Description: With Android having had the ability to share your phone’s cellular data over WiFi for some time now, do we really need another app to help us do this? Well, the setting is hardly easy to get to on Android devices and often pretty fiddly to set up. Manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung try their best to make the process a little more straightforward, but the most part they miss the mark as well. Is Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot an app that will help you configure and monitor a shared data connection easily? Well, with no need to leave the app and a display of who or what is connected to your smartphone, it seems like it has all the right boxes ticked, so keep on reading to see if it’s something you’d want.
How it Works: After downloading Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot from the Play Store, you can start to set things up.
Flicking the toggle switch in the top corner will kick the process off, and it’s pretty straightforward. All you need to do is create a network name and then input a password.
When you have a number of devices connected to your smartphone, Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot will do what a lot of others don’t, and let you know the device names and IP addresses.
If you’re rooted, you can use the whitelist feature to only let certain devices connect to your network running on your device.
Opinion: I’ve spent a lot of time with these sort of apps and I often wonder why people continue to create apps that duplicate features found in Android anyway. However, Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot is a little different. You never have to leave the app to configure anything and you get info on who or what is connected to your device. It might be styled like something from a Samsung phone, but at least it looks good and won’t look out of place on the vast majority of devices. It’d be nice to see a data counter to see how much data you’re using from within the app, but there are extras like the Whitelist feature for those who are rooted.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – With not much going on, it’s no surprise that this runs just fine.
- Features (4/5) – Being able to see who’s connected to your device as well as Whitelist devices if you’re rooted makes this a better-featured hotspot app than others.
- Theme (4/5) – It might look like one of Samsung’s apps, but it looks good and won’t get in the way of your device no matter what you’re running.
- Overall (4/5) – A solid app, Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot isn’t the most alluring out there, but it does offer an easier, more effective way of setting up hotspots on Android devices.
Pros
- Offers root users a little extra with the whitelist feature, allowing you to control who can connect.
- No need to leave this app and go to Android’s settings as there is with other apps like this.
- A good-looking app, Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot is a well-built app that gets the job done with no hassle.
- Tells you who exactly which devices are connected to your hotspot when it’s active.
Cons
- A data usage monitor would be a good addition.
- ‘Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot’ is hardly the most imaginative name out there.
Conclusion: Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot might not win any awards for originality, but it gets the job done and will appeal to users who use the hotspot feature a lot. Rather than having to dig through the settings every time, or simply leave the hotspot unmonitored, this app does it all for you. You can create, configure and then even control who has access to your network all from within this app. A more imaginative name would be nice, as there are a lot of these out there, but it does work well.