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There are a few times when the only option you’ll have is to use your smartphone hotspot to connect your other devices (laptops and tablets) to the internet. That is true when you go on vacation, and your main internet source (possibly Wi-Fi) isn’t available to connect to your office. The smartphone hotspot offers a host of benefits to its users; one of them is that it allows you to share your data with your friends and family – especially those that do not have a data plan to go on the internet to check important stuff.
However, you need to understand that the connection isn’t without its issues. Regardless of the type of smartphone you’re using (Android or iPhone), the fact remains that it’s possible for unknown people to connect to your hotspot – if you don’t know your way around it. However, the good news is you can always check the devices that connect to your hotspot and remove them if you desire.
To see the devices connected to your Android phone hotspot, go to the settings app and tap on the “Tethering & portable hotspot” option. Next, tap on “Wi-Fi hotspot” to see the number of connected devices. Under “connected device,” you’ll find the addresses of the devices using your mobile hotspot.
The method of checking to know who connects to your Android phone is almost the same for all Android operating systems. However, you need to understand that the process is way different for iPhones.
If you’re interested in learning everything about how to set up your hotspot and see who connects to it for both iPhone and Android devices, the rest of this post will serve as a guide to you. That said, let’s get straight down to business.
Table of Contents
How To Setup Hotspot For Your Smartphone?
Before going ahead to the major topic of today, let me quickly share a few simple steps on how to set up a hotspot for both iPhone and Android devices.
Android
To set up the hotspot connection on your Android phone, here are a few straightforward steps that you can take below. If you’re using a Samsung phone, you’ll find these steps handy:
- First, locate the “Settings App” on the app tray and click on it. Alternatively, you can also find the Settings app on your notification bar. All you need to do is pull down the bar and locate a gear-shaped icon – this represents the Settings option.
- On opening the Settings menu, locate and tap on “Connection.” Next, tap on the “Mobile Hotspot and Tethering” option.
- From the Mobile Hotspot and Tethering menu, you’ll find “Mobile Hotspot,” so tap on it.
- On the Mobile Hotspot menu, you’ll need to create a new name and password that you desire.
- That’s all about setting up your Android device. To switch on the hotspot connection, all you need to do is tap on the toggle switch right in front of the “Mobile Hotspot.”
In most other Android devices, the setup differs slightly from the one above. If the first method isn’t working for you, here’s another approach that you can employ:
- On your Android phone, locate the “Settings app.” You can always use the two options in the first method to find your Settings menu. Upon locating it, tap on it.
- On the Settings menu, locate and tap on the “Tethering & portable hotspot” option.
- Next up, tap on the Wi-Fi Hotspot option on the Tethering & portable hotspot menu.
- From there, tap on the toggle button right under the “Wi-Fi Hotspot” menu to switch on the hotspot connection.
iPhone
The hotspot setup for an iPhone or iPad product differs slightly from Android phones. To set up your smartphone’s hotspot connection, the very first thing you need to do is locate the “Settings app” on the device.
- From the Settings menu, locate and tap on the “Personal Hotspot” option.
- On the page, you’ll see a toggle switch right in front of Personal Hotspot. Tap on the button to switch on the hotspot.
- If your iPhone does not follow the above order, your best move is to locate and tap on the Cellular option from the Settings menu.
- From there, you should be able to find the “Personal Hotspot” option.
That’s all about setting up the Hotspot connection on your iPhone. Now, it’s time to go to the business of the day, which is – how to see the devices that are connected to your iPhone or Android smartphone.
How To Check And See The Devices That Connected To Your Hotspot?
As with the setting up of hotspots on your smartphones, the method of checking to see who connects to your hotspot is different for iPhone and Android devices.
It’s worth knowing that the procedure can also vary depending on your smartphone’s operating system.
iPhone
For iPhone users, the simplest way to see the number of connected devices to your smartphone hotspot is through the “Lock Screen.”
To run a check, all you need to do is pull down the status bar on your lock screen. From there, you’ll see a personal Hotspot icon displaying the number of devices connected to the hotspot.
To have a look at the list of devices, you’ll have to do more than checking your status bar for the Personal Hotspot icon. The first thing you need to do is to gain access to the control center of your smartphone.
You can do that by swiping down from the upper right corner of your screen.
After gaining access to the control center, what’s next is to locate the “connectivity tab” and tap (long press) on it. After that, locate the Personal Hotspot option; and right under it, you’ll be able to see all the devices connected to your hotspot.
Android Smartphones
For Android users, the following steps will guide you on how to check the devices that are connected to your smartphone hotspot.
First, you need to understand – two options exist to check the number of connected devices to your hotspot. The first option involves checking through the navigation bar, while the other requires using the Setting app.
If you’re using the navigation bar, all you need to do is swipe down from the top of your screen. Next, locate the settings app – it has an icon that looks more like a gear. Upon locating the settings icon, tap on it to navigate to the menu option.
From the settings menu, locate and tap on the “Tethering & portable hotspot” option. Doing that will take you to another page, where you can locate the “Wi-Fi hotspot” option.
Upon seeing it, tap on the Wi-Fi hotspot to see the number of connected devices. That’s not all; you’ll also get to see the various addresses of the devices connected to your hotspot.
Interestingly, once you find out that unknown devices have connected to your hotspot, there is a way you can remove them with ease. You’ll find out more about that in the next section of this post.
How Do I Remove Devices Connected To My Mobile Hotspot?
One way unauthorized users can gain access to your mobile hotspot is when they have access to your Wi-Fi password. Alternatively, if you don’t set up a password for your hotspot, unauthorized devices can also access your connection.
Change Or Create A New Username And Password
If, after checking your setup, you find out that several unauthorized users have gained access to your hotspot, the best way to address the issue is to remove the devices. To do that, I’ll advise you to set up your password and username if you haven’t done that before.
However, if you’ve already set up the necessary information (password and username), the best approach is to change the password to a better and strong one.
By doing that, every connected device to the hotspot will automatically lose access to your connection. If you have any of your friends and family that you need to share your hotspot with, all you need to do is to resend them the new password.
To set up your password on your Android smartphone, the first thing you need to do is open the Settings menu. From there, locate and tap on “Connection.”
After that, you’ll see the “Mobile Hotspot and Tethering” option – tap on it. From there, you’ll find “Mobile Hotspot.” Tapping on the Mobile Hotspot option will take you to the menu page, where you can change or create a new name and password.
To change the personal hotspot password on your iPhone, the first thing you need to do is locate the settings app. Next, tap on Personal Hotspot and locate the “Wi-Fi Password” option.
Tap on the Wi-Fi password option. After that, you’ll see a Password field. On the right side of the field is an X tab; tap on it to delete the current password and enter the new one.
However, while changing the password to a new one, you need to create at least eight characters, including numbers, uppercase & lowercase letters, and punctuation marks.
After creating the new password, tap Done to save the changes, and that’s all.
Block Devices Directly From The Hotspot Settings Menu
Instead of changing or creating a new password to remove unauthorized users connected to your hotspot, another approach you can use to remove the devices is the “block option” on the Wi-Fi Hotspot menu.
Then tap on the device and block it from accessing your hotspot connection.
Conclusion
Removing or blocking unauthorized users from gaining access to your hotspot offers many benefits to you. One advantage of this approach is that it saves you from hackers, who can intercept your data or gain access to your personal information.
Besides, the approach of seeing and removing unauthorized devices from your hotspot connection will also help you save your data plan. Having too many people on your connecting means that the rate of consuming the data will increase drastically.
