Activate/Deactivate a Fing Agent

Updated May 05, 2026 08:41

Bernadette Willis

After you install a Fing Agent, you need to activate it. You can activate or enable the Fing agent through the Fing mobile app after the agent has been installed. Refer to the agent installation links below if you need help installing the Fing agent. To install Fing Desktop see Install Fing Desktop.

Fing Desktop includes an on-board agent so you do not need to do anything else to onboard the included agent on Fing Desktop but you need to enable active monitoring as shown below.

With Fing Desktop, you can switch between monitored networks by deactivating the Fing agent on one network and assigning it to or activating it on another network.

To deactivate a Fing Desktop Agent, use the Fing Web App. See below for more information.
To deactivate a Fingbox or other agent or monitoring unit, use the Fing Mobile App.

You can also configure or customize some agent settings. See Configure Agent Settings.

You can monitor 1 or more agents depending on your subscription plan. Fingbox is not considered one of your allowed agents.

Starter: 1 monitored network
Premium: 2 monitored networks
Professional: 3 monitored networks (with the option to add more) You can also view your active monitored networks.

With a free Fing account, you can perform up to three network scans per day, but you do not have access to continuous network monitoring provided by the Fing agent.

Note: You can monitor only one network per monitoring device. You can switch between monitored networks as shown below.

Agent or Monitoring Unit Installation Procedures

Install the Fing Agent on Raspberry Pi

Install Fing Agent on a NAS

Install the Fing Agent on Linux Docker

Fing Agent with Raspberry Pi Plug-and-Play Kit

Enable Monitoring on Fing Desktop After Installation

Fing Desktop includes an onboard agent so you do not need to do anything to onboard the agent, however, you need to enable active monitoring on the Fing Desktop to perform full Fing network monitoring including

Continuous network scanning
Detection of devices entering and exiting the network
User presence tracking
Network speed tests

With an inactive agent not monitoring your network (grey), you can still perform manual scans of the network.

To enable monitoring with Fing Desktop, make sure that network monitoring button under the network name is active (green), or enable it if it is not already enabled. Monitoring is Disabled when you first install fing. You can also disable Active Monitoring at any time, for example, if you need to monitor a different network and do not have enough agent slots available.

If you are using Fing for the first time and/or the active monitoring button is disabled (greyed out), a message window prompting you to enable monitoring is displayed. Select Start Monitoring to enable monitoring. The Monitoring button turns green.

You can monitor 1 or more agents depending on your subscription plan.

Switch the Currently Monitored Network with Fing Desktop

You can only monitor one network per device at any given time. However, you can switch monitored networks by deactivating from the current network and activating a new or alternative network at any time. If you monitor network A with your laptop and then try to monitor network B, you will get an error message and are prompted to go to Fing App to deactivate the network currently monitored by your device. You can then return to Fing Desktop to activate the new desired network. To switch between monitored networks, do this:

From the Fing Desktop, select Start Monitoring by pulling down on the Not Monitoring button. You are prompted to go to Fing App to switch the monitored network.

Select Manage Agents to display the current monitoring status in Fing Web App.

Select Deactivate next to the activated network to deactivate the network currently monitored by your device.

On Fing Desktop, select Start Monitoring to monitor the new network.

View the Desktop Agent ID

Each Fing Desktop installation (identified by its Client ID) linked to your user account will be assigned to a specific network when the network monitoring status is active. You can change the network that Fing is actively monitoring. You can view this in the Network >Network Setup window.

Change the network monitored by Fing Desktop

You can also change the currently monitored network at any time from Fing App.

Open the Fing Web App (www.fing.com).
Click the Profile icon in the bottom‑left corner and select Monitoring Sources.
Select the currently monitored network and click Deactivate.
Open Fing Desktop, connect to the network you want to monitor, and click Start Monitoring when prompted. Fing Desktop starts monitoring the new network.

Enabling Other Desktop Monitoring Tasks

You need to enable desktop monitoring to also perform speed tests and track user presence. If monitoring is not enabled when trying to perform these functions, you will be prompted to enable it, for example, here is the prompt to enable monitoring when tracking presence. Select Start Monitoring to enable monitoring and continue tracking user presence.

Activate an Agent from the Fing Mobile App

To activate an agent from the Fing Mobile app, do this:

Open the Fing Mobile App and click Account in the toolbar at the bottom of the page. The Account page is displayed.

Under Workspace, select Add Monitoring Unit. Fing searches for an installed agent or monitoring unit and displays this screen. After Fing finishes activation, you will receive a confirmation.

View Activated Agents or Monitored Networks

You can view activated agents on your network (monitored networks) on Fing Mobile, Fing Web App, and Fing Desktop. You can have one agent or monitored network for a starter account, two for a Premium account, and 3+ for a Professional account.

To view on Fing Mobile, select Overview, and then Select the Ellipses icon (3 red dots) at the top right corner of your screen. The My Networks window is displayed. Under Monitored Networks, you can view the agent icon and agent Ethernet address.

To view on Fing Web App or Fing Desktop, select Account > Edit Profile to display the Account Page.

Select Monitoring Units from the Manage Account menu to show your activated monitoring agents, the type and MAC address of the agent, network name, state, and last update.

Deactivate or Remove a Fing Agent

To deactivate a Fing agent from Fing Mobile App, do this:

Select Overview from the home screen menu, and then select the Ellipses (3 dots) icon at the top right-hand of the window. The My Networks window is displayed showing currently monitored and scanned networks.
Under Monitored Networks, select the agent you wish to remove or deactivate and swipe left to display the Deactivate option (red button).

Click on Deactivate. You will be prompted to confirm you want to remove the agent.

Click Deactivate to confirm. The agent is deactivated. You will receive an email similar to the following showing the MAC address of the deactivated agent and the network name it was monitoring.