How to use your Android phone as a hotspot

There may be times when one of your devices is unable to access the internet via WiFi. In this case, share the Internet connection from other devices by activating the Wi-Fi hotspot. Many phones, including the best Android phones, allow you to share the internet from your WiFi using the hotspot. If you haven’t set up a guest network and don’t want others to use the primary WiFi network, turn on WiFi hotspot to share the Internet over a WiFi network.

Enabling and setting up a hotspot on Android is easy, and we’ll walk you through the process.

How to enable a WiFi hotspot on Android

You can use a Wi-Fi hotspot to share your phone’s internet with other devices. And if the other device doesn’t have Wi-Fi, you can use USB or Bluetooth tethering instead, with a few caveats.

It only takes a few taps to turn on WiFi hotspot on an Android device. However, if you’ve never used it before, you might need to set it up first.

1. Go to settings.
2. Beat Network & Internet.
3. Go to Hotspot and tethering.

4. Beat WiFi hotspot and set the hotspot name.

5. Set a password and turn that on Use WiFi hotspot switch to start sharing.

Introduced in Android 10, you can share a Wi-Fi network password using a QR code. You can also use Android Nearby Share’s Airdrop counterpart to scan for nearby devices and share WiFi hotspot password instantly.

Going to settings every time to turn on a Wi-Fi hotspot might not be the most efficient way, and that’s when the quick settings tiles come to the rescue.

Add a Wi-Fi hotspot shortcut in quick settings

The quick settings in Android make it easy to activate and deactivate important functions on the fly. How to add the Wi-Fi hotspot tile to your device’s quick settings to quickly turn it on or off.

1. Swipe down twice from above to reveal the whole QQuick settings Blackboard.
2. Tap the Pen Symbol.
3. Scroll down and find the hotspot Tile.

4. Drag and drop the tile Above.
5. press the back arrow in the upper left corner.

6. Find and tap hotspot Tile in quick settings to launch hotspot.

Enable USB tethering on Android

While Wi-Fi is available and reliable on all types of devices, connectivity issues can arise, especially on older laptops. In this case, setting up USB tethering is easy if you have a good quality USB cable.

1. Connect the phone to your computer with a USB cable.
2. Swipe down to open QQuick settings and tap the Android system Notification.
3. In which Use USB for section, select USB tethering.

4. If you don’t see the notification, paste it USB to another port.
5. Alternatively go to settings > Network & Internet > Hotspot and tethering and turn on USB tethering.

Enable Bluetooth tethering on Android

If both USB tethering and WiFi hotspot don’t work, Bluetooth tethering is an option and should be your last resort.

1. Connect both devices via Bluetooth.
2. On the device you want to share the internet from, go to Network & Internet > Hotspot and tethering and turn on Bluetooth tethering.

3. Once done, you can access the internet on the other device.

Bluetooth tethering can be slow or unusable compared to a Wi-Fi hotspot. With Bluetooth tethering, the most you can do is send text messages.

A Wi-Fi hotspot could be a life saver (or a day ruiner).

Ease of use aside, using a Wi-Fi hotspot can ruin your day. First of all, the feature consumes battery life and can cause your device to overheat, especially in summer. If you turn on the hotspot and forget to turn it off, you’ll lose a lot of battery. Of course you can activate it Turn off hotspot automatically Option that turns off WiFi hotspot when no devices are connected, but forgetting to disconnect other devices can ruin your day.

Loading speed is an area where Android phones have improved over the years. If your phone supports fast charging but doesn’t come with a fast charger or a charger at all, most GaN-based fast chargers are affordable and remarkably compact.