'AirPort Utility' for iOS 5 Hits the App Store

It's about time! Could have used this a year ago, when we brought the iPad on vacation, only to find out that the hotel only had wired ethernet. We bought an Airport Express at a local store (needed one at home anyway) but discovered there was no way to configure it using the iPad. Since it defaults to an open network, it worked fine, but some idiot elsewhere in the hotel kept configuring the AE to use encryption with their password! I kept having to do a hard reset, but next time we'd come back to the hotel, it would be back to "Juliet's Airport Express" or something like that.

I suspect it's because OS X "helpfully" pops up Airport Utility whenever it detects an unconfigured one on the network, and this person just blindly followed the prompts each time. Was kind of frustrating...

Of course if Apple just allowed the Airport devices to be configured over a standard http connection like every other device on the market, this would be a non-issue. Nope, gotta be different.

bankshot said:

It's about time! Could have used this a year ago, when we brought the iPad on vacation, only to find out that the hotel only had wired ethernet. We bought an Airport Express at a local store (needed one at home anyway) but discovered there was no way to configure it using the iPad. Since it defaults to an open network, it worked fine, but some idiot elsewhere in the hotel kept configuring the AE to use encryption with their password! I kept having to do a hard reset, but next time we'd come back to the hotel, it would be back to "Juliet's Airport Express" or something like that.

I suspect it's because OS X "helpfully" pops up Airport Utility whenever it detects an unconfigured one on the network, and this person just blindly followed the prompts each time. Was kind of frustrating...

Of course if Apple just allowed the Airport devices to be configured over a standard http connection like every other device on the market, this would be a non-issue. Nope, gotta be different.

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I almost did that too (going out to a local store and buying an AE), on my recent trip to Vegas. I was so irritated because our hotel (Luxor) only offered wired access and there we were, paying $18 a day in room fees which included internet but couldn't use it! My friend and I only had our iPhones and his iPad but I decided against buying the AE because I knew it'd require a computer to configure it. What I didn't know (till just now) is that it defaults to an open network. I totally woulda done it!! 3G service, on the 24th floor of a pyramid, isn't ideal to say the least. *sigh*

parish said:

+1

It's sooo annoying having to get the MBP out just to add a MAC address to the wireless Access List.

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Try having an 83 year old Grandfather who wants to get an iPad but doesn't want to have to have a computer. I would have had to lug my laptop over his place to set up his wifi.

Instead next week I'm picking him up for lunch (his treat) taking him to the Apple Store to get his iPad and an Airport. We'll let 'one of those pretty girls' help him turn it on there at the store and we'll download the utility app and then take him home and set it up with the cable internet that is being set up tomorrow.

the best part is that he's a widower and he wants the iPad to impress 'my girlfriends'. don't worry i'm pretty sure all the home cooking is what will give him the heart attack. Or at least I'm sticking to that story cause the other mental image is a total shudder (for the better read on the board, he's a total GrandPA Mazur)

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diddl14 said:

art: after stopping the app (double-click home, kill app) and starting it again, it no longer asks for the master password.

So, simply put, using this tool once will make your base station + wifi password visible to anyone that get's a hand on your iPhone.

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If someone has their hands on your iPhone, particularly if you don't have a passcode lock, you probably have bigger things to worry about

seeing all these updates roll out is just great!

diddl14 said:

Anyone figured out how to prevent the master+wifi passwords from being visible every time the app is started? I've tried a couple things but so far no luck...

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I agree with diddle14, this is a pretty huge security hole. I also can't find any way to get rid of the passwords. Obviously someone would have to have access to your device, but regardless, it should never permanently store your base station passwords. Especially without asking. I would bet on an update for this very soon.

tipp said:

I agree with diddle14, this is a pretty huge security hole. I also can't find any way to get rid of the passwords. Obviously someone would have to have access to your device, but regardless, it should never permanently store your base station passwords. Especially without asking. I would bet on an update for this very soon.

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And they would have to be in your house....

digitalhen said:

And they would have to be in your house....

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Or just in range of your network outside your house. Needless to say, I don't want anyone coming into my house being able to glance at all my network passwords. This isn't just the wifi password...

tipp said:

Or just in range of your network outside your house. Needless to say, I don't want anyone coming into my house being able to glance at all my network passwords. This isn't just the wifi password...

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I don't disagree with needing the ability to delete the passwords, but....

They'd need to have acquired/hacked your wireless password to get on the network in the first place, and have your iPhone in hand. Fairly unlikely?

digitalhen said:

I don't disagree with needing the ability to delete the passwords, but....

They'd need to have acquired/hacked your wireless password to get on the network in the first place, and have your iPhone in hand. Fairly unlikely?

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Any person who is invited into my house can see all my network passwords if they pick up my iPad. I'd give my friends the wifi password, but I don't want anyone else knowing the base station admin or air disk passwords. It's clearly a big security hole that needs to be fixed.

I just downloaded it. For some reason I don't see the names of the wireless clients that are connected to my Airport Extreme. All I see is the Mac Address of them.

tipp said:

Any person who is invited into my house can see all my network passwords if they pick up my iPad. I'd give my friends the wifi password, but I don't want anyone else knowing the base station admin or air disk passwords. It's clearly a big security hole that needs to be fixed.

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Ah - I've just seen the "Show Passwords" option (whereas the password is blanked out everywhere else in app). That is fairly daft, so you have a (very) good point.

Thought it might be associated with the wifi profile on the phone. Tried deleting that an re adding it. Still no dice.

I just started using this tonight and realized once you log in to the network with AirPort Utility, there is no way to log out. Tried everything short of simply deleting the app.

I had to jump over here to see if anyone had a solution. Nothing so far? Seems like a pretty large oversight!

tipp said:

I agree with diddle14, this is a pretty huge security hole. I also can't find any way to get rid of the passwords. Obviously someone would have to have access to your device, but regardless, it should never permanently store your base station passwords. Especially without asking. I would bet on an update for this very soon.

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I've submitted it earlier as bug to Apple and today got an email from "Apple product security" that it's being addressed. So sounds like you made the right bet...

On a side note, after installing Apple's FindMyFriends, I had the opposite problem. It simply doesn't let you save the apple-id password, unless you also lock the phone with a pin code. Sounds like the proper way of dealing with sensitive information.

Apples's iTunesConnect app (to check app sales) has again it won way of dealing with password security.

All in all not (yet) very consistent compared to KeyChain Manager on OSX...

i got this app, and i like it, but too bad you can't get files off your time capsule though

Made it logout!!!

For reasons too long to explain here, I needed to manage my network from my son's iPad mini. What a unpleasant surprise not to being able to 'logout'. I tried the usual thing including deleting-reinstalling-AND-resetting the iPad without success of logging out. The only thing that worked, was to actually change the password of my base station from my iMac, now my son has no access, and I just have to remember a new password

tara007 said:

For reasons too long to explain here, I needed to manage my network from my son's iPad mini. What a unpleasant surprise not to being able to 'logout'. I tried the usual thing including deleting-reinstalling-AND-resetting the iPad without success of logging out. The only thing that worked, was to actually change the password of my base station from my iMac, now my son has no access, and I just have to remember a new password

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1Password does the trick quite nicely.