View Who Is Connected to Your Hotspot on Android

Whenever you don’t have Internet access, people in your surrounding with access can help to solve your problem. But how? It’s with the help of Wi-Fi hotspot. A hotspot is any location where web (Wi-Fi) access is made publicly available. Hotspot is basically a way for sharing your Internet connection with others. You can have multiple devices sharing your Android device’s Internet connection. You can even check who has connected to your hotspot.

Steps

Using Your Smartphone as a Hotspot

  1. Go to Settings from your device apps menu. Just tap on the Settings icon to access it.
  2. Go to Wireless and Networks. This should be the first option available or, if not, one of the top options in the menu.
  3. Enable hotspot. Click on “Tethering and portable hotspot” then toggle “WLAN Hotspot” or "Portable Wi-Fi hotspot" from OFF to ON.
    • Computers and other devices can now easily connect to this hotspot through their Wi-Fi and can make use of your Android device Internet.
    • Data charges may apply if you’re using your data plan when enabling hotspot.

Viewing Who Is Connected to Your Hotspot

via the Settings Menu

  1. Go to Settings from your device apps menu. Just tap on the Settings icon to access it.
  2. Go to Wireless and Networks. This should be the first option available or, if not, one of the top options in the menu.
  3. Open the Hotspot menu. Click on “Tethering and portable hotspot” to open the menu.
  4. Select “WLAN.” Click on “WLAN Hotspot” option from the list of options.
  5. View who is connected. Look for the label “Connected users” and below that you can find the MAC address of the users who are connected with your hotspot.
    • The media access control (MAC) address is a distinctive 12-character identifier of your Android device. It is unique for every Android device.

via the Notification Bar

  1. Go to Hotspot in the notification bar. Pull down the notification bar and click on “Tethering or Hotspot active” that appears there.
  2. View who is connected. Look for the label “Connected users” and below that you can find the MAC addresses of the users who are connected to your hotspot.

Setting a Password for Your Hotspot Connection

If want to limit the number of people accessing your hotspot, you can add a password to it. Those who want to connect must know the password in order to do so.

  1. Go to Settings from your device apps menu. Just tap on the Settings icon to access it.
  2. Go to Wireless and Networks. This should be the first option available or, if not, one of the top options in the menu.
  3. Open the Hotspot menu. Click on “Tethering and portable hotspot” to open the menu then click on “WLAN Hotspot” or “Portable Wi-Fi hotspot.”
  4. Set up the hotspot. Tap on “Set up WLAN hotspot” then fill in the following info:
    • Enter a name in Network SSID field. This name will appear to the people who will connect to your Android device hotspot
  5. Set your password. In the “Security” drop-down option, select either “WPA PSK” or “WPA2 PSK.”
    • In the password field, set a strong, 8-character long password and then click on “Save” button.
    • Make sure that you keep combination of numbers, alphabets (small and capital), and special characters in order to keep your password strong and unbreakable.

Tips

  • If you notice any unusual user connected to your Hotspot, you can always block them by clicking on “Block” option available next to the user’s MAC address.
  • It’s always advisable to turn off the Wi-Fi hotspot feature when it’s not needed, because keeping it on can consume your device’s battery excessively.

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