Most speed testing apps are great at informing you about peak speeds, but offer little context when it comes to real-world use for less technical users.
Recognizing this as a niche full of potential, speed testing giant OpenSignal launched Meteor, a simple, ad-free speed testing app that breaks down how well your internet connection will serve you when completing common tasks on popular apps.
The app, which has been available for Android since March and just launched for iOS, is undoubtedly the cleanest, most minimal speed testing platform I’ve used, while still offering enough information to make it a valuable tool.
The main screen features just one large button labeled ‘start testing.’ Once a test completed, it provides you with a report featuring the standard download, upload and ping results — but it also shows expected performance for a customizable selection of apps, rated either on a scale from ‘Awesome’ to ‘Poor’ and colour-coded to match.
You can select from 25 popular apps, including Skype, YouTube, Netflix, Snapchat and Pokemon Go. Tapping on the app brings up extra detail. For instance, with Spotify the app will provide ratings for how well the app will be able to download an album in high quality versus downloading it in normal quality.
The app also provides a ‘dashboard’ section where users can see a summary of information about all of their tests, including a map of test locations. In the ‘history’ section of the app, tests are shown in chronological order and can be expanded for more info.
And that’s about all; it’s an incredibly simple-to-use app. My favourite aspect, though, is just how visually minimal it is. The lack of ads means there’s no visual clutter, and the colour-coding of ratings (‘Awesome’ is yellow, ‘OK’ is blue), make the strength of your connection evident immediately.
Of course, the app rating is interesting as well, but I’m not quite sure I can think of many instances where this would be exceedingly helpful over just testing out performance yourself — though I suppose it’s an easy way to find the best location in your house to watch Netflix.
Meteor is available for free on Google Play and the App Store.
Image courtesy of Meteor.
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