TowerScope: explore cellular network data on an interactive map

TowerScope helps you make sense of public cellular network records. Browse an interactive map, search places beyond your current location and inspect information associated with 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and 5G entries. It is a practical way to explore how mobile-network data is represented, whether you are curious about a nearby area or comparing locations while travelling.

Explore and filter the map

Move around the map or search for a place to view available network records. Filter by network technology, carrier and point type to focus on the entries relevant to you. Different map styles help you choose the view that is easiest to read.

This makes it easier to answer concrete questions: Which network records are shown around an address? How does the available data change when you look at 4G instead of 5G? Which carriers appear in an area? The filters reduce visual clutter when many points overlap. You can explore a familiar neighbourhood or look up another city before a trip, while remembering that the map is an exploration tool rather than a coverage guarantee.

Inspect individual records

Open a map point to see available identifiers and supporting details, such as the record's quality, sample information and recency. TowerScope also presents possible frequency-band information where the data supports it. These details help you interpret a record rather than treating every point as an exact tower location.

The detail view separates the technical record from its real-world interpretation. Identifiers can help you distinguish entries that look close together on the map. Sample counts, estimated range and update information give useful context for judging how much confidence to place in a position. The information available for one record may differ from another; a missing field is not evidence that the corresponding network feature is absent.

Test your current connection

An optional connection test can measure latency, download and upload performance and show available network information such as the internet service provider or ASN. The result describes the connection you are using at that moment; it does not measure the performance of a particular map point or identify a specific mast. A test may transfer data, so mobile-data charges may apply under your plan.

Use the test when you want a quick snapshot of your own connection, for example after changing networks or moving to a different location. Like any speed test, results can vary with signal, congestion, the test endpoint, device conditions and background traffic. A single result should not be read as a permanent rating of an operator or an entire area.

Important context for map data

Map points are database records or logical radio cells. They are not necessarily physical cell towers, and their displayed positions can be estimated or incomplete. Available coverage, detail and freshness vary by area and source. Possible frequency bands are reference information, not a live measurement of the band currently used by your phone.

TowerScope does not turn the map into a real-time radio scanner, reveal every physical mast, improve signal strength or provide guaranteed network coverage. The distinction matters especially when several logical cells appear near one site or a point is calculated from independent measurements. Use the displayed quality and recency information to put what you see into perspective.

TowerScope is available for iPhone. The current release is version 1.1.0 and requires iOS 17.0 or later. The map and connection test serve different purposes, so you can use either feature without treating mapped records as the source of a test result. For the most reliable interpretation, compare each map point's identifiers, quality indicators and update date instead of drawing conclusions from its position alone.