The new Instant Hotspot feature on Android will not be available on Samsung devices

Google just unveiled its latest Android feature update today, and it’s one of the most exciting new features I can remember. The two features I’m most excited about are part of the new cross-device services module in Play Services, which brings Apple Continuity-style magic to Android devices. For example, the new Instant Hotspot feature lets you connect your Android tablet or Chromebook to your phone’s hotspot with a single tap. Instant Hotspot works with phones running Android 11 or later, with one notable exception: Samsung devices. According to Google, the Instant Hotspot feature will not be available on any Samsung device.

If you have an Android tablet or Chromebook that doesn’t have cellular connectivity, you may need to use your phone’s data connection to connect your device to the internet. Most phones support sharing your Internet connection with other devices by creating a mobile hotspot. Since you probably don’t want random people using your data, you need to set a password for your mobile hotspot.

This means that the process of connecting your Wi-Fi-only Android tablet or Chromebook to the Internet requires you to pull out your phone, turn on the mobile hotspot, find the mobile hotspot in your device’s Wi-Fi list, and finally enter the password you set to connect to it. This whole process can be cumbersome when you’re away from home, so companies trying to create an ecosystem of devices usually offer a way to instantly connect Wi-Fi-only devices to your phone’s hotspot.

For example, Chrome OS has long had Instant Tethering, which allows you to access the Internet on your Chromebook with just one click. All you need to do is pair your cellular-enabled Android phone with your Chromebook, and when the Chromebook detects that it can’t connect to any nearby Wi-Fi networks, it will display a message that you can click to instantly activate and connect to the hotspot in phone.

The new Instant Hotspot feature in Android offers very similar functionality to Instant Tethering in Chrome OS, except that it also works with Android tablets. This means you can instantly share your Android phone’s hotspot with your Android tablet whenever it needs it, all without entering a password. Samsung phones can already share their mobile data connection with Samsung tablets thanks to the Auto Hotspot feature in One UI, but without Instant Hotspot support they won’t be able to instantly share their mobile data connection with third-party tablets.

It is unclear why the Instant Hotspot feature is not available on Samsung devices. This feature is part of Google Play Services, which is available on all Google-certified Android devices, including Samsung devices. It’s likely that Samsung has opted out of this particular feature, perhaps to encourage users to purchase devices in its ecosystem. Regardless, Samsung users will still be able to instantly share their phone’s hotspot with their Chromebooks thanks to the existing Instant Tethering feature. They will still be able to do the same on any Windows PC via the Link to Windows app.