Android’s new Instant Hotspot feature won’t be available on Samsung devices. This feature allows you to connect your Android tablet or Chromebook to your phone’s hotspot with a single tap. While Chrome OS already had instant tethering, this capability was previously unavailable between Android phones and tablets from different brands.
Google just unveiled its latest Android Feature Drop today, and it’s one of the most exciting releases yet. The two features I’m most thrilled about are part of Play Services’s new Cross-Device Services module, bringing some Apple Continuity-style magic to Android devices. One standout is the Instant Hotspot feature, which lets you connect your Android tablet or Chromebook to your phone’s hotspot with a single tap. Instant Hotspot works with phones running Android 11 or newer, except for Samsung devices. According to Google, Instant Hotspot will not be available on any Samsung devices.
If you have an Android tablet or Chromebook without cellular connectivity, you might need to use your phone’s data connection to get online. Most phones can share their internet connection by creating a mobile hotspot. To prevent unauthorized access, you’ll need to set a password for your mobile hotspot.
Connecting your Wi-Fi-only Android tablet or Chromebook to the internet typically involves pulling out your phone, turning on its mobile hotspot, finding the hotspot on your device’s Wi-Fi list, and entering the password. This process can be cumbersome, especially when you’re on the go. To streamline this, companies often provide a way to instantly connect your Wi-Fi-only devices to your phone’s hotspot.
For example, Chrome OS has an Instant Tethering feature that allows you to access the internet on your Chromebook with a single click. Once you pair a cellular-enabled Android phone with your Chromebook, it will show a message to activate and connect to your phone’s hotspot when it can’t find nearby Wi-Fi networks.
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Android’s new Instant Hotspot feature works similarly to Chrome OS’s Instant Tethering, but it also supports Android tablets. This means you can instantly share your Android phone’s hotspot with your Android tablet without entering a password. While Samsung phones can already share their mobile data with Samsung tablets through the Auto Hotspot feature in One UI, they won’t be able to use Instant Hotspot with non-Samsung tablets.
The reason for the lack of Instant Hotspot support on Samsung devices is unclear. Since the feature is part of Google Play Services, which is available on all Google-certified Android devices, including Samsung’s, it’s possible that Samsung opted out to encourage users to stay within their ecosystem. Nevertheless, Samsung users can still instantly share their phone’s hotspot with their Chromebooks using Instant Tethering and with Windows PCs via Link to Windows.
