Google is bringing dead-simple tethering to a host of new Chromebooks and phones

Connecting your Chromebook to your smartphone’s hotspot can be a process. You need to turn on your phone’s hotspot, wait for your Chromebook to find the proper network, select it, and type in your password. And depending on your phone, you might need to manually turn off your mobile hotspot otherwise you could incur additional data charges.

This is what Google’s Instant Tethering feature aims to make much easier. With Instant Tethering, which first debuted on the Google Pixelbook, your Chromebook will send you a notification that a data connection is available on your phone if it doesn’t find an open Wi-Fi network. Clicking the “connect” option on that notification will instantly connect your Chromebook to your phone’s mobile hotspot — no need to go through the other steps. Plus, Instant Tethering turns off your mobile hotspot after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Instant Tethering has only been available on the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate, as well as Pixel and Nexus smartphones. Today, Google is bringing the feature to over 30 different smartphones and 15 more Chromebooks.

In addition to the Pixel and Nexus smartphone lines, Instant Tethering is now compatible with the following smartphones:

Starting today, Instant Tethering will be available on the following Chromebooks:

Google tells us Instant Tethering will come to even more Chromebook and phone models in the coming months. For details on how to set up Instant Tethering, head here.

I use Instant Tethering all the time on my Pixelbook, so it’s great to hear support is being added to even more devices.

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