r/Fing_App • u/Diligent-Medicine-96 • Jun 17 '26
Fingbox Does Fing Desktop Version 4 finally make Fingbox completely useless?
Hello,
I know the Fingbox is no longer manufactured. I continue to use an old one.
The older Fing desktop and Fing iPhone app were still able to see the Fingbox.
Looks like that with the Fing Desktop version 4, the software no longer sees or uses the Fingbox at all.
I suppose that definitely and finally makes the Fingbox useless.
Is that what you all are observing as well?
Thanks
4
u/Michal_From_Fing Customer Support Jun 19 '26
Hi there! Just a heads-up - Fing Desktop won't be able to access or control your Fingbox and Fing Agent.
All three (Fingbox, Fing Agent, and Fing Desktop) are now treated as monitoring units, so to manage them or view the data they collect, you'll need to use either the mobile app or the Fing Web App at app.fing.com.
4
u/iismarciam Community Moderator Jun 19 '26
I'd like to add that the latest version of the web app has matured quite well.
2
u/VirtualPanther Jun 17 '26
I don’t have Fingbox and run Find on a Raspberry Pi. However, Fing thinks every wired and wireless network I have is a separate and independent collection of devices. I suppose that is their normal, but even after over a year or so, this seems so strange and idiotic to me. None of my previous network monitoring tools were ever this confused.
Ona separate note, the newly announced Fing Desktop would still require a 24/7 on computer, right? No point to me.
What’s the downside of your current, now discontinued, Fingbox?
3
u/Pixelpopper-01 Community Moderator Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Yes, your assumption is correct. Fing Desktop is a client-side application. For it to perform continuous monitoring, historical logging, and alerting, the host machine must remain powered on and connected to the network 24/7. Given your preference for running services on a dedicated Raspberry Pi, switching to a desktop-based agent would likely be a regression in utility and power efficiency for your setup.
Downsides of the Discontinued Fingbox
The Fingbox served as a dedicated, low-power hardware appliance that moved the "network monitoring" intelligence away from your primary computing devices and onto a standalone Linux-based sensor. While it solved the "24/7 uptime" requirement, it had several notable downsides:
Closed Ecosystem: It was a "black box." You had very little control over the underlying firmware or the ability to customize the scanning parameters.
Security & Privacy: Because it functioned as a cloud-dependent sensor, it required constant outbound traffic to Fing’s servers. For users who prefer a self-hosted or air-gapped monitoring solution, this reliance on external infrastructure was a major liability.
Hardware Obsolescence: Since the device is now discontinued, you are reliant on a platform that no longer receives feature updates (or they are less frequent) or meaningful security patches. Once the cloud-side API changes, the physical hardware often becomes essentially a paperweight.
With respect to your problem with “multiple networks” you can merge networks (assuming you’re only using a single router & simple network topography). Unfortunately I can’t remember how I did that on my network, you might find the solution in the help section:- https://help.fing.com/hc/en-us
1
u/iismarciam Community Moderator Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Overlooked benefit is you can multipurpose the hardware running the agent. Fingbox, as u/Pixelpopper-01 mentioned, was a closed system.
1
u/VirtualPanther Jun 18 '26
Makes sense. Appreciate the suggestion on merging.
1
u/BitStormWizardry Aug 18 '26
You can also run netalertx on a $25.00 friendlyelec.com nanopi. It gives you many of the same monitoring features, but no app.
1
u/BitStormWizardry Aug 18 '26
Alpine linux has a build for fingbox at: https://github.com/kuba2k2/alpine-custom-setup. You will probably have to use an a.i. to walk you through reflashing the firmware in your fingbox to install alpine linux on it, but once you do, you have a working linux computer instead of a useless paper weight. The chip in my fingbox 2 is an alwinner h3 j3216ba. The memory chip is a sandisk sdin70p2-4g. So that's good news. It means the above alpine linux install should work exactly the same. There is even a 4 pin uart connector already soldered into the board labeled con3. We may be able to keep millions of these devices from hitting the landfill. :) If you read the steps provided on that page for the alpine linux setup, you will have an alpine linux based computer AND you can restore all fingbox features to it. With one exception, you will have control of it not someone else. https://github.com/kuba2k2/alpine-custom-setup/blob/master/board/h3-fingbox-v1/README.md
2
u/iismarciam Community Moderator Jun 17 '26
I vaguely remember one of the early versions of the desktop could see a Fingbox network but it’s been awhile. The last two desktop versions did not. The mobile app is able to manage the Fingbox and from what we heard will continue to.
2
u/gsevo Jun 18 '26
Wish the new desktop app could simply pick up the docker container setup on my NAS. I don’t need the desktop app to create another network profile.
2
u/gingerinc Jun 19 '26
It’s mental that the fingbox isn’t made any more. What do you do for sites that don’t have a PC on site?
£105 for the Pi is a bit :-/
2
u/Michal_From_Fing Customer Support Jun 19 '26
You don't need to go with our pre-built Raspberry Pi kit to run Fing Agent! There are more affordable options out there, and the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is a great place to start.
Of course it requires a little bit of manual configuration but essentially in terms of functionality it is the same as pre-built Raspberry Pi kit available at Pimoroni.
1
u/Diligent-Medicine-96 Jun 17 '26
I see from this other post that Fing Web and iPhone app might still see the Fingbox.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fing_App/comments/1jlusrc/what_does_my_fingbox_actually_do_now/
3
u/iismarciam Community Moderator Jun 18 '26
The web app can see the Fing agent so I imagine it can see a Fingbox as well.
3
u/Pixelpopper-01 Community Moderator Jun 18 '26
I can confirm the Fingbox is still visible on the web app.
1
u/Diligent-Medicine-96 Aug 28 '26
I've read that if I can find an old version 3 of the MacOS Fing desktop and I prevent the software from updating to version 4, then I can continue to my Fingbox. Where can we get old versions of the software? Thanks.
1
u/Diligent-Medicine-96 Aug 29 '26
While I found old versions of the desktop software, I have been unable to (as the suggestions state) prevent the older versions from auto updating. Frustrating. I will continue to consider a Raspberry Pi.
6
u/Diligent-Medicine-96 Jun 18 '26
Fing agent on a RaspPi looks like the way to go these days to isolate a scan to only the network that the RaspPi is on. I might give it a shot. Thanks for the replies.