Android Question B4A Bridge on phone acting as WiFi hotspot?

[Dave O]

I often use B4A Bridge for testing apps on my various Android devices.

However, sometimes I use my phone as a WiFi hotspot for my laptop (e.g. in a cafe that doesn't offer WiFi).

To test an app I'm working on, I tried to use B4A Bridge to connect the phone (which was running as the hotspot) to the laptop, but it reported that there was no wireless connection.

Is this a limitation of:
- the hotspot setup (perhaps the phone, as the host, doesn't get an IP address?), or
- B4A Bridge?

Thanks!

 

[RandomCoder]

In the B4A Bridge, what IP address did it report that the phone was using? This isn't something that I've attempted before as it's far easier just to plug in the USB

 

[Dave O]

The "My IP" field shows "Not connected to wireless network".

I'm just wondering if this is the hotspot software in the phone not providing an IP to the phone (because it's the host?) or B4A Bridge not being smart enough to deal with this.

Works fine if I'm using the phone as a hotspot and testing on another device (e.g. tablet), where the laptop and tablet are both on the phone's hotspot.

But it would be handy if I could do my testing with just the phone and laptop, without having to hunt around for a cable.

 

[KMatle]

The response "Not connected to wireless network" is correct because THE LAPTOP isn't connected to a Wifi network. Only the phone is connected. If your phone plays the hotspot, the laptop HAS a Wifi connection but not the phone. It's some sort of an one way street.

You can take a look on Ebay for a "Wifi pocket router".

 

[Brian Robinson]

Yes. To create the hotspot the phone has to turn off the wifi to create the hotspot on the 3g/4g connection.

I just use my old android phone as the hotspot when I want to do this, and connect my testing phone and laptop to the hotspot phone.

Cheers
Brian