Most people know of Speedtest, the online performance testing website, but most nerds reach for iPerf instead. It’s a self-hosted, full-featured, open-source network performance testing application that runs on almost everything. Today I realized that there’s a free iOS port of the iPerf3 client! It’s super useful!
Why iPerf?
iPerf is widely used because it’s open source, cross-platform, and well understood. It’s another tool in the networking geek toolbox and has been around for a long time. The latest version. iPerf3, was released in 2014 and has been widely adopted since then.
iPerf gives pretty basic information on UDP and TCP network performance in a client/server architecture. You run the iPerf server on something (typically a central Unix system or router) and test your network performance using clients. Most people leave the server running and use the client with a simple command line, such as “iperf -c 192.168.100.1”
Is iPerf the best way to test a network? No way! But it’s simple and it works and it’s available on just about everything. I have the iPerf server running on my pfSense routers, since it’s an easy install and they’re at the center of my networks. Then I can see how things are running from various clients and networks.
iPerf for iOS
There have been a few different iOS iPerf clients, but most are buggy or paid. Today I noticed that there is a free iOS port of iPerf based on the official iPerf3 codebase. It’s a tiny 126 KB download and is available in the Apple App Store. It comes from the Ubiquiti UniFi user community. Thanks!
It’s not a pretty GUI but it works. You can enter the server IP address, port, and adjust basic parameters and test your network.
Stephen’s Stance
iPerf 3 Wifi Speed Test is just what the doctor ordered. It’s a small, free iOS version of iPerf and it works!