App that watches WIFI

[tom564]

I am planning on creating an android app that watches for available WIFI access points and changing the phones audio level depending on what WIFI is available nearby(i.e. silent when at college), I have no experience with any language other than VB.net (useless i know) and don’t know where to start or if it is even possible. I was hoping someone here would be able to point me in the right way or let me know if it has been done before, any assistance would be greatly appreciated ,thanks

[digip]

Well, Android phones are linux based, I assume you can get a shell open and do iwlist to see nearby AP's from a command line? You probably need to root the phone to install a shell browser(unless they are built in these days - I don't own an android). I would say if you can manage to script something in linux, you could probably do damn near the same thing with respect to finding compatible libraries for the phone, or just tie into ring tones maybe and make it play a specific ring tone for each of your known AP's you want to listen for. Just an idea...

[tom564]

Yeh I have rooted the phone and unfortunately iwlist is not available from the terminal, There must be some way intercepting the output the android os uses however i do not have a great deal of experience with Linux or android but i am still learning. thanks

[RFnerd]

There is an app in the play store called Atooma that can do that very thing.

[tom564]

I have just tried atooma but it will only work if i am connected to the AP (unless i am missing something) however i do not wish to do this as the AP is open.

[digip]

Most likely, you would need to find and install the packages for iwlist, or whatever the variant is for android wifi cards and the OS. For example, I have an HP Touchpad, and once rooted, I installed a terminal client so I can access the OS from the command line. Installing things I needed for the touchpad were done using IPK files, since its an arm and all pre-packaged stuff for WebOS. You probably need to do some more android searches and maybe lurk some of the android forums to see what kinds of tools are available, but I imagine there are tools out there, you just probably need to install them, and they have to be built for your specific version of Android and hardware, since not all versions of android are the same, and the files can vary between releases, hardware, and dependencies. I wish I had an android to play with, but I can't be of much more help than that and trying to point you in the direction I would take if I was in your situation. I'm sure given time, someone else on the forums with a rooted android could point you to a better solution, but for now, I would just google up all the android dev forums you can find and start researching what your options are, or googling for things like "iwlist alternative for android" or such.

[Pwnd2Pwnr]

Well, I think that this has been made already. Wifi Analyzer allows an audible signal that "pings" faster the closer you are to the AP. The best comparison would be to a geiger counter. It is pretty bad ass; but I am ALL FOR YOU making your own. Good luck!

Busy Box Pro contains the iwlist applet... I think it is called iwmulticall :)... it is kinda buggy; but hell, it is there...

As for dev time and experience, the XDA forums are a nice place to start. A LOT of info on the technical aspect for Android.

Hope this helps!

Edited December 9, 2012 by Pwnd2Pwnr

[tom564]

Thanks for the help i think i will have to look at this in a few weeks time when i have some time as it seems a bit more complicated than i anticipated, Is it only busybox pro that contains iwmulticall as i can not find it on my free version? I think something like the wifi analyzer could work if i could adapt it to set the phone to silent when it detects an AP.

[vector]

wigle wifi wardriving app is going to be a little closer to what youre looking for. it has speech settings as well as sound settings for different types of notifications.

https://www.box.com/shared/t2glqoth066htilhl824

https://www.box.com/s/27s3e7gda1e42mfv1gae

https://www.box.com/s/s6lkpbrls1spkm8d8df0

[Pwnd2Pwnr]

Busy Box Pro is, by far, the best program that you can purchase. It does not contain all commands; but most banned apps use the Busy Box commands to do one thing or another. It is chump change for what you get. If you are looking to get into development... BBP is worth it.

[Karit]

I use the Locale app and have friends who use Lama. Both do locations based profiles