Everyone knows that the best things in life are generally those that we get for free. There’s nothing quite like basking in the warm glow of getting something either at a heavily discounted price, or even better, entirely gratis. Unfortunately, it’s not very often that life throws up the opportunity for this to happen without some kind string attached. Fortunately, that isn’t always the case, and certainly isn’t the case when it comes to the free-to-download WifiMapper app for iPhone that serves up the world’s largest mobile database of entirely free-to-use wireless hotspots around the globe.
Being able to reliably connect to a wireless network has become something that a large number of us increasingly rely on. Whether we are travelling on business, taking an impromptu vacation with the family or just out and about with extremely poor cellular coverage, Wi-Fi is extremely important to not only be able to keep in touch but to also ensure that we don’t rack up extremely high data bills when on foreign networks. Thankfully, OpenSignal has us covered with WifiMapper making it nearly impossible to be without a wireless connection again – no matter where we are.
As you might expect, WifiMapper is driven entirely by the location of the installed device that it is being ran on. With that in mind it’s extremely important to provide the app with the relevant Location Services permission that it requires. After providing permission to use your current location WifiMapper will pepper the gorgeous map-based interface with green annotation pins, each of which indicates an available Wi-Fi hotspot in the immediate area. Tapping on one of those locations and drilling down for more information will provide information relating to the performance of the network if known, as well as any passwords that may be required to access it. Each page also allows users to improve the reliability of the information to make the app much better for all involved.
WifiMapper is clearly looking to be the “definitive” guide to getting free Wi-Fi anywhere in the world, and judging by the level of performance, data points and polish that is already in the app it looks like it’s well on its way to achieving that goal.
While WifiMapper offers a ton of features, it’s only available for iPhone users. If you have an Android device, and want a similar app, then be sure to give WiFi Map a shot. Though both apps essentially serve the same purpose, but WifiMapper is fairly more responsive and fluid to use when compared to WiFi Map.
(Download: WifiMapper for iPhone on the iOS App Store).
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