Apple on Wednesday surprised many with the release of AirPort Utility for iOS. The software runs on iPhones, iPods and iPads, but requires iOS 5.0. It’s free.
AirPort Utility makes it possible for the first time to manage your 802.11n-equipped AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme Base Station or Time Capsule using an iOS device.
The software offers a graphical overview of the Wi-Fi network, with information about the status of connected devices. You can change network and Wi-Fi settings, restart and restore base stations, update their firmware, update or view passworks for networks, base stations or disk, access network information including IP address, DNS servers and router addresses and more.
Good god, feeling like a cheap whore at a sailor’s R & R: so many great goodies all in 1 day!!!
The Airport utility is most definitely a welcome addition as oft times I had to restart the ABSEx due to the USB hard drive tripping it up.
The problem with this being an app is that users in some cases can’t be “PC free”. My impression was that this app would be built into iOS 5.
If people don’t have a computer to get their airport working, they won’t have the app on their iDevice to configure it, and so some people may not really be able to get going at home on their own. This is important for the granny market where people set their senior relatives up with just an iPad or something to do their Internet with…
I think you’re wrong about this.
I downloaded the Airport Utility app from the App Store on my phone.
I don’t remember just what was involved in setting up my Time Capsule years ago. But as far as I know, it involved using Airport Utility on my Mac.
This iOS app seems to be just as well-featured as the Mac version. So I don’t see why one would need a PC to set up a new base station.
We’re going to be getting an Airport Express soon, and I expect to set it up using this iOS app.
Today may not be the best day to obtain this utility on a “because it is there” basis. I’ll let the store recover.
Thanks for the writeup, Peter. –John
Think about it for a second. You don’t have a Mac or PC, or any computer. You just bought an iPad (WiFi only), Airport from the Apple store online, and have a new high speed Internet connection just installed.
How do you configure the Airport router? Remember, you don’t have a Mac or PC. You can’t download the Airport app because you haven’t configured the Airport router – you can’t get on the Internet to download the app you need to get on the Internet.
How did you order on the “Apple Store Online” without internet??
But I hear what your saying…it would be nice if it was integrated.
For the most part, there are plenty of places to go to get free Wifi, enough to download the app…