Skip to main content

OpenSignal’s Meteor app runs internet speed tests, shows how apps will perform

meteor mwc 17 meteorapp street1 head
Image used with permission by copyright holder
OpenSignal, a company that maps wireless coverage and regularly publishes reports about the carriers in the United States, just released an app that will not only run a speed test on your internet connection, but also tell you what it means.

The app, called Meteor, answers basic questions about your internet speed. When you install it, you’ll first need to run a speed test. It then measures ping, as well as upload and download speeds. You can get three grades for each of these categories: Awesome, Very Good, OK, and Poor.

Recommended Videos

For a lot of people running a speed test doesn’t necessarily help them understand what the connection is good for — and that’s where Meteor wants to distinguish itself from the plethora of speed test apps currently available.

Meteor will list the apps you have installed, and it will tell you whether apps like YouTube and Spotify are good or awesome on the Wi-Fi or carrier network you’re on. Oddly, you can only check your speeds with up to five apps at a time. You can add more, but you’ll have to run the test again.

In the Dashboard and History, you can see your previous tests and where you were. OpenSignal is also using the anonymized signal and speed data it receives from this app for its coverage mapping purposes. You can choose to contribute a low, normal, or high amount.

Meteo’s two differentiators from other related apps are that it’s a nice looking app, and that it tells you what apps work well with your internet connection.

Unfortunately, it’s only available on the Google Play Store for Android devices at the moment. There are plenty of other ways to check your internet speed though, like Netflix’s Fast.com, and even by simply typing “speed test” into Google.

Julian Chokkattu
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
Best early Black Friday deals under $100: Amazon Echo, TVs, headphones and more
The Amazon Echo Pop on a desk.

Update 11/19/24: Black Friday is still over a week away, but you can already start your shopping with the Black Friday deals under $100 that we've gathered here. There's a possibility that these affordable items get even bigger discounts when the sale officially launches, but we won't blame you if you're already tempted by today's prices.

Black Friday will start on November 29, but if you've already got the itch to shop, check out the early Black Friday deals under $100 that we've gathered here. The offers cover smart home devices, laptops, TVs, kitchen gadgets, and so much more, so if you want to start enjoying discounts without blowing your entire budget for the shopping event, take a look at our favorite bargains below.

Read more
The Galaxy A56 may get one of the S24 Ultra’s top features
A person using the Samsung Galaxy A55.

Samsung may be ready to change one of the long-standing negatives about its otherwise desirable Galaxy A5x series phones — the charging speed. For the Galaxy A55’s replacement, currently expected to be called the Galaxy A56, Samsung may introduce 45-watt charging speeds, a big increase over the current 25W charging, according to a report originating in China.

The source is an official-looking certificate from the Chinese government’s Quality Certification Centre (CQC) which is responsible for ensuring devices sold in China meet the required standards. The phone is listed as the SM-A5660, and seeing as the Galaxy A55’s model number is the SM-A556, it’s not much of a stretch to assume we’re looking at details of the unreleased Galaxy A56. Apparently, the phone’s maximum 10V/4.5A system equates to a 45W charging speed.

Read more
I used a Wear OS smartwatch for the first time, and I love it
Someone wearing an Apple Watch Ultra and Pixel Watch 3 on different wrists.

Ever since the original Apple Watch, smartwatches as a whole have really taken off. Though Apple largely dominates the market, there are still plenty of non-Apple smartwatches to choose from.

I’ve been solely an Apple Watch user for the past decade, but I’ve been trying out a Google Pixel Watch 3 for the past couple of weeks. And, honestly, I kind of love it.
A round smartwatch is so much sleeker

Read more