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Tired of setting up hotspots for your other devices? Android will soon fix that
- Android’s upcoming “Link your devices” feature could allow devices to automatically create a hotspot and connect to it whenever internet connectivity is needed.
- The feature could also allow for randomizing the username and password of these hotspots.
- Further, nearby connected devices can share Wi-Fi details with each other, much like Apple.
Apple’s ecosystem integration does get us Android users envious, but Google does seem to have a trick up its sleeve in this Android vs iOS debate. We’ve previously reported that Google is working on a “Link Your Devices” feature that will help with cross-device integration by offering features such as call switching and internet sharing between connected devices. Now new details have emerged, indicating that the feature is bound to be even more helpful than previously expected.
According to AssembleDebug, some more features will allow Android devices to work with each other better than before once you have created a connected/linked group of your devices.
Previous leaks have indicated that a Bluetooth-based internet-sharing feature will be one of the highlights of this integration, but that was rather underwhelming, considering the limitations of Bluetooth. Now we’ve learned that this feature will extend, letting your other devices turn on hotspots and create connections whenever they need internet from your host devices.
Further, the name and password of the hotspot can also be randomized, making it difficult for others to connect to your network even if they figure out the details once.
We reckon this would be pretty useful, especially when you have a primary phone with your SIM card and secondary devices without a SIM card, like a second smartphone or a tablet. I’ve resorted to manually setting up and turning on the hotspot on my primary device and then manually connecting from my tablet whenever I need to use the tablet. But this functionality would make the process seamless, letting you pick up and use secondary devices without thinking about connectivity.
Further, the leak also mentions that you can automatically share Wi-Fi details between nearby connected devices. So if you connect to a new Wi-Fi network, say in an airport or coffee shop, all your devices can connect to the network without needing to enter the same Wi-Fi details again.
These are small steps, but they significantly impact the end-user experience. Many such ecosystem features have helped give Apple the reputation of “it just works,” and we’re glad to see Google make progress on this end. These features haven’t yet been announced, but we expect them to be rolled out through Google Play Services.