• AP Grapher
  • Features
  • Downloads
  • Requirements
  • Localization
  • Issues
• Release Notes
• Reviews

AP Grapher

An AirPort Wireless Stumbler and Grapher for Mac OS X

AP Grapher is a freeware program for Mac OS X which searches for and displays nearby wireless (AirPort/WiFi) access points along with information about their percent availability, maximum signal strength, and last contact time. The grapher window allows you to graph multiple signal strength parameters for the base station you are currently connected to and optionally display them in the dock icon. Many user configurable preferences allow you to customize its behavior including refresh rate and optional display in the dock icon or menu extra.

AP Grapher is intended to help you find the best wireless access point to connect to and optimally position your base station and or computer to achieve the best possible signal strength. Note that the stumbler is not capable of finding intentionally hidden networks - it will only locate networks broadcasting their SSID (same as the default Airport menu on your Mac).

AP Grapher is mentioned in two published books! The book Mac OS Help Line by Ted Landau and Dan Frakes, and Mac OS X Power Hound by Rob Griffiths. If you decide to buy either of these books through Amazon by clicking the above links, Chimoosoft will receive a small commision. Note that the author has not actually read the books, but they do get good reviews and it's nice to see AP Grapher mentioned in them!

This software is also featured in a macosxhints pick of the week, and in episode 86 of the Mac ReviewCast Podcast!

"AP Grapher is a freeware tool for plotting the strength of a network as a function of time. AP Grapher has received a recent (Dec 06) update to Universal Binary along with some performance enhancements. It now does all the stuff that the Airport Client Monitor does as well as what MacStumbler does in one tool. The most valuable part is the time domain plot of Airport link characteristics. The plot will record data for as much as half an hour."

- George Schreyer

Versions of AP Grapher prior to 1.0 made use of an open source header file released by the folks at MacStumbler (thanks!). Versions 1.0 and later use a different method of obtaining the signal strength which also allows for scanning.

Features

• Grapher

  • Graphs up to five connection statistics at a time: signal, noise, SNR, transmit rate, and comm quality.
  • Customizable colors and refresh rate.
  • Ability to “mark” the graph at specific times.
  • Optional history graph in dock icon.
  • Optional menu extra to display connection quality and or speak it aloud.
  • Adjustable history length - record only a few samples, or keep it going for an extended period of time as you walk around.

• Scanner (Stumbler)

  • Customizable colors and refresh rate.
  • Keeps track of best signal strength.
  • Calculates the percentage of time each access point is visible.
  • Records the last contact time for each access point.
  • Saves information about access points between launches.
  • Options to hide secured and or inactive base stations.
  • Option to speak newly discovered access point names.
  • Export as CSV (comma separated values.)
• Free! (donations appreciated)
• Written with Cocoa, native to Mac OS X, Universal binary - Intel, PPC native, yada yada.

System Requirements

Versions 1.2 and later:

• Any Mac (PPC or Intel) running Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, or higher.

Versions 1.0 and 1.1:

• Any Mac (PPC or Intel) running Mac OS X 10.4 through 10.4.11.

Versions 0.5.3 and earlier:

• Any PPC based Mac running Mac OS X version 10.1 or later. Some portions may not work properly with 10.4 or higher.
• An Apple branded Airport wireless card. It may also work with some third party cards (apparently the Buffalo g54 PC card works, as does the "Belkin 54g pcmcia card (F5D7010)" for example).

Downloads

OS	CPU	Languages	Note	Version	Date	Size	Download
10.4, 10.5, or higher		English	universal	1.2.1	11/2/2007	1.1 MB
10.1 through 10.3		English, Swedish, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish	PPC only	0.5.3	5/6/2004	300 K

Note that the built in help is only available in English, and we can only answer emails written in English. The older version of AP Grapher is provided as a courtesy to users of Mac OS X 10.3 and earlier but is not supported in any way.

Localization

Localized versions of AP Grapher 1.2 are not being accepted at this time. Since so many changes have been made to the program, a bit of time is needed for the feature set to stabilize before localization can occur. Check back later for possible changes to this status.

To read more about localization, please refer to our FAQ.

Thanks to the following people for translating version 0.5 (listed in order received): Swedish by Micke Seid, Dutch by Paul Bánsági, German by Michael Grode, Italian by Claudio Buat Albiana, Japanese by RedGecko, French by Alexandre Kaiser, Spanish by E. F. Rasero, Portuguese by Thiago Marques, Danish by Jakob Peterhänsel, Finnish by Saku Airila, Galician by Luis A. Martínez Sobrino, Afrikaans by Carl van Wyk. Thanks!

Known Issues

1.2.1

• When running the grapher and the scanner simultaneously and graphing the TX rate, you may see the rate dip to zero each time the scanner takes a scan. This problem appears to be dependent on the type of wireless card your computer has and so far has only been seen on Mac Book Pro's. Note that this is not an issue with AP Grapher; to demonstrate this, stop AP Grapher's scanner mode but keep the grapher running. While graphing, go up to the Airport menu at the top right hand side of your menu bar and click on it to list available networks. You should see the same dip in TX rate when clicking on the menu item as when performing an AP Grapher scan. If the dip bothers you, simply turn off the AP Grapher scanner, or set its refresh rate slower (once every 30 seconds or more).

1.2

• After upgrading to version 1.2 from earlier versions, you may have to delete the preferences file in order for all columns of data to show up in the scanner. To do this, quit AP Grapher, go to ~/Library/Preferences/ (the Library folder in your home directory) and delete the file called com.chimoosoft.apgrapher.plist. Relaunch AP Grapher and a new preferences file will be automatically created.
• Sorting of columns in the scanner is not maintained between launches in versions prior to 1.2.1.

1.1

• Sorting of columns in the scanner is not maintained between launches in versions prior to 1.2.1.
• Versions prior to 1.1 had some problems with Intel based Macs, especially with the scanner.
• Versions prior to 1.2 will not display any results on Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5).
• Ad hoc (i.e., computer to computer) networks will not show up in the scanner in versions prior to 1.2.
• Setting the refresh rate too fast in 1.1 and earlier may slow down your web browsing, especially with the scanner. If you find this is noticeable, set the refresh slower in the preferences.

Ideas for Future Enhancements

• Log file of recent signal strength.
• Audible notifications when certain signal thresholds are reached.
• Improved time scale markings.

(If you have a suggestion which doesn't appear above, send us an email.)

Donations

Developing software takes time and effort. If you like our products and would like to help support future versions, please consider making a donation! Donations of all sizes are appreciated. For other methods of supporting Chimoosoft, visit our donations page.

Thanks!

Note that the technology which Apple refers to as "AirPort" is also commonly called 80211, or 802.11b. Apple's "AirPort Extreme" is commonly referred to as 802.11g. As a whole, the terms WiFi, wireless, and WLAN are common. Base stations are sometimes referred to as access points, and what we refer to as a "scanner" is usually called a "stumbler." Chimoosoft has no affiliation with the developers of KisMac, iStumbler, or MacStumbler.

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