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WLAN Surveying with Android Client Devices: I lied - I found how to fix scanning in Android 10



I made a statement that Android Pie had broken WLAN scanning features.  This is still the case, but I also found that Android 10 (Q) has fixed it.  I've tested this with the app WiFi Analyzer

I also have found another option called Wi-Fi Verbose Logging which works for all versions of Android


First we need to turn on Developer options

https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options


On Android 4.1 and lower, the Developer options screen is available by default. On Android 4.2 and higher, you must enable this screen as follows:

Open the Settings app.
(Only on Android 8.0 or higher) Select System.

Scroll to the bottom and select About phone.

Scroll to the bottom and tap Build number 7 times.

Return to the previous screen to find Developer options near the bottom.


The next step would be to go to your go to settings then system.




You'll then see these wonderful options (Pre Android 10, only Wi-Fi Verbose Logging shows)



The two main options we want to work with are:

Enable Wi-Fi Verbose Logging (Switched on for more data)

and

Wi-Fi scan throttling (Switched off to allow apps to work)

The main one we are talking about here is Wi-Fi scan throttling - Disabling this allows your favorite Wi-Fi scanning Android apps to work again.



But the next piece I want to talk about is the Enable Wi-Fi Verbose Logging 

After going to the Wi-Fi picker - you'll see this wonderful juicy (and automatically updated) data right in that screen as shown below.
  • RSSI
  • SCORE (Roaming score maybe?)
  • tx
  • rx



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