The Network Survey Android App provides a basic survey capability for Cellular networks, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth Devices, and GNSS constellations.
The Network Survey user manual can be found here.
For cellular data, in its current state it can be used to examine the network details of the current serving cell, and log GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE, and NR records to a GeoPackage file. Wi-Fi survey records can also be logged to a GeoPackage file, and the current list of Wi-Fi networks in range is displayed in the UI. The App also supports connecting to a remote gRPC server and live streaming the cellular and Wi-Fi records. For GNSS data, it can display the latest information about the satellite vehicles and also log the information to a GeoPackage file. The Bluetooth support allows for scanning and displaying a list of the nearby Bluetooth devices.
Introduction: The Network Survey app now includes a feature for logging Call Detail Records (CDR). This functionality provides insight into various interactions your phone has with the cellular network.
What is a CDR? A Call Detail Record (CDR) is a data record that documents specific interactions a phone has with the cellular network. These interactions include phone calls, SMS messages, and changes in cell tower connections.
Use Cases:
- Monitoring Network Activity: Record and review your phone's cellular network interactions.
- Educational Insight: Gain an understanding of how cellular networks operate.
- Privacy Monitoring: Check if your phone is connecting to unexpected cell towers.
Note on Feature Limitations:
- The regular version of Network Survey does not log SMS events in the CDR due to Google Play's policy against apps requesting full SMS permissions.
- Logging the "other" phone number associated with call events is also not supported in the regular version.
Alternative Version with Extended Features: If you're interested in CDR logging that includes SMS events and call details:
- Install from Source: You can build and install the app using the source code available in this repository.
- Download Pre-Built APK: Access the latest "*cdr-release.apk" under the latest release on our GitHub Releases page.
- IzzyOnDroid: Install from IzzyOnDroid.
The version of this app on the Play Store has Firebase Crashlytics set up. This means that app crash logs are sent off the device to Firebase. If you don't want to participate in this type of tracking then you have three options.
- Install the app from IzzyOnDroid.
- Install the app from the source code in this repo specifying the CDR build variant.
- Install the app using the CDR APK from the Release Page.
The privacy policy for this app contains more information on the data that is sent to Firebase for the Google Play Store version of this app.
To build and install the project follow the steps below:
1) Clone the repo.
2) Open Android Studio, and then open the root directory of the cloned repo.
3) Connect an Android Phone (make sure debugging is enabled on the device).
4) Install and run the app by clicking the "Play" button in Android Studio.
If you want to build using the command line, the apk can be built and installed using the following commands. Make sure your phone is connected to your computer before running the install command.
NOTE: If building on Windows, replace
./gradlewwithgradlew
./gradlew assembleDebug
./gradlew installDebugNOTE: This requires a connected device (physical device or Android Emulator)
./gradlew connectedAndroidTest
Install Android Studio to work on this code.
The Network Survey app supports streaming GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE, and 802.11 survey records to a gRPC server. More specifically, the Network Survey Messaging library can be used to stand up a gRPC server. From there it is up to the implementation to handle the incoming survey messages.
Currently, GSM, CDMA, UMTS, LTE, NR, 802.11, Bluetooth and GNSS survey records are sent to a connected MQTT broker. They are published on the following MQTT Topics:
- gsm_message
- cdma_message
- umts_message
- lte_message
- nr_message
- 80211_beacon_message
- bluetooth_message
- gnss_message
There is also a DeviceStatus and a PhoneState message that is published on
the device_status_message topic.
The MQTT Broker connection supports both plain text and TLS/SSL connections.
The survey messages are sent in JSON format following the protobuf definitions from the Network Survey Messaging library. The API documentation is published to a web page here .
QR Code for MQTT Broker connection setting needs to provide a JSON string with the following fields.
The mqtt_client field is optional and will default to the App's auto-generated value.
The mqtt_topic_prefix field is used to prefix the MQTT topics that the survey records are
published
to. The default topics are listed above (e.g. lte_message), but if you want to add a custom
prefix,
you can use the mqtt_topic_prefix field to change the topic to something like
my/custom/topic/lte_message by setting the value to "mqtt_topic_prefix": "my/custom/topic/"
(notice the trailing slash).
{
"mqtt_username": "auser",
"mqtt_password": "apassword",
"mqtt_host": "cloud.azure.com",
"mqtt_port": 8883,
"mqtt_client": "aclient",
"mqtt_tls": true,
"mqtt_topic_prefix": "my/custom/topic/path/"
}This project uses elements from the GPSTest Android app, specifically the GPS user interface components. We appreciate the GPSTest app for making these resources available and acknowledge their contribution to the open source community.
We would like to express our gratitude to all the contributors who have dedicated their time and skills to this project. Your contributions have been invaluable to the development and success of this application.
Thank you to:
Made with contrib.rocks.
Your commitment and hard work are sincerely appreciated.
See the change log for details about each release: CHANGELOG.md
- Christian Rowlands - Craxiom