Air Observer vs NetTools
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Air Observer
This app helps diagnose Wi-Fi connection issues on iOS devices. It measures local Wi-Fi health and wide area connection to a server, helping users understand signal strength and potential interference.
- Diagnose Wi-Fi connection health
- Measure local Wi-Fi signal strength
- Assess wide area connection to server
- Identify wireless interference
- Differentiate Wi-Fi vs. Internet issues
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AirO is intended for technical and not-too-technical owners of Wi-Fi capable iOS devices. It displays the health of the Wi-Fi (“Local Area”) connection, and measures the characteristics of a “Wide Area” connection to a server deeper in the network. It can be used to answer questions like: • What’s wrong with my Wi-Fi today? • How strong is my Wi-Fi signal? • Is there evidence of wireless interference? • Is the problem in the Wi-Fi connection, or out on the Internet (or corporate network)? • Is the overall connection to the data center good enough to run my corporate apps?
NetTools
Diagnose network issues with a suite of powerful tools on your phone. Explore local and external networks, check server availability, and scan for devices. Features include ping, traceroute, port scanning, and DNS lookups.
- Network information
- LAN explorer
- IP range scanner
- Ping and Traceroute
- Port scanner
- DNS records lookup
- Server availability check
- Wake On Lan
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Common tools for network diagnostics right in your pocket. This app allows to explore lan and external networks, check internet connection or servers availability with using your phone. The following tools are currently available: 1) Network information - displays external ip and detailed info about internet connection.. 2) LAN explorer - will find all devices in local network. 3) IP range scanner - search hosts by ip range, allows to dynamically check ports and filter hosts by opened ports. 4) Ping - easy way to check internet connection. 5) Traceroute - displays route to the host. 6) Port scanner - check ports in selected range, supports TCP and UDP protocols. 7) DNS records - find DNS records for selected domain. 8) Whois - displays information about domains owner. 9) Server check - checks availability of selected servers (supported methods: ping, tcp, http, https) 10) Wake On Lan - wake up machine by network. 11) TCP client - may be used for testing of servers those use text protocols (HTTP, whois, ...) 12) IP calculator App interface allows to use several tools in one moment, call tools from each other and also share result of their working or copy it to the clipboard. Every tool has multiple settings - IP scanner supports several modes. Ping and Traceroute can work with ICMP and UDP protocols. Also app allows to enter manually DNS servers those will be used by tools in the settings.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Air Observer at none against NetTools's 1. Air Observer also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 67%). NetTools's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 28 months) and ratings volume (54 vs 4). On price and rating there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. NetTools sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Air Observer asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Air Observer against 4.9 for NetTools. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NetTools has 54 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Air Observer's written reviews are positive against 67% of NetTools's.
Air Observer ships an update every 28 months, NetTools every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Air Observer | NetTools |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 4.9 (54 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 54 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 28 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Peter Thornycroft | Oleg Gutlyanskiy |
Customer experience
Air Observer
NetTools
In-app purchases
Air Observer
No in-app purchases
NetTools
- Premium features$3.99








