The things people actually ask.

Because Android says so. Android will only give an app Wi-Fi signal strength and the list of nearby networks if the app holds the location permission, on the grounds that a list of nearby networks could be used to work out where you are. There is no other way to read the signal. Every Wi-Fi analyser on Android asks for the same thing, for the same reason.

What we do with it: read the strength of your own Wi-Fi where you're standing. What we don't do: read GPS, record where you are, or send anything anywhere. The app has no server, so there is nowhere for a location to go. The phone's location switch also needs to be on while you check a room, which is the same Android rule from a different angle. On Android 13 and later there's a second prompt, for nearby devices, that does the same job. Say no to either and the app tells you it can't read the signal, and stops. It doesn't pester.

Your readings, room names, network name, diagnoses and history: no. They're in one file on the phone and there is no server to send them to. Uninstall the app and they're gone.

The one exception is the optional speed test, which downloads about 5 MB and uploads about 2 MB of zeros to Cloudflare's public speed-test service to see what a room actually delivers. Nothing identifying is in it. The app asks before the first one and you can turn it off in Settings. The privacy page has the full account.

No. Checking every room and reading each room's diagnosis is free, forever, no trial. The whole-home verdict, history and re-checks cost £4.99, once, through Google Play. That's one payment, ever. Nothing renews, there's no "pro" tier above it, and there's nothing else to buy.

It will be. It isn't out anywhere yet: it's built and being tested. When it's released it will be a direct download from this site first, which Android calls sideloading and warns you about. The warning is about where the file came from, not what's in it: Android says it for every app that doesn't arrive through the Play Store.

Is it safe? The file will be signed by us, with its SHA-256 checksum on the download page so you can check it hasn't been altered on the way. Play Protect may offer to scan it; let it. The app asks for one permission, for the reason above, and has no way to send anything anywhere. Sideloading in general is only as safe as the source. We'd rather you understood the warning than ignored it.

Yes. The app measures Wi-Fi from the phone's side, so it doesn't care who made the router or who provides the broadband. Any router, any ISP, mesh or not. It works on 2.4GHz and 5GHz and can tell you which one a room has fallen back to.

It needs Android 10 or later. It doesn't run on iPhone, because Apple doesn't give apps the signal information it depends on.

No, and we think that's the honest position rather than a gap. Most Wi-Fi problems are physical: the router is on the floor, in a cupboard, at the wrong end of the house, or sharing a channel with eleven neighbours. No app can move a router. Apps that claim to "optimise" or "boost" your Wi-Fi are running a progress bar and changing nothing you'd notice.

What the app does instead is tell you which of those it is, in one sentence, and what to try, with the real effort and cost. Moving the router is ten minutes and free. Changing the channel is ten minutes and free, in the router's own settings page, and the app walks you through it. Then you re-check the room and it tells you plainly whether the change worked.

Then nothing's wrong with the Wi-Fi in that room, and you've saved yourself a booster. The app says "There isn't one." under Biggest problem and "Nothing. Leave it alone." under What to do. It will not invent a problem to sell you a fix.

If something still feels slow, it's the broadband coming into the house, or the thing you're connecting to, not the Wi-Fi between the router and the room. The speed test helps tell those apart. That's a different problem with a different fix, and usually a phone call to your ISP rather than anything you can buy.

Accurate about the thing it measures. It reads the signal Android reports over eight seconds, takes the middle value so a single blip doesn't skew it, and puts the room in one of four bands: Great, Okay, Weak, Terrible. Those bands are wide on purpose. The difference between a strong and a very strong room isn't something you'd notice, so the app doesn't pretend to.

Where it's honest about its limits: it measures where you stand, so stand where you'd normally use the room. It can't see through walls, so it infers "distance and walls" from the signal and from which band the phone has dropped to. Its diagnosis is a good guess from the evidence, not a survey. When it isn't sure a fix will help, it says so rather than promising.