Airtool Pi vs TShark

Airtool Pi is an iPhone and iPad utility for remote Wi-Fi packet capture. It connects over SSH to Linux-based sensors or Linux endpoints with compatible adapters, starts a capture using selected settings, and saves a PcapNG file locally. Sensors can be added manually or automatically, including WLAN Pi and Oscium Nomad; version history also names WLAN Pi Go and Hamina Clip, and a Raspberry Pi can serve as a sensor. Capture controls include wireless interface, frequency band, channel, channel width, size limits, and an option to discard data-frame payloads. The App Store listing states support for 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands and widths from 20 to 320 MHz. Compatible adapters allow simultaneous capture on up to four channels. Files can be shared with Wireshark or another protocol analyzer. Airtool Pi costs $14.99 USD once and requires iOS or iPadOS 18.6 or later.

TShark is the Wireshark project's terminal-mode utility for capturing and analyzing network traffic. It can capture live packets or read saved captures, decode packet data for output, and write captures to a file. Its native capture format is pcapng, and it can read and write formats supported by Wireshark. Display filters use Wireshark syntax to select packets and protocol fields. Output formats include fields, JSON, PDML, and text; capture controls include interface selection, capture filters, packet limits, and ring-buffer files. TShark can write ElasticSearch mapping data or pipe packet output to another program or script. One constraint is that display filters are unavailable when capturing and saving packets with the -w option. The manual sets a 2 TB maximum capture-file size and notes potential issues above 2^32 packets. The Wireshark project is maintained by the Wireshark Foundation, a nonprofit supported by donations. TShark is free under GNU GPL version 2 and runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.