Skip to main content

Bonjour Scanner

Discover Bonjour services on your local network, such as printers, smart TVs, speakers, and other shared devices.

iPhoneiPadMacApple Vision ProApple TVApple Watch

Overview​

Bonjour Scanner finds devices and services on your local network that advertise themselves using Bonjour, Apple's implementation of zero-configuration networking (also known as mDNS/DNS-SD). Bonjour is the technology that lets your Mac automatically find a nearby printer, or lets your iPhone discover an Apple TV for AirPlay -- all without any manual configuration. This tool shows you everything that is advertising itself on your network, including printers, NAS drives, media servers, smart home devices, and more.

Table of Contents​

Permissions​

Bonjour Scanner requires Local Network permission to discover services on your network. The first time you use this tool, your device will ask you to allow Lirum to find and communicate with devices on your local network. You must grant this permission for the scanner to work.

If you previously denied this permission, you can re-enable it by going to your device's Settings, finding Lirum in the app list, and turning on Local Network.

Hero Card​

The hero card at the top of the screen provides scan controls and shows the current scanning status:

  • Status Pill -- a colored badge indicating the scanner's current state:
    • Idle -- the scanner is not running and is ready to start.
    • Scanning -- the scanner is actively searching for Bonjour services on the network.
    • Finished -- the scan has completed.
    • Stopped -- the scan was manually stopped before completing.
    • Error -- something went wrong during the scan (for example, a network permission issue).
  • Start / Stop Button -- tap Start to begin scanning. While a scan is in progress, this changes to Stop so you can end the scan early.
  • Clear Button -- removes all discovered devices from the list, letting you start fresh.

Stats Card​

The stats card gives you a numerical overview of what the scanner has found:

  • Resolved Progress Bar -- a visual bar showing what percentage of discovered services have been fully resolved. "Resolving" a service means looking up its complete network address and details. A fully filled bar means all services have been resolved.
  • Service Types -- the number of distinct service types found (for example, _http._tcp, _airplay._tcp, and _printer._tcp would count as three service types).
  • Total Services -- the total number of individual service instances discovered across all types.
  • Resolved -- how many services have been successfully resolved to a network address.
  • Pending -- how many services are still waiting to be resolved.
  • With TXT Records -- how many services include TXT records. TXT records are small pieces of metadata that a service publishes about itself, such as a model name, firmware version, or supported features.

Devices Section​

Search And Filters​

Above the list of discovered devices, you will find:

  • Search Field -- type to filter the device list by name, hostname, or service type.
  • Filter Picker -- a segmented control that lets you narrow the list:
    • All -- show every discovered device.
    • Resolved -- show only devices whose network address has been fully resolved.
    • Pending -- show only devices that are still being resolved.
    • With TXT -- show only devices that have TXT record metadata.

Device Cards​

Each discovered service appears as a card with the following information:

  • Icon -- a contextual icon representing the type of device or service. For example:
    • Printer icon for printing services
    • NAS/storage icon for file sharing services
    • AirPlay icon for media streaming devices
    • Speaker icon for audio services
    • Generic device icon for unrecognized service types
  • Title -- the friendly name of the service as it advertises itself (e.g., "Living Room Apple TV" or "Office Printer").
  • Primary IP -- the IP address where the service can be reached.
  • Status Badge -- indicates whether the service has been resolved or is still pending.
  • Port -- the network port number the service is listening on. Different services use different ports (for example, web servers commonly use port 80 or 443).
  • TXT Record Count -- how many TXT metadata entries the service publishes. Tap a device card to see the full TXT record contents.
  • Hostname -- the network hostname of the device (e.g., Living-Room-Apple-TV.local).

Log Section​

At the bottom of the screen, a collapsible log section shows a chronological record of the scan activity. This includes timestamped entries for when services were discovered, resolved, or encountered errors. The log can be helpful for troubleshooting if a device you expect to see is not appearing.

Notes And Limitations​

  • Bonjour Scanner only finds devices that actively advertise services using the Bonjour/mDNS protocol. Devices that do not use Bonjour (such as many non-Apple IoT devices) will not appear.
  • The scanner only discovers services on your current local network. It cannot find devices on other networks or across the internet.
  • Some services may take a few seconds to resolve after being discovered, especially on larger or busier networks.
  • The Local Network permission prompt is controlled by the operating system. If you do not see the prompt, check your device's privacy settings.
  • Certain networks (particularly corporate or public Wi-Fi) may block mDNS traffic, which will prevent Bonjour discovery from working.
  • The number and type of devices found depends entirely on what is connected to your network and what services those devices advertise.
Last updated on by Roger Hirooka