Mobile Device identification using Nmap

Question

I am attempting to identify a mobile device on a LAN using Nmap, more specifically an Android smartphone. Both my laptop and the target (android smartphone) are connected to the same access point. I can ping the device etc. When I run a standard Nmap scan against the smartphone it says all 1000 ports are closed, which is odd considering I am browsing the web on the phone while the scan is running. With no ports being open, device discovery is very difficult.

Is anyone aware of an efficient way to identify a smartphone on a network? Or can anyone explain this kind of behaviour from the mobile device?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

In my experience with nmap, i had to limit packet send rate to discover some devices. You can do so with the option

--max-rate : Send packets no faster than per second

For example:

nmap --max-rate 100 192.168.0.2

Using that speed, nmap finds my smartphone even though its 1000 ports are closed. If i set it to 500 packets per second, it doesn`t find it.