Get started with NetBlade on Android

This article takes you from installation to a saved network in about ten minutes. You will run your first scan, learn to read what NetBlade shows for each device, and name the network so the app remembers it. Everything described here is free.

Before you start

An Android phone or tablet with Android 8.0 or later.
The phone connected over Wi‑Fi to the network you want to look at, ideally your own.
No account and no root: NetBlade works with ordinary app permissions.

1. Install and open NetBlade

Search for “NetBlade” on the Play Store and install it.
Open it and tap “Get started” on the welcome screen.
If you want a different language from the system one, open the “Settings” tab → “Language”. There are 43 to choose from.

The bottom bar has five tabs: LAN, Ports, WiFi, Tools and Settings. Keep this in mind, because most of what you do starts from the LAN tab.

2. Understand the permissions

NetBlade asks for a permission only when you open a feature that needs it. You can say no and still use most of the app, but it helps to know why each request appears:

Location, and on Android 13 or later Nearby Wi‑Fi devices: Android only lets an app see nearby Wi‑Fi networks and the name (SSID) of the network you are on if it holds this permission. That is an Android rule, not a choice of the app. NetBlade uses it for the WiFi tab and to recognise which network you are connected to.
Notifications (Android 13 or later): only for background monitoring alerts and the “Host monitor”.
Bluetooth or Nearby devices (Android 12 or later): only for the “Bluetooth LE” and “Tracker scan” tools.
Location, optional: to record where you ran a Wi‑Fi scan and to place networks on the “Network map”.

Note: Granting location does not mean NetBlade tracks you. It is the permission Android ties to Wi‑Fi information. Scans and devices stay in the app’s database on your phone.

3. Run your first scan

Make sure the phone is on the Wi‑Fi of the network you want to explore.
Open the “LAN” tab and tap the radar icon (“Scan network”).
Watch the list fill in. You can tap “Stop” at any time.
When the sweep finishes, the “Scan summary” opens.

The summary tells you how many devices were found, how many are new, how long it took, how many open ports turned up, how many devices have no MAC address, and the result of “SNMP MAC recovery”. It keeps updating for a moment after it opens, because the port checks on each device finish in the background.

Tip: On a typical home network the scan takes seconds. If it seems slow on a large subnet, you can tune ping timeout and thread count in “Settings” → “LAN scan”. A shorter timeout is faster but may miss devices that answer slowly.

4. Read the device list

Each row is a device that answered. For each one you see:

IP address and latency.
MAC address and vendor, when NetBlade can recover them. The vendor comes from a built-in database of about 40,000 MAC prefixes, looked up on the phone.
Hostname, from reverse DNS or from what the device announces over Bonjour or UPnP.
Role: “Gateway” for your router, “You” for the phone itself.

Use the sort options (“IP”, “Name”, “Latency”) and the “All”, “New” and “Open ports” chips to narrow things down. “Open ports” is the quickest way to spot devices that offer services on the network.

Why some MACs say “Not recovered”

Since Android 10 the system restricts apps’ access to the ARP table, where MAC addresses live. NetBlade tries several routes, but some MACs may stay “Not recovered”. The most reliable fix is to let NetBlade read the router’s table over SNMP, covered in Read your router, switch or printer over SNMP.

Open a device

Tap any row to open its details: identity, model and operating system when the device announces them, a “Security assessment” with a score from 0 to 100 based on its open ports, “Common ports” with a “Connect” menu, and more. At the bottom, “Personalize” lets you give it a name, “Description / notes”, an “Icon” and a “Tag / group”. Tap “Save” when done.

5. Name and save your network

Naming the network is what turns a one-off scan into something NetBlade remembers.

In the “LAN” tab, open ⋮ → “Name network”.
Type a name such as “Home” or “Office”.
Leave “Monitor this network” off for now. You can turn it on later, see Watch your network in the background.
If your router supports SNMP, you can turn on “Devices from router (SNMP)” here. Otherwise skip it.
Tap “Save”.

From now on, devices never seen before on this network get the “NEW” badge. The router icon in the top bar opens “Saved networks”, where you find the network, its devices under “My devices”, and its settings.

Tip: Scan again right after saving, while every device you own is on. That scan becomes your reference: whatever shows up as “NEW” later deserves a look.

Check that it worked

The router icon in the top bar (“Saved networks”) lists your network with its device count.
A second scan shows no “NEW” badges on devices you already saw, unless something really is new.
The devices you personalized show the name and icon you gave them.

If something goes wrong

The list is almost empty. Check that the phone is on Wi‑Fi and not on mobile data only. A device that does not answer ping and is not the gateway does not show up; phones asleep with the screen off often behave this way.
Many devices show “Not recovered” as MAC. This is Android’s restriction, not a fault. Set up SNMP on the router if it supports it.
“Name network” does not recognise the network later. NetBlade identifies Wi‑Fi networks by their name, which Android only reveals with the location permission. Grant it and try again.
Ping-based results look thin on your phone model. Some manufacturers restrict the ping command and the ARP table. NetBlade keeps working, with less information.

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