Fing Network Scanner & Toolkit - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Fing App is the top ranking, free network toolkit used by millions of people around the world.  Fing’s network scanner will scan any network and discover all connected devices quickly and accurately. You can use Fing App to run Wi-Fi and internet speed tests anywhere, troubleshoot network and device issues and detect network intruders too.

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

10 years ago, I co-founded Fing, and created Fing App, with Marco De Angelis. The Fing App was a side-project while we both worked together at a large multinational corporation leading engineering teams. The original idea for Fing App came during my studies into network engineering and the desire I had to make complex network information visible and useful. During my academic research, I developed a Windows-based application to scan networks and visualise network information in an easy-to-digest way. We’re very proud that Fing App was the world’s first free network scanner for mobile. Marco and I set out to help people decipher their connected technology and better understand what’s happening on their networks. The Fing App organically grew to 10 million downloads by 2016. We left our day jobs, acquired seed funding and built Fing’s patent-pending device recognition and intelligence technology. We're now a growing start-up with offices in Rome, London and Dublin and employing 25 people. And Fing App has now been downloaded over 35 million times!

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

We started developing on Android when it was recently launched, developing our first Fing for Android on the first version of Acer Liquid. The challenges were many: the developers' tools were not as good as they are today, the developer mode on the devices as well. Also, our main challenge was related to the app features: we wanted to replicate network discovery that we developed already in our Windows/Linux/Mac network tool, but on the mobile side you don’t have access to same low network programming APIs of the OS. So we found a way to build a brand new network discovery, best effort when compared to the desktop/embedded version, but at the same time very cool, because it gives you a very nice and useful and needed tool, that in the past you had only on desktop devices with dedicated software, directly on your mobile device.

_{Carlo Medas}

Carlo Medas, Marco De Angelis and Daniele Galdi created Fing App, the world’s first free network scanner for mobile, in 2009. The founders had a shared vision to help people decipher their connected technology and better understand what’s happening on their networks. Today, Fing continues on its mission to give people visibility and control over their digital environment and connected technology.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

I love productivity apps like Google Keep, helping me keep track of ideas, todos, activities. Combined with Google Assistant, even when used straight from mobile device, it’s a big tool that helps me be more productive from everywhere I am.
With regard to mobility, living in Rome and having a tough time each day with traffic, I love Waze, which I use every time I drive, and it’s helping me save time and avoid the jams.
Wrt to messaging I love and use both Whatsapp for personal purposes and Slack for company communications, loving both very much.
Being frequently abroad, I do also like and use very much TripAdvisor and TheFork apps, both to find and check restaurants and to do reservations.

How long have you been working on this app?

Fing has been around for 10 years now. Time flies!

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

Helping our users identify all their connected devices and troubleshoot network and device issues so they get the more from their smart home set-up and connected technology.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

We're experts in device and network intelligence. Fing's core expertise lies in our ability to recognise IoT & connected devices accurately. We take complex information like MAC addresses and turn them into user-friendly and useful information to help people in the smart home or office setting.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

Already in 2019, we've launched a number of new features in Fing App such as internet speed tests and ISP ratings, scoreboards and outage/downtime alerts (https://app.fing.io/internet/). Fing also recently became available on the Google Assistant. Try it out, 'OK, Google. Talk to Fing!'.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

Improve your daily internet experience with Fing. Download Fing App, test your internet speed, see how your ISP performance stacks up against the rest and sign up to outage and downtime alerts so you’re in the know. Learn more at: https://www.fing.com/products/fing-app/