The new MD Faraday Bag Tester App allows us to accurately test how well a faraday enclosure blocks signals. It's the only app on the market that accesses your WiFi, cell, and bluetooth antennas to test the true shielding effectiveness of your faraday bag.
Previously it was quite difficult for the average person to test the signal blocking effectiveness of their RF enclosure. The main form of testing comprised of calling the phone while inside the enclosure to see if the call went through. This is certainly not an accurate representation of how well an enclosure blocks ALL signals. With so many uneducated comments circulating online and misinformed beliefs about what constitutes as a "faraday bag" or "faraday cage" we wanted to create a tool for accurately testing signal shielding enclosures.
This video test compared the signal blocking strengths of commonly-used products. Some of the products are advertised as faraday bags, EMP bags, or anti-static bags. We used the new MD Faraday Bag Tester App to get accurate results of how well each enclosure worked.
Here are the four items we compared along with their advertisements:
- Behrens Galvanized Steel Locking Lid Can - although they do not advertise their product as a faraday cage, metal trash cans with lids are commonly assumed to block signals and are recommended as EMP shields in "prepper" communities or even forensics. Paint cans are also recommended and fall under the same category of shielding strength.
- SKA Direct Consumer Signal Blocker Pouch - advertised as anti-radiation, anti-degaussing, and anti-signal.
- Blackout Faraday Shield - advertised as anti-static shielding, faraday bag with approximately 50dB attenuation.
- Mission Darkness Non-Window Faraday Bag for Phones - advertised to block WiFi (2.4 & 5GHz), bluetooth, cell signals (even 4G LTE), GPS, RFID, and radio signals with 60dB average attenuation.
Here are the results from this test using the MD Faraday Bag Tester App:
- Behrens Galvanized Steel Locking Lid Can - cell signal blocking: 34dB, WiFi signal blocking: 13dB.
- SKA Direct Consumer Signal Blocker Pouch - cell signal blocking: 0dB, WiFi signal blocking: 20dB.
- Blackout Faraday Shield - cell signal blocking: 0dB, WiFi signal blocking: 19dB.
- Mission Darkness Non-Window Faraday Bag for Phones - cell signal blocking: 31dB, WiFi signal blocking: 53dB - all signals were 100% blocked.
The reason the Mission Darkness Faraday Bag was more effective than the other products at blocking signals is in part due to advanced sewing techniques, higher conducting materials, and the secure double-fold enclosure used on every bag.
Don't be fooled by false advertisements of cheaply-made "faraday" products on the market! Test for yourself to make sure your bag is high-shielding (at least 50 dB).
Download the MD Faraday Bag Tester App and let us know your results!
