Windows users will soon be able to connect to their mobile hotspot Wi-Fi instantly via the Phone Link app on PCs. Microsoft announced that the feature is baked into the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview build. The feature allows users to securely connect to a smartphone’s mobile network without having to go through the tedious process of enabling it in their phones, and then connecting from the Wi-Fi menu.
The instant hotspot connection is only available for select Samsung galaxy devices. The preview build update also includes a few new changes and improvements as well.
The Instant hotspot feature is available on the Windows 11 Preview Build 25231. The update was released last week and is currently available for Windows Insider Programs users in the dev channel.
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Get the latest technology news, reviews, and opinions on tech products right into your inboxThe feature works by searching for the smartphone, and when in range of the system, the PC automatically appears on the Wi-Fi connection list. From here on, users can choose to connect to the mobile hotspot with a single click. Users will not have to enable the hotspot settings in the smartphones or type in a password. However, this will need the smartphone to be paired to the Windows PC using the Phone Link app beforehand.
The preview build is only available to users on Windows 11 version 22H2 Build 22621 or higher. The feature will also work with the Phone Link desktop app with version 1.22082.111.0 or higher. Further, users will need to have the Windows Phone app version 1.22082.142.0 or higher on their Samsung Galaxy device.
The instant hotspot feature is available only for Samsung Galaxy devices running on OneUI 4.1.1 or higher and requires a SIM card that supports Wi-Fi hotspot functionality. Needless to say, the PC also requires support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Aside from this feature, the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build also brings an improved taskbar and system tray for Windows tablets. An error that caused native apps like Paint and Windows Terminal to crash has also been fixed.
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