[Q] Hiding WiFi HotSpot on Nexus 5

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gsteelx

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2013
87
7
Baltimore
Hey there,

First, let me say thank you for everyone that has helped me in the past, this is a great community full of very knowledgeable people.

Does anyone know of a way (or an app) that will hide my WiFi connection so no one can see it? I use it at work, and we aren't supposed to hook up to our own internet, we are supposed to use the public WiFi (no way in hell I'm doing that) with my tablet.

I searched a bit but can't seem to find anything as such.

Thank you
 

gsteelx

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2013
87
7
Baltimore
Hey there,

First, let me say thank you for everyone that has helped me in the past, this is a great community full of very knowledgeable people.

Does anyone know of a way (or an app) that will hide my WiFi connection so no one can see it? I use it at work, and we aren't supposed to hook up to our own internet, we are supposed to use the public WiFi (no way in hell I'm doing that) with my tablet.

I searched a bit but can't seem to find anything as such.

Thank you

The only thing I can seem to find is apps that will allow you to search for hidden WiFi networks... :/
 

PhilipTD

Senior Member
Dec 17, 2010
2,034
527
LI
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Hey there,

First, let me say thank you for everyone that has helped me in the past, this is a great community full of very knowledgeable people.

Does anyone know of a way (or an app) that will hide my WiFi connection so no one can see it? I use it at work, and we aren't supposed to hook up to our own internet, we are supposed to use the public WiFi (no way in hell I'm doing that) with my tablet.

I searched a bit but can't seem to find anything as such.

Thank you
VPN?

________________________
Sent from my Nexus 5
 

edd247

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2011
279
118
As a workaround you can bluetooth tether. It's not as fast but still works well.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
 

vladimirhtg

Senior Member
Jan 19, 2012
62
5
Well thank you for your help.

Anyone else know of anything? Please?

I researched this extensively (for the same reasons) and found nothing....sort of. Essentially, if you're going to connect to a hidden SSID, the machine (laptop for me, tablet for you) that wants to connect has to be looking for SSID constantly, which isn't secure. That and I literally found no way of hiding my SSID.

So I thought about it...and I remembered there was an old wireless network on my campus that most people used, but the company changed proxies/routers/everything, so the SSID was 'retired.' My wifi hotspot SSID went from "suck it" to "My-Workplace-b" since that's the naming convention that was used.
This is nice since it's not nearly as suspicious, but more importantly....most everyone around me had certain proxies and protocols set up so that they could connect to that "xx-b" SSID. Those assorted proxy settings now prohibit them from connecting to my phone wifi :)

tl:dr: I was disappointed I couldn't hide my SSID, learned I didn't want to hide my SSID for security reasons, but then got creative and feel good about the situation.

Hope this helps somehow. Anybody that knows how to right-click will be able to see your nexus isn't a company router, but hopefully they're not that ambitious.

edit: PS: I USB tether extensively. Way less power consuming than wifi tethering (and stealthier). Maybe can't do that with your tablet...but a thought.
 

wideasleep1

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2006
1,549
526
A WLAN will always be visible if you create one, all you can do it obscure the SSID by typing spaces and saving. However, then you'll need to go into advanced settings of the client device and enable connections without SSID's. In Windows 7 it's under "wlanSSID' Properties->Connections Tab->Connect even if the network is not broadcasting its name (SSID).
 

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gsteelx

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2013
87
7
Baltimore
I researched this extensively (for the same reasons) and found nothing....sort of. Essentially, if you're going to connect to a hidden SSID, the machine (laptop for me, tablet for you) that wants to connect has to be looking for SSID constantly, which isn't secure. That and I literally found no way of hiding my SSID.

So I thought about it...and I remembered there was an old wireless network on my campus that most people used, but the company changed proxies/routers/everything, so the SSID was 'retired.' My wifi hotspot SSID went from "suck it" to "My-Workplace-b" since that's the naming convention that was used.
This is nice since it's not nearly as suspicious, but more importantly....most everyone around me had certain proxies and protocols set up so that they could connect to that "xx-b" SSID. Those assorted proxy settings now prohibit them from connecting to my phone wifi :)

tl:dr: I was disappointed I couldn't hide my SSID, learned I didn't want to hide my SSID for security reasons, but then got creative and feel good about the situation.

Hope this helps somehow. Anybody that knows how to right-click will be able to see your nexus isn't a company router, but hopefully they're not that ambitious.

edit: PS: I USB tether extensively. Way less power consuming than wifi tethering (and stealthier). Maybe can't do that with your tablet...but a thought.

Thanks for your post. Have been USB tethering to my tablet, working great.

Thanks again!