Fingbox: Set up and features

Updated November 27, 2024 11:30

Karl Shannon

What is Fingbox? Fingbox vs Fing App

The Fing App is a network scanning app that identifies who and what devices are on your network. However, because the Fing App is a mobile app, you can only use the Fing features when you are connected to the network you wish to scan.

This is why we have developed Fingbox, a hardware add-on for your Fing App. Fingbox remains on your home network and monitors it 24/7. You can scan your home network from anywhere in the world.

What comes with Fingbox?

Fingbox components include:

1x Fingbox
1x network cable
1x power cable
1x power adapter (US, UK, EU, AU)
1x instruction manual
Fingbox packaging
Lifetime subscription to standard Fingbox services

Is Fingbox a plug and play network security tool?

Yes, Fingbox is a plug and play network security tool.

This means the Fingbox is a subscription-free system that does not require any additional hardware components. Everything you need to use Fingbox is included with your purchase

Fingbox has the following benefits:

Easy to set-up
No additional purchases required
Compliments your existing network set-up
No monthly subscription fee required

Set up your Fingbox

To set up your Fingbox, prepare your Fingbox and connect your Fingbox to the Fing App.

Prepare your Fingbox

Plug the network cable into the left slot in the Fingbox unit
Plug the power cable into the middle slot in the Fingbox unit
Plug the network cable into your router
Plug the power cable into a power socket/plug near your router

The circular light on the top of the Fingbox will turn green. This may take up to 15 minutes.

Connect your Fingbox to the Fing App

Download the Fing Mobile App for iOS or Android
Create a Fing account
Open the Fing Mobile App and click Account in the toolbar at the bottom of the page
Scroll down and click Add Fingbox (under App Settings)
Click the Configure button
Select where your fingbox is located (Home, Office)
Type in your postcode/Eircode or address
Click Done

Once configured, the circular light on the top of the Fingbox will turn blue.

How to operate your Fingbox

Fingbox features are controlled directly from your existing Fing Mobile App on iOS or Android. To do this:

From Overview, click the circular icon with three dots at the top right of the page
This will open the My Networks page. Click the network with the Fingbox icon beside it.

Fingbox Features

Fingbox is designed to plug into your router and instantly provide you with additional network security and Wi-Fi troubleshooting features that are not available on the Free Fing App. Fingbox features include:

24/7 Monitoring: Fingbox automatically finds all devices on your network regardless of brand. The status of all devices is continuously monitored, including those essential to home security, such as smart locks and thermostats.
Alerts: Get notifications about new devices that join your network, intruders, device status, network, family and guests. Allow devices to join or block your network.
Bandwidth Analysis: Fingbox shows you which devices are consuming the most broadband on your network and slowing your Internet down.
Block devices and detect intruders: Fingbox detects network intruders and allows you to permanently block unwanted devices from entering your network.
DigitalFence: Detect any device near your Fingbox that has Wi-Fi enabled, even if it is not connected to your Wi-Fi, and add devices to your watch list. For example, you can see when your dog walker passes by, the postal worker has delivered the mail, when your kids have arrived home, or if something unusual is happening such as an intruder in your house.
Internet speed test: Fingbox shows you how fast your internet is through automated speed and latency tests. Performing subsequent speed tests will demonstrate if your connection is faster or slower than before. Set the benchmark for Internet speed in your home.
Pause Internet: Prevent family and household members from accessing the Internet on any device for specific periods of time. For example, pause your children's devices when it's time to do homework or at bedtime when they should be offline. You can also create schedules for Internet pauses.
Presence Devices: Assign family and household members devices such as their mobile phones, tablets and computers to track who is at home and what devices are being used.
Router Vulnerability Check: Check your router setup and find open ports via UPnp and NAT-PMP.
Wi-Fi Intrusions: Get alerts in the event of a network hack or cyber-attack. This feature automatically scans vulnerable opened ports and passwords of devices to identify potential risks of hacking.
Wi-Fi Performance Test: Measure the speed of this device connected to the current access point

Fingbox's Main Tabs

Because you operate your Fingbox from the Fing Mobile App, Fingbox’s tabs are identical to those of the Fing Mobile App.

There are three main tabs: Overview, Tools and Account. These tabs are located in the toolbar at the bottom of the page.

Overview

This tab is the main dashboard.
There are four widgets in Overview: Devices, Security, Internet and People. The widgets change labels in Overview depending on the status of each feature. For example, if you have 10 devices in your home or office, the Devices widget will be labelled 10 Online devices; if your Internet is secure, the Security widget will be labelled Secure; the Internet widget will be labelled with the speed of your Internet (i.e. ---/--- Mbps); if you have no users, the people widget will be labelled No users.
- Devices: This is the Device page. Here you will see a list of the devices on your network. At the bottom of the page, there are options to search, filter and delete devices from the list. At the top right of the page, there is a checkmark icon to switch networks, and a Fingbox icon where you can adjust the settings of your Fingbox.
- Internet: Check your Internet Score (how secure your Internet is), do an Internet speed test, check your average ISP performance from the previous week and compare Internet providers.
- Security: A summary of your security, estimated from the data provided by your network.
- People: Add or remove users, schedule Internet pause, check timelines and access DigitalFence functionality.
There are two more tabs: Network and Notifications. To access these tabs, click Online devices or the blue See devices button. This will take you to the device page. The Network and Notifications tabs are at the top of this page, with all the other tabs.
- Network: Manage your network and view Events, Wi-Fi Performance and Bandwidth Analysis, check Access points and Network Setup
- Notifications: Messages from Fing about a device
The name of your network is at the top of the page.
There is a circular icon with three dots at the top right of the page. This tab will show you the details of the networks you are connected to. Here, you will see Current Network, Monitored Networks and Scanned Networks.
- Click Current Network to use the best available network.
- Monitored Networks shows you a list of the networks you are connected to. To delete or unlink a network from your account, swipe left on the network from the list you wish to delete.
- Scanned Networks shows you a list of the network scans you performed on Fing.

Tools

This tab has three headings: Verify Internet Performances, Improve your network security and Troubleshoot your network.
Verify Internet Performances has the following three widgets: Run speed test, Internet outages and Compare Providers.
- Run speed test calculates how fast you can download and upload data. Perform an automatic speed test and you will get a graph of the average performance of your network ranging from last 7 to 28 days.
- Internet outages detects ongoing and recent Internet outages in your area.
- Compare providers finds the best ISP in your area.
Improve your network security has the following three widgets: Find open ports, Router vulnerability check and Find hidden camera.
- Find Open Ports probes a server or host for open ports to verify security policies of a network.
- Router vulnerability checks, finds and fixes open ports via UPnP and NAT-PMP that may lead to external access.
- Find hidden camera detects hidden cameras in the current network.
Troubleshoot your network has the following two widgets:
- Ping tells you how long your network takes to reach devices, servers and web domains.
- Trace Route measures the transmit delays of packets across a network.

For further information, see the Tools page

Account

The Account tab allows you to edit your profile, view your Account storage and Notifications settings, reset your password, delete your account, and sign out. Here, you will also see the following headings: Your plan, App settings and Support.
- Under Your Plan, you can manage your subscription.
- Under App settings, you can read About us & this App for information on Fing and Fing Apps, customise your Settings, and Add Fingbox which allows you to connect your device to a Fingbox.
- Under Support, you will find Knowledge base which is the Fing Help Center, and Send us Feedback to provide any feedback to Fing.

Overview: Current Network Widgets

There are four widgets in the home dashboard/Overview:

Devices
Security
Internet
People

Devices: Network Scan

Scan your network

Performing a network scan with the Fing app will show you all the devices on the network you are currently connected to. Our Fing identification software also identifies the Model, Brand, Operating System (OS), Version and Release date of the devices. This makes it easier to recognise the devices on your network.

You can scan a network when you access Fing for the first time. To do this:

Click on the Overview tab
Click on the Scan current network button that appears

Refresh a Network Scan

You can refresh a scan on Fing Mobile App by logging out and scanning the network again.

You can refresh a scan on Fing Desktop in the following way:

From Overview, click the Online devices widget or the blue See all devices button. This will take you to the Devices page.
Click on the Refresh button on the top right of the page

Device Details

Clicking on a device will bring you to the Device Details page. Here you will see the following details about a device:

Owner name: The name of the device's owner
Device type image: A thumbnail image that shows what type of device it is, such as mobile, laptop. Click this image to change assign a type to a device.
Vendor: The company that sells the device.
Model: The device's model such as p30, iPad, Steamdeck, Mi11
IP address: The numeric identifier assigned to the device on this network. Usually, the numeric identifier is temporary and can change over time. It is typically assigned by the DHCP service running on the Internet router.
MAC Address: This is the serial number of the device which is set when the device is made at the factory. Note that the MAC address of the device is only displayed if the model information is not available.

When you click on a device, you can also see the following further details:

Network setup
Device
Operating System
Protocols
Solutions

Click here for further details on the Device Detail page, and here for further information on notifications.

On the Device Details page, you can also Manage the device and set Notifications.

Sort, Search and Filter Device List

If you have many devices on your network, you may want to organize this list, filter it and search for specific devices.

There are tabs at the bottom of the page below the device list. Here you can:

Search for devices.
Order the device list by: IP Address, State, Name, Vendor, MAC address, Last Change, Priority
Filter the device list to see devices that are: Online, Offline, Unrecognized, Alerted, Favorite, Important, Blocked, Watched. You can also filter the list to see All devices.
Change the view of the list to: Standard, Simplified, Technical.
Clear devices: Remove all or 'down' (offline) devices from the device list.

Create a Digital Device Inventory

Organize your device list by naming the devices on your network.

Click on any device. This will take you to the Device details page. Here, click Edit device details. This will open a window called Add or change device details. Here you can:

Select a place: Add the location of the device. For example, a computer may be located in the study.
Enter name for your device: Call the device whatever you want. For example, Violet’s Work Phone.
Enter additional notes: Add notes for the device. For example, a phone may be due for an upgrade on a certain date.
Important: Flag a device. The device's router will automatically be flagged as important. The flagging system can then be used when you are filtering your device list.

Security: Set Alerts

Turn on alerts and identify new devices

Alerts are messages send to you by Fing that tell you what's happening on your network, such as when a device goes offline or a new device enters your network.

Set alerts for selected devices

Setting alerts for selected devices means you can track a specific device and will be notified if it enters your network. For example, you may want to check what time your child comes home by tracking their phone, or get notified if your smart refrigerator has gone offline and is no longer in operation.

To set alerts for selected devices:

From Overview, click the Security tab, or click the Online devices tab and select Security at the top of the page
Scroll down to Single device notifications and click the Manage button
This will open the Alerts page. Under Notify on known devices, select the device and turn on
Click Save at the top right and exit the screen

Set alerts for all devices

Setting alerts for all devices means you will get notified when any device connects to your network. You will be notified when a new device enters your network, such as a guest or an intruder on your network.

To set alerts for all devices:

From Overview, click the Security tab, or click the Online devices tab and select Security at the top of the page
Scroll down to Notifications are enabled and click the Manage button
This will bring you to the Notify on new devices page. Turn on the on/off switch.

Alternatively:

From Overview, click the Security tab, or click the Online devices tab and select Security at the top of the page
Scroll down to Single device notifications and click the Manage button
This will open the Alerts page. Here you will see different options to set alerts:
- Enable All or Disable All alerts
- First seen on network: Turn on to get alerts when new devices join your network
- At every change: Turn on to set a default Device Status alert on new devices, meaning you will be alerted whenever new devices join and leave the network
Click Save at the bottom right and exit the screen

Block new devices

Alerts for new devices that enter your network are also essential to Network Security. You can automatically block any new device that enters your network. To do this:

From Overview, click the Security tab, or click the Online devices tab and select Security at the top of the page
Scroll down to Automatic block and click the blue Manage button. This will take you to the Auto block new devices page.
Turn on the on/off button at the top right of the page.

This will enable Auto block new devices. When new devices enter your network they will be automatically blocked until you choose to authorize them.

Click here for further information on blocking devices.

When you identify a new device

When you identify a new device, you can:

Assign a user: Assigning a user to a device will let you know who owns selected devices on your network, such as family members or home service providers.
Block: Prevent a device from entering your network
Identify: Fill in the missing details about the device by clicking on the thumbs down icon beside Did we get it right?

Internet: Wi-Fi speed

Check your Internet speed

From Overview, click the Tools tab at the bottom of the page
Click Run speed test
Select Test speed from this device or Test speed using Fingbox

You can also Internet speed tests

If your Internet is slow, you can use the Bandwidth Analysis feature. This feature detects tells you if there is a device currently slowing down your network (called Bandwidth Hogging). The Bandwidth Hogging device needs to be relative to your overall Internet speed. For example, a device using 10 Mbit/s on a network with an Internet speed of 20 is significant. By contrast, a device using 10 Mbit/s on a network with an Internet speed of 150 Mbit/s is not significant compared to the overall capacity of the Internet connection.

Click here for further information on Bandwidth Analysis.

All your Internet speed tests will be recorded so you can check if your Internet speed is improving or disimproving. To access the record of your Internet speed tests:

From Overview, click the Online devices widget or the blue See Devices button
Click the Internet tab
Scroll down and click the blue Timeline button

Check your Wi-Fi Speed

From Overview, click the Online Devices widget or the blue See Devices button
Click the Network tab
Scroll down to Wi-Fi Performance under the heading Manage this network. This will bring you to the Wi-Fi Performance page.
Click the blue Test speed button to conduct a Wi-Fi Performance test

Tips:

Perform the test next to your router to check if the router is operating too slowly and failing to deliver the speed that was promised by the router's manufacturer.
Performing this test next to your router will measure a high speed (this is just between your Wi-Fi router and your mobile device, completely independent from the Internet speed).
When conducting a Wi-Fi Performance Test, walk around your home or office. The speed will go up or down based on how good the connection is in specific areas of the room or building.
Click the clock button next to the Test speed button in the Wi-Fi Performance page to see all of your Wi-Fi Performance test results.

Scroll down to the heading What can you achieve to see what your Wi-Fi can support and the streaming quality of different media types.

Click here for further information on checking your Wi-Fi speed.

People: Assign Users and Presence Devices

One of the most important Fingbox features is Digital Presence. To enable Digital Presence, you need to create users and assign personal devices to each of them.

Assign Users

Creating and assigning a user to a device will let you know who owns selected devices on your network, such as family members or home service providers.

From Overview, click the Users widget. Alternatively, click the Online Devices widget and then click the People tab.
Click the blue Add user button
This will bring you to the Edit page. Here, you can add a name, photo, gender, category such as family or friend, and select the devices that belong to the user.
Click Save at the top right of the screen

Assign Presence Devices

You can assign multiple devices to users but only one Presence Device (or Personal Device). A Presence Device is the device you assign to a user that you will get alerts from. For example, if your child's presence device is their phone, you will be notified if this device has entered your network when your child comes home, or if this device is online or offline. You may have assigned other devices to your child such as their laptop and smart watch, but you will not get alerts if these devices join your network or go online or offline.

This is why we recommend selecting a mobile phone as a Presence Device. Select the device that the person carries with them 24/7. A tablet or smartwatch may be other good options.

To assign a user's presence device:

From Overview, click the Users widget. Alternatively, click the Online Devices widget and then click the People tab.
Click the blue Add user button
This will bring you to the Edit page. Here, select the devices that belong to the user.
When you have the devices selected, a blue Change button will appear beside the devices. Click the Change button and select 'Yes, it's a personal device' to make a device a user's presence device. The Change button will now change to a blue Presence button. Click 'No, it may be left behind' if you do not want to make a device a user's personal device.
Click Save at the top right of the screen