible disadvantages of PCAPdroid

  • Complex Configuration
    Setting up the tool for packet capture may require a certain level of technical expertise, which could be challenging for beginners in networking or software development.
  • Platform Limitation
    PCAPdroid is specifically designed for Android devices, so users on other platforms, such as iOS or desktops, cannot use this tool directly.
  • Resource Intensity
    Continuous packet capture can be resource-intensive, potentially affecting device performance and battery life on Android devices.
  • Limited to Local Traffic
    PCAPdroid is limited to capturing traffic from the device it is installed on, meaning it cannot capture or analyze traffic from other devices on the network.

wigle.net features and specs

  • Comprehensive Database
    Wigle.net offers an extensive database of wireless networks around the world, providing valuable insights into global WiFi coverage.
  • User Contribution
    The platform allows users to contribute data, promoting community involvement and continuously updating the database with new information.
  • Open Data Access
    Wigle.net provides access to its data for non-commercial use, supporting research, education, and personal projects.
  • Visualization Tools
    The site includes tools for visualizing wireless networks on maps, aiding in geographic analysis and planning.
  • Educational Resource
    It serves as an educational resource for understanding wireless networks, their distribution, and security concerns.

Possible disadvantages of wigle.net

  • Privacy Concerns
    There are concerns about privacy and consent, as the platform collects and shares information about wireless networks without explicit permission from network owners.
  • Potential for Misuse
    The data could potentially be used for inappropriate purposes, such as unauthorized network access or tracking individuals through network usage.
  • Data Accuracy
    Since data is crowdsourced, there may be inconsistencies or inaccuracies in the information provided, affecting reliability.
  • Limited Commercial Use
    The open data access is limited to non-commercial purposes, which might restrict its usefulness for businesses looking to leverage this information commercially.
  • Legal Issues
    There might be legal implications of collecting and distributing network data, depending on local laws and regulations.

PCAPdroid videos

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wigle.net videos

War Driving in 2020 With Wigle.net

More videos:

  • Review - From WiFi SSID to your home address! wigle.net

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PCAPdroid and wigle.net)
Monitoring Tools
76 76%
24% 24
Wi-Fi
0 0%
100% 100
Log Management
100 100%
0% 0
Tool
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, wigle.net seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 53 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

PCAPdroid mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of PCAPdroid yet. Tracking of PCAPdroid recommendations started around Mar 2021.

wigle.net mentions (53)

  • Everyone knows your location, Part 2: try it yourself and share the results
    Not exactly related but on the topic of finding target's location, A few years ago I used to run a little demo of capturing probe wifi ssid network on prefered network list of nearby devices and used https://wigle.net/ to identify places that people has visited... It was eye opening for some people in the audience for sure. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Modern Wardriving
    It's not to get into a network, it's just to list where they're at.. For points. Similar to internet points :). There's no hacking involved just nerds being nerds What you find shows up here: https://wigle.net/ As you can see there's quite a few people who do it. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Show HN: BeaconDB – An Alternative to Mozilla Location Services
    As nobody has yet mentioned it, there is also WiGLE [1] which has tracked over a billion unique networks. [1] https://wigle.net/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Apple allows applications to track user locations without authorization
    SSID / BSSID is often enough to pinpoint the location of someone. Recently someone debated this with me, so I asked him what his wifi AP name was, then proceeded to provide their home address. How? By searching it in https://wigle.net. That ended the debate quite swiftly. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Apple allows applications to track user locations without authorization
    IP gives you a rough location (like which city at best), SSID/BSSID can give you street/building level accuracy if it's in a database like https://wigle.net Considering the scale of these apps, I'm guessing they have internal wifi<->location databases with fairly great accuracy. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing PCAPdroid and wigle.net, you can also consider the following products

Wireshark - Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. It lets you capture and interactively browse the traffic running on a computer network.

OpenCellID - OpenCelliD is the largest Open Database of Cell Towers & their locations. You can geolocate IoT & Mobile devices without GPS, explore Mobile Operator coverage and more!

tcpdump - tcpdump is a common packet analyzer that runs under the command line.

OpenSignal - Mobile analytics and insights on wireless connectivity from Opensignal, the independent global standard for understanding the true state of the world's mobile network.

NetworkMiner - NetworkMiner is a Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT) for Windows.

Android IMSI-Catcher Detector - Detect attacks of fake base stations such as IMSI-Catcher and StingRay on your GSM/UMTS network.