Get back to
what you were doing.

Read controls in your preferred language without losing your current selection or saved history. On Windows, open Options → Language and choose a supported display language installed on your PC. The interface changes immediately; dates and numbers keep your regional settings. If the language is missing, use the link beside the selector to install it in Windows settings, then reopen the list. Ubuntu’s link opens its desktop language settings.

The full first-launch agreement and acceptance controls work offline in the app language, including right-to-left reading. News and Feedback keep their original text and retry if an online translation is unavailable; your answers stay preserved.

To create a private catalog, use Contribute a translation with your own Google Cloud Translation project. Review possible quota charges before continuing. Validated progress is saved for resuming, and sharing is optional. Review a completed catalog before submitting it online or by email; your key is excluded from the catalog.

Use a Windows or Linux computer to record observations and compare Wi-Fi history. There is no Android, iPhone or iPad app; this website cannot scan for you. Supported systems are Windows 10 build 19041 or later, Windows 11 and the experimental Linux x64 / ARM64 packages.

Open Get the app on your computer, choose its system and follow that installation path. You can forward the website link from your phone to return on the computer.

Let Windows verify who signed your installer before installing it.

1. Save the certificate and installer from Get the app.
2. Open the certificate, select Install Certificate → Local Machine, approve the administrator prompt and choose Trusted People.
3. Confirm the certificate and package publisher is Vitalie Vrabie, then reopen the MSIX.
4. If verification still fails, follow the advanced certificate help on that page. Do not trust a certificate showing a different publisher.

Match the installer to your computer so Windows can run it.

1. Open Settings → System → About → System type.
2. Choose 64-bit for x64, ARM64 for Windows on Arm or 32-bit for a 32-bit Windows edition.
3. Confirm Windows 10 build 19041 or later, or Windows 11. If the matching package still fails, report the package version and message through Feedback.

Get a complete copy without touching your observations. Remove only the incomplete installer, save it again from Get the app and compare its SHA-256 with the published checksum. Do not install a mismatched file. Check free space and use a local folder such as Desktop if a network or synchronized folder causes trouble.

Keep your saved evidence while investigating startup. Try opening the installed app from Start, then restart Windows once if needed. Back up %LOCALAPPDATA%\HotspotObserver before repair work.

If available, check %LOCALAPPDATA%\HotspotObserver\startup-error.log. After restarting the app, also look in Activity Log → Program for Unhandled exception. Use Feedback to report what happened even when no log is available; remove personal paths and observation details from diagnostics you share.

Ask your organization’s administrator to approve installation and the radio access you need. Managed-device policies can restrict certificates, app packages, startup or scanning. Their approval lets you use the app within your computer’s policy; do not bypass those controls.

Restore the nearby view by checking the source and filters first.

1. Enable Observe Wi-Fi in Options and Wi-Fi in your system; turn airplane mode off.
2. Clear search and the minimum-signal filter, then review Ignored items.
3. Request a fresh scan.
4. On Windows, allow location services and the app’s required location access if scanning is denied.

Ethernet can provide internet while Wi-Fi is off, but it cannot supply nearby Wi-Fi observations. See Windows location access guidance for the permission controls.

Check whether you are reading a current observation before using it to choose Wi-Fi. A failed or incomplete scan keeps earlier evidence uncertain; it does not prove continued presence or disappearance. Read Activity Log for the scan result, check radio and permission settings, and request a fresh scan. If failures continue, check the adapter in system settings and report the symptom.

To resume Wi-Fi observation, reconnect an external adapter or enable the adapter in system settings. On Windows, check Network Connections or Device Manager and the manufacturer’s driver. Observation resumes when the adapter returns; the app does not turn the radio on. If you only need Bluetooth or are using Ethernet, turn off Wi-Fi observation to hide its missing-adapter notice while keeping the other evidence available.

Give the app a chance to observe the device: enable Observe Bluetooth and the system Bluetooth radio, then keep the device nearby, awake and advertising as its instructions require. Clear search and Ignored items. On Windows, try Force real Bluetooth scans and refresh. Pairing alone does not establish a fresh nearby observation. See Windows Bluetooth help if the system also cannot see it.

Try again with the device awake and nearby so it can expose the services you want to inspect. Some require a connection or a particular mode. An adapter without Bluetooth LE central-role support may only list paired/classic devices without live service probing. A timeout leaves service evidence unavailable; it does not prove the device was removed.

Use the device’s pairing instructions to complete a connection: enable pairing mode, release other active connections if required and scan again. If pairing still fails, try Windows Bluetooth settings and the device’s reset guidance. You can observe an advertising device without assuming it is paired or trusted.

Bring the item back into your results by clearing search, relaxing the minimum-signal filter and choosing the correct radio view. Restore it from Ignored items if you hid it. An item must still be nearby and detectable to appear as currently visible; restoring it does not recreate deleted history.

Start collecting evidence for the period you want to understand. Enable the relevant radio, let the app run and turn on persistent history with enough retention in Options. Clear searches and check the radio, dates and ignored or deleted items. The app cannot rebuild observations from before it was running or before history was retained.

Use the coverage information to judge how much of your chosen period was observed. Gaps and faded intervals can reflect sleep, a closed app, disabled observation, scan failures or date boundaries. No monitoring means unknown presence rather than zero presence. Compare periods with enough recorded coverage before treating a gap as a network problem.

Open the score’s explanation to see what held it back. Options → Wi-Fi rating priorities changes how presence and recent completed-session throughput contribute; disappearances, signal and technical evidence add supporting points. Limited history is capped at 60, absent networks at 35, and ignored networks score zero. Missing or insufficient throughput gets neutral points. Record more relevant history before relying on a provisional score; one strong signal reading cannot replace that evidence.

Keep the app running while using a saved Wi-Fi profile to build a record you can review. A reliability verdict needs at least three sessions lasting one minute and 30 observed minutes in total. Earlier sessions cannot be reconstructed, and profiles on different adapters stay separate. The verdict uses reported internet availability, while traffic summaries describe actual usage; neither is a substitute for an active speed or latency check.

Choose more detailed signal logging in Options if smaller movements matter to your investigation. By default, only changes in the 0–4 bar rating are logged. Readings pair bars with dBm values, but missing measurements and unmonitored periods remain gaps. The chart does not assume continuous signal between retained points.

Compare the event with scan results around that time before drawing a conclusion. Sleep, movement, radio changes and short Bluetooth advertising intervals affect detection. Failed or incomplete scans keep missing items uncertain rather than proving a loss. Repeated successful observations give you a stronger basis than an isolated change.

Complete the connection in the system Wi-Fi panel opened by Connect. Choose the network and provide credentials if requested. A visible network or promising score does not establish that it will accept your connection or provide internet access; try your intended task once connected.

Check whether a better eligible choice actually exists. Keep the app running with successful Wi-Fi scanning; the command needs a visible, strictly higher-rated network your system can join using saved credentials, or an open network. Read Activity Log for the attempt and any recovery outcome. If no better candidate exists, keeping the current connection is the expected result.

Keep the action accessible by checking shortcut status in Options. If another app owns Ctrl+Alt+W, choose Ctrl+Shift+W or Alt+Shift+W, or use the tray’s Re-choose Wi-Fi intelligently. The app must be running, but its window can be hidden.

Look in Activity Log first so you can still review an event even if its alert was muted. Then check the relevant notification rule in Options and the Important marker when required. On Windows, check notification permissions, Focus and Do not disturb. Only logged information produces a notification; expired or superseded alerts are dismissed.

To begin recording after sign-in, launch the installed app once and enable automatic logon startup in Options. Read its status. On Windows, enable Hotspot Observer in Task Manager → Startup or Settings → Apps → Startup if disabled. Organizational policy can override the setting, so ask your administrator when needed.

Protect your recent work by leaving the app open after a temporary write error; saves retry automatically. Check free space and write access to the local data folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\HotspotObserver on Windows. Back it up before repair work rather than uninstalling or deleting observations.

Preserve a recovery copy first: close the app and back up its local data folder. On Windows this is %LOCALAPPDATA%\HotspotObserver. The app can recover from a usable backup and preserves a corrupt copy during recovery. Keep those files until you understand the issue, and share the exact error through Feedback after removing identifiable details.

Keep your prepared filters and try the action again after any refresh finishes. Read Activity Log for the failure. For Export, use a writable local folder with enough free space and close any program holding the destination file open. For Copy, paste into a plain-text editor to check what reached the clipboard.

Check the destination folder before repeating an export. Open the saved file with an application that supports its format; failure to launch the default application does not necessarily mean the file was not saved. Most views produce Excel workbooks, while Activity Log also offers CSV and text.

Choose the evidence you want to include, then export again. Copy and Export follow the current search, radio, item, group and period. In Statistics, Item statistics includes every matching item beyond chart row limits; the other worksheets reflect the prepared tab and supporting records. Blank metrics mean unavailable evidence rather than zero.

Check About’s status to find what is blocking the current release check. Confirm internet access, system date and time and free disk space, then press F5 or select the refresh icon. Read Activity Log if it fails again. Get the app provides the current installer and platform setup help while preserving your existing local observations.

Wait for a newer supported installer to finish arriving and pass verification; then About offers Install update. Automatic package transfers wait on explicitly metered or restricted connections. To use your current connection anyway, press F5 or select the About refresh icon; this uses data without changing system settings.

Metering does not block verification or installation of a package already saved. The app checks that it is still current before installing. If your distribution does not support in-app updating, follow your platform’s installation guidance.

Reopen the app and check the installed version in About before retrying. A restart alone does not prove an update installed. If Windows rejects installation, the existing app and data are preserved and Activity Log records the failing step. Read that result or report the symptom through Feedback. Installer-readiness failures normally keep the app open so you can continue working and retry.

Leave the app running while it prepares the newest release, then select Install update when ready to restart. Pending updates recheck every 15 seconds and replace superseded packages. If a replacement transfer fails, it retries automatically; F5 also retries. A final check can skip an older package and reopen the app to prepare the current one, avoiding an unnecessary installation.

You can install without waiting for a notification: open About and choose Install update when the current verified package is ready. Windows may mute notifications; sent release alerts are remembered across restarts, and failed alerts retry while the installer remains ready. Activating an alert waits for an ongoing check and installs the current verified package. A newer release can alert you again.