KN Network Toolkit — Help

KN Network Toolkit gathers the network tools you need into one app: find every device on your Wi-Fi, check that a computer answers, open shared folders and remote terminals, and look into DNS, certificates and the internet connection. It has four tabs: Scan, Ping, Tools and SSH.

First start: the Local Network permission

The first time you scan, iOS asks to let the app find devices on your local network. Choose Allow. Without it the app cannot see any device. If you said no, open Settings → KN Network Toolkit and turn on Local Network. The Scan screen shows an Open Settings button when the permission is off.

Scan

Press Go. The app checks every address of your Wi-Fi network (the /24 your device is in, up to 254 addresses) and lists the devices that answer. Stop ends the scan.

Each device shows:

its IP address and, when it can be found, its name (from Bonjour, NetBIOS or reverse DNS),
a guess of what it is (for example “Windows PC (probable)” or “Printer (probable)”), based on the ports it has open. iOS does not let apps read MAC addresses, so this is a guess, not a fact,
the services it offers, as icons: web (HTTP, HTTPS), SSH, SMB (shared folders), DNS, NetBIOS, Remote Desktop, VNC, Apple Remote Desktop, AirPlay, printing,
a status mark: green check = answers on a port, blue check = answers only to ping, orange = alive but closed to the ports the app checks, grey moon = known from an earlier scan, did not answer this time.

Tips:

Tap a web icon to open the device in Safari. Tap SSH to open a terminal, SMB to browse its shared folders. Remote Desktop and VNC open only if you have an app for them installed (for example Windows App or a VNC viewer).
Tap a device (not an icon) to open Ping for it.
Sort by IP, Name or Type. Hide inactive hides devices remembered from earlier scans.
Phones that are asleep, or that do not answer anything, can be missing from a scan. Run it again.
Mac Screen Sharing: if a VNC viewer cannot connect to a Mac, turn on “VNC viewers may control screen with password” in the Mac’s Sharing settings, or use an app made for Apple’s protocol.

Ping

Checks that a computer answers and how fast.

TCP connects to a port (80 by default). A computer that refuses the connection still counts as an answer, because it is alive. ICMP is the classic ping, with no port.
Set the number of attempts (1 to 100), or turn on Continuous to run until you press Stop.
You get each time, the minimum, average and maximum, and the percentage lost.

Tools

Traceroute

Shows the routers between your device and a host, with the time to each. A router that does not answer shows as *. Up to 30 steps by default, 3 tries per step.

Port scan

Checks which ports of a computer accept connections. Type ports like 22,80,443 or a range like 1-1024. Only scan computers you own or manage.

DNS lookup

Asks a DNS server for the records of a name (A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME, NS, PTR, SOA). Choose Cloudflare, Google, Quad9 or your own server. For a PTR lookup you can type an IP address.

Whois / IP info

Shows where an IP address is and who owns it, or the registration of a domain. Leave the field empty to look up your own public address. Uses ipwho.is and rdap.org.

Monitor

Watches computers and services you add (a name, a host, and a port or ping) every 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds. It shows each as up or down, the latest time, and how often it answered. Turn on Notify me when something changes to get a notification when one goes down or comes back. iOS pauses apps in the background, so keep the app open (and Keep the screen on) for continuous monitoring.

HTTP client

Sends a web request (GET, HEAD, POST and more) and shows the status, the timing, the headers and the start of the answer. You can add headers and a body, follow redirects, copy the body, or export the request as a curl command. Plain http:// works for devices on your own network. iOS blocks it for the internet, so use https there.

SSL/TLS certificate

Shows the certificate of a server and the chain behind it: who it was issued to and by, the dates it is valid, the names it covers, the key, the signature, the serial number and the SHA-256 fingerprint. A summary at the top says whether it is valid and trusted, expires soon, has expired, is not valid yet, or is not trusted (and why).

Wi-Fi info

Shows your network: your address, subnet mask, network and broadcast address, router, DNS servers and IPv6 addresses. With location permission it also shows the network name (SSID), the access point (BSSID), the signal and the security type. iOS gives these only to apps with location permission, so the app asks for Location While Using the App. Your location is not used or stored.

Speed test

Measures latency, download and upload speed. Internet tests against speed.cloudflare.com and transfers a lot of data (hundreds of megabytes), so use it on Wi-Fi. Your server tests your own network against a file on a computer you choose, for example http://192.168.1.10:8000/big.bin.

Telnet / raw TCP

A terminal over Telnet (the old remote terminal of routers and switches, port 23) or a plain TCP connection like netcat, for testing a service by hand. For raw TCP you choose what Enter sends (LF, CR+LF or CR) and whether typed text is shown. Telnet and raw TCP are not encrypted, passwords included. Use SSH when the device supports it.

Subnet calculator

Type an address with a prefix (192.168.1.10/24), a mask (255.255.255.0) or a router wildcard (0.0.0.255). It shows the mask, network, broadcast, the first and last device address, how many devices fit, the class and binary form. It can check if an address belongs to the network and divide it into smaller networks. It works without a connection and only for IPv4.

Wake-on-LAN

Wakes up a computer that supports it. Save the computer with its name and MAC address, and send the magic packet with one tap. The computer must be on the same network, with Wake-on-LAN turned on in its settings.

About

Help, Privacy Policy, the website, the version, and the Open source licenses of the libraries in the app.

SSH

The SSH tab opens a terminal on any computer: type the host or IP address and the port (22 by default), then Open terminal.

Sign in with a password or a key. Turn on Save password in Keychain to sign in later with Face ID.
The extra key row above the keyboard has Esc, Ctrl, Tab and the arrows.
The first time you connect to a server, the app shows its fingerprint so you can trust it. If the fingerprint changes later, you get a warning (“Server identity changed!”). Do not continue unless you know why.
SSH keys lets you create a key (ed25519) in the app and copy its public part to the server’s ~/.ssh/authorized_keys, or add your own key by pasting it or opening a file. Keys with a passphrase are not supported yet: remove it first with ssh-keygen -p.
Keys and passwords stay in the Keychain on this device and need Face ID or your passcode.

Shared folders (SMB)

Tap the SMB icon of a device in Scan. Type the user name and password of an account on that computer, or use Guest. The app lists the shared folders and you browse them like the Files app.

Videos and music play while they are read from the server, with no waiting for a download. They play formats iOS supports: mp4, m4v, mov, mp3, m4a, aac, wav, aiff, caf, flac.
Text files (txt, log, md, json, xml, csv, config files, code and more) open in the app. The first megabyte is shown. If the letters look wrong, change the encoding from the menu (for example Greek Windows-1253).
Pictures, PDF and documents are downloaded and shown with Quick Look.
Formats iOS cannot play (avi, mkv, wmv, flv, webm and others) ask first: you can download the file and open it in another app, such as VLC.
Folders that are links or junctions (common on Windows) open like folders. Some old Windows folders, such as “My Music” inside Documents, deny access to everyone: they show “Access denied”.
Pull down to refresh. The ⋯ menu shows hidden files and disconnects. Downloaded files are deleted when you disconnect.
SMB 2 and 3 are supported, with signing and encryption. The app can only read for now.

Troubleshooting

No devices found: check the Local Network permission (above) and that you are on Wi-Fi.
A device is missing: it may be asleep or block all connections. Scan again.
“Access denied” in SMB: check the user name and password, and that the account may use that shared folder. For a domain account type DOMAIN\user.
The network name is empty: allow Location While Using the App, and turn on Wi-Fi.
A computer is not reachable from Ping or Port scan: a firewall can block these. Not answering does not always mean it is off.

Privacy

The app has no account, no ads and no analytics. Everything you save stays on your device. See the Privacy Policy for the few tools that contact the internet. Support: support@kn-softapps.com