How to Share Wifi on Android Phone via Bluetooth and USB: Accessing the Internet from your smartphone is fine. But sharing that option with your laptop, tablet, or any other mobile device is much better. This function is called Tethering and consists of transforming your Android smartphone into a router to which other devices will connect.
On the smartphone, we always have an Internet connection. And this Internet connection is made with mobile networks, generally of type 4G LTE, that offer enough speed to navigate devices such as tablets and desktops or laptops. We can use our smartphone, be it Android or iPhone, as a ‘router’ of other devices. It is as easy as sharing WiFi, and how to configure this function of sharing WiFi from your mobile. We explain it in this tutorial.
How to Share Wifi on Android Phone
Before you start share wifi on the android phone’s data connection, you should know that each manufacturer applies its own personalization layer to their smartphones or tablets. Therefore, the statement of the different configuration options may not be exactly the same. However, it will be very similar to the one we indicate and perfectly associable to that function.
You have clarified the small differences you might find, proceed to start the configuration of your private network.
Access the Settings menu of your Android smartphone. In it, tap on the More option. Next, tap on the Network tethering and wifi hotspot entry and then on Set up wifi hotspot.
In the configuration box that appears, in the SSID network section, type an identifying name for the private network that your Android will create. Then, in the Security section, establish an encryption system that will protect access to your private network.
It is recommended to use the WPA2 PSK protocol. Then, enter a password of at least eight alphanumeric characters. To avoid connection problems, make sure you have entered it correctly by checking the Show password box. If everything is correct, tap on Save.
That’s it. You already have your Internet access point set up!
Share Wifi on Android Phone
The most common method to share your Android’s Internet access with other devices is to use the wifi signal. In this way, your Android acts as a sender wifi router, and the rest of the devices connect to it using this connection.
- To activate it, access the Settings menu of your Android smartphone, tap on the More.
- Option and then on Network tethering and wifi hotspot from this menu. All the methods to share your Internet connection are activated. In this case, enable the Portable wifi hotspot option. After a moment, it will activate and show you a new icon in the notification bar.
- If, for example, you want to share your Android’s Internet connection with your iPad, access Settings on it. Then, tap on the wifi option.
- Then, turn on the wifi of your iPad and locate the network that you have created on your Android smartphone in the list of available networks. Tap on the name of the wifi network you share from your Android.
- After entering the password you set, it will connect to your Android’s private network. If you use any other mobile device or laptop, use the usual method to connect to a wifi network.
How to Share Wifi on Android Phone via Bluetooth
Another method to share your Android data connection is to use Bluetooth. The way to do it is similar to the one used for the wifi method that you saw in the previous step.
First, activate Bluetooth on both devices and pair them with each other. Then, go back to the option Network tethering and wifi Zone of your Android, following the steps indicated in the previous sections. Here, activate the Bluetooth tethering option. After a few moments, the network sharing option is enabled.
If the device with which you are going to share the connection is another Android, you may need to activate an additional option to share that Internet connection. To do this, access the Bluetooth option in the Settings menu of your Android. Next, locate the configuration options of the device that shares the Internet connection and check the Internet Access box.
How to Share Wifi on Android Phone via USB
Android also allows you to share your data connection even if your computer does not have support for wireless networks. To achieve this, you will only need a USB cable in order to connect your Android smartphone to the laptop.
- First, connect both devices with the mentioned USB cable. Then let the computer recognize the method that you have connected to it. After acknowledging that it is an Android device, activate network sharing on your Android.
- Access the Network Anchor and wifi Zone menu, just as you did in the previous sections, and activate the USB tethering option. After enabling, it indicates its status with its corresponding icon in the notification bar.
- Then, from your computer, access the Windows Network and Sharing Center and verify that the connection has been established correctly, which will have been configured in the same way as when you connect the usual network cable.
- Each method of tethering on Android has its peculiarities. For example, if you use wifi tethering while your smartphone is connected to the wifi network of an airport or a cafeteria, your Android will disconnect from it and only distribute your 3G mobile data connection so that it may incur additional costs.
How to Share Wifi on Android from iPhone
If you have an Apple smartphone or a tablet – iPhone or iPad – the steps are identical, but on the tablet, you will have to have 4G LTE – only WiFi- versions are not worth it. You have to open the Settings application, and you will directly find the Internet Share option. Clicking on it, you will find a sliding button that should be positioned on the right and appear highlighted in green, reflecting that it is activated.
When you do this, just below, it will appear written in small size ‘Invisible mode.’ This means that the device’s WiFi network is recognizable so that other devices can connect. However, right at the bottom, you have to choose the password that will be used for other devices to access securely. And the name to look for, to connect to this WiFi network shared by your iPhone or iPad. The one that appears just below in the section of ‘To connect via WiFi.’
In the case of the iPhone and iPad, this form of Internet Sharing is not just for WiFi. By doing exactly the same, we can take advantage of the Internet connection of the smartphone to connect via Bluetooth, or to connect by cable. In the second case, it would be enough to use the Lightning power cable that comes in the sales package of the device, always connected to the computer to which we want to transfer the Internet connection.
Conclusion
If you want to share the connection while your Android remains connected to a wifi network (without using 3G data), use the method via Bluetooth or USB cable. This last method is especially indicated to save battery in your laptop since it allows you to turn off the wifi antenna.
