Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge tip: You can share your phone’s Wi-Fi connection with other devices
Android’s tethering options have been pretty stellar for a long time now, and Samsung has made a nice little addition to the menu by enabling the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge to act as a Wi-Fi repeater/extender. Normally, the mobile hotspot feature (Wi-Fi tethering) only lets you share your mobile data connection with another device, with the other device connecting to your device through Wi-Fi. On the S7 and S7 edge, however, you can also choose to share your Wi-Fi connection through Wi-Fi with other devices.
It’s a nice feature to have during the times you have your phone connected to a Wi-Fi network but can’t connect another mobile device or a PC at hand to the same network, either because you don’t know/have forgotten the password or… well, that’s the only use case I can think of off the top of my head. In case you need to share your mobile data connection, you can turn off Wi-Fi sharing under the MORE tab in the Mobile hotspot menu in Settings » Mobile hotspot and tethering.
It’s worth pointing out that this feature is exclusive to Samsung’s new flagships; you won’t find them on the Galaxy S6 lineup or the Galaxy Note 5 even if they are running Marshmallow. Just so you know, it’s not available on the Galaxy A 2016 lineup either, but it’s possible Samsung will bring it over through future updates.
Any other new features that you have discovered on your brand new Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge? Let us know, and check out more Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 tips to make the best of your new phone.
Now Read: Samsung Galaxy S7 edge review: Something great becomes even better!
Thanks, Antonio M!
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this would more useful if it could be used with the download booster. allow me download @ 200mb/s 🙂 ( 95 mb/s LTE + 110 mb CABLE )
Amusing that neither the Sam Mobile writer or commentors have realized what the feature is best for.
Prepare to be amazed 😉
Whether you are going to hold a presentation at a clients office or just staying in a hotel room or thousands of similar scenarios when you are on the go you will now be able to use your Chromecast without needing a WIFI connection. Just Connect your Chromecast to your phones WIFI and voila. a 10/10 feautre.
Wasn’t this feature on the Note 4? I’m pretty sure Wifi sharing was a feature on it
It’s also useful if you travel with multiple devices and just want to make it simpler than having to re-authenticate each one. For example, I could set up my Kindles with my S7’s SSID and then not worry about it each time I change hotels.
It’s actually a very nice feature to have for me. My phone actually pick up WiFi signal better than my laptop does sometimes. Connecting my laptop to my phone with WiFi sharing helps me picking up better WiFi signal.
Nice feature! Useful for low-tech wi-fi receivers.
That feature could be useful in hotels. Sometimes they have some sort of login page which you can’t access on devices like a chromecast. This way the S7 could get access and share the connection with such a device.
ABHIJEET, I have more real-live scenarios for you:
– Two weeks ago in Hong Kong, I could log in into hotel’s free WIFI Network with one device only. With this feature I would have been able to connect with all of my devices.
– On exhibitions, we always have to pay per device for WIFI connection. This feature would solve this issue as well.
This is one of the most useful features I’ve seen recently. Samsung should promote it vigorously.
this is great!
it sucks that samsung is leaving out customers who purchased their previous flagships so they can sell their new ones
While this is true, WiFi repeating feature is not the case. Knowing how the technology works, you’ll understand that the modem itself needs to support in a hardware level this feature and I’m pretty positive none pre-S7 devices support such thing. It’s not like a software/kernel update could bring that feature, unless the feature itself is there and it’s just disabled, which I find unlikely.
i doubt it is at hardware level? i used a app called fq router on the s4 to use the device as wifi repeater. but the app was very unstable. I was able to connect and use the repeated wifi though