While Android phones do not integrate deeply with Windows as iPhones and Macs do, Samsung and Microsoft have been partnering more often to make the experience on their respective products interact more seamlessly.
For instance, Wear OS 3 was only available to Samsung for over one year, while Microsoft’s Phone Link debuted on Galaxy devices first. To add to this Samsung-Microsoft relationship, the two powerhouses have now added one more feature to their list of collaborations.
The latest Windows 11 25231 preview build has added the ability to automatically turn on the hotspot on your Galaxy devices and connect your PC or laptop to it. As you might have guessed it, Apple already offers a similar functionality between iPhones and Macs while Chromebooks and a few Android phones could already leverage Instant Tethering, which was introduced in 2017.
This feature is part of Microsoft’s Phone Link Service. If you are running Windows 11, and you pair your Galaxy phone to your PC or laptop, your phone will be visible in the Wi-Fi settings, allowing you to activate the phone’s Wi-Fi hotspot directly from your computer. There will be no need for entering the network password on your PC.
It is important to note that for this to work seamlessly, you will need both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to be enabled on both your Samsung Galaxy and PC. The finer details are as follows, “a Windows 11 (22H2 Build 22621) laptop or PC with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the Phone Link app (v1.22082.111.0).”
Furthermore, your Samsung device should be running One UI 4.1.1 or higher, therefore, restricting this feature to mostly flagships from the South Korean company including the likes of the Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy S21, and Galaxy S22
Since the supported Windows 11 version is currently only available on the Insiders channel, it is standard to wait for a few months before it makes its way to a public release late this year or in early 2023.
