Here’s the gist:
“Apple made a change to iOS 11 which has impacted millions of iPhone users’ who use mobile apps to secure and troubleshoot their network.
With iOS 11, Apple has blocked third-party developer access to MAC addresses. Network utility apps such as Fing, NetAnalyzer, iNet and IP scanner used this information to let users see all the devices connected to a WiFi network.”
“On iOS 11 users can no longer use a third-party app to identify and recognize which devices are connected to their network. They can also no longer easily detect a device’s online/offline status.
Millions of professionals and home users have been impacted:
No access to MAC addresses affects a variety of different people and industries…”
That was scraped from the “Save Networking Tools on iOS 11” petition, originated by the Network Tools Alliance. As I draft this blog, well over 15,000 signatures have been added (including my own).
For the greater good- of those who use Wi-Fi and who support it- please consider adding your support. It’s free, and it just might help Apple to pull their head out of the sand on an important usability issue.
wirednot 
Presently, iOS allows you to enter a code and put the phone into Field Test mode, to test cell signal strength. With iOS 11, I read today they are taking away that feature also and you will be able to use “bars” only. BTW, how strong is “one bar”? I can see the dBm number, well at least, I can now. Bad move, Apple!
Agreed, Glenn. It’s pretty short-sighted on Apple’s part.
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30 years ago this month I bought my first Apple computer, and I have been a proponent of their products until the past five years of questionable decisions. This senseless iOS 11 nanny action by Apple means I either update to iOS 11 and my network management utilities become much less useful, or I stay on iOS 10 (and continue to delete the 1.4 GB iOS 11 update file Apple continually pushes out to my phone) and miss out on other iOS 11 features.
The change.org petition seems to have lost its momentum, and I wonder if that’s because IT professionals are losing interest in Apple. I am investigating non-Apple hardware for the first time in ages.
The real long term harm Apple will see from alienating the IT crowd is that we’re the go-to people asked for recommendations by friends, families, neighbors, etc. Whereas I used to always recommend Apple products with zest, I don’t anymore, and I am sure many other former Apple fans in IT like me are doing the same. I’ve been responsible for many dozens if not 100+ Mac purchases among friends and colleagues, and I have written P.O.’s for more than $1 million in Apple equipment in my various jobs. And this move to completely block MAC address access is the last straw, especially when there are several alternatives methods available to accomplish this. Frankly, the crappy design decisions made in the 2016-2017 MacBook Pros had me headed down this road already.
Way to screw things up, Apple.
Thanks for the comments. For sure Apple has no interest in really fitting in to many situations, they would rather change the world, even if it doesn’t need changing. They cause as many issues as they solve.