Google has announced a clever new feature coming soon to millions of Android phones and tablets — with one notable exception. Known as Instant Hotspot, the incoming functionality was unveiled alongside six other updates in the works for Android users in a blog post by Jan Jedrzejowicz, who serves as Director of Product for Android and Business Communications at Google.
As the name suggests, Instant Hotspot will let you connect your Android tablet or Chromebook to the mobile internet from your smartphone with a single tap — a practice known as hotspotting.
This clever workaround can help whenever you're somewhere without a Wi-Fi connection as it means you can piggyback on the mobile data from your phone.
Instant Hotspot, as well as another incoming feature called Call Casting, will be housed under a new settings menu in Android 15 known as "Cross-Device Services"
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Without Instant Hotspot, Android phone owners will need to unlock their handset, dive into the Quick Settings menu and enable the feature, return to their tablet or Chromebook and finally, connect to the newly-created hotspot Wi-Fi network. If you've included a password to block strangers from connecting to the Wi-Fi network beamed from your phone and rinsing your mobile data allowance — you'll need to enter that too.
Not only does Instant Hotspot intelligently suggest a hotspot connection with a single tap, but it also eliminates the need to enter a password, since Google knows that both devices belong to you.
But Google says Instant Hotspot will not work with Samsung devices.
Samsung already offers similar functionality baked into its One UI version of Android, known as Auto Hotspot. This lets you share the internet connection from your 4G or 5G signal to a Samsung tablet with a single tap. Unfortunately, Auto Hotspot only works if you've got a Samsung-branded tablet and phone.
With confirmation from Google that Instant Hotspot won't be coming to Samsung devices, we're unlikely to see the ability to conveniently share a mobile data connection to a non-Samsung tablet with a tap anytime soon.
It's unclear why Instant Hotspot won't be coming to Samsung phones. It's part of a series of upgrades coming to Google Play Services, which will be available on all Google-certified Android devices — i.e. those that ship with access to the Google Play Store, as well as services like YouTube, Google Maps, Google Wallet, and more.
Unlike devices shipped by rival Huawei, all Samsung phones and tablets are Google-certified, so they should qualify for the incoming Instant Hotspot update.
That suggests Samsung has decided to opt-out, perhaps because it wants to prioritise its own Auto Hotspot technology and has additional functionality in the pipeline? A more cynical take would be that ditching Instant Hotspot encourages Samsung phone owners to prioritise buying a Samsung-branded tablet over the competition.
Alongside the reveal of Instant Hotspot, Google previewed several other features coming to Android phones in future updates, including a Google Home Favorites widget for your phone’s homescreen to control your most-used smart devices without launching the dedicated app, PayPal contactless payments from an Android Wear-powered smartwatch, and digital car key support in Google Wallet.
It also revealed the ability to edit messages after they've been sent and a one-tap button to seamlessly switch between your connected devices so you can move between your Android phone, tablet or web browser during a Google Meet video or voice call.
