Mobile Hotspot not working in Airplane Mode

[ZdtY]

I switched from an S24 to an S25 and realized a critical feature isn't working like it did on my S24. On my S24, I could enable Mobile Hotspot and share my wifi connection without having the cellular radio active by switching Mobile Hotspot on while the phone was in Airplane Mode. Worked great to share my connection with my Tab and laptop. I did not have to worry about my cellular radio connecting to a network that would cost me money when traveling.

I confirmed Wi-Fi Sharing is enabled. I receive a message that says "turn off Airplane mode to use Mobile Hotspot." I hope there is a better workaround than Bluetooth tethering. It is slow and adds lots of latency.

[realaud]

Your hotspot will not work in airplane mode because airplane mode turns off all cellular activity. Mobile hotspot requires mobile data to work. Your wifi will work if you connect to a network, but you cannot use your phone as an internet connection or hotspot in airplane mode. I thought this was obvious. You cannot share a wifi connection that does not exist. If you have a mobile plan that has limited data, you should not be using your phone as a hotspot.

[ZdtY]

It worked perfectly fine on my S24. I am sharing the wifi internet connection with other devices that connect to my hotspot. There is even a setting called "Wi-Fi Sharing" you can read about in case it isn't obvious to you that it should work.

Many Android phones support WiFi-to-WiFi connections.

[realaud]

Wi fi sharing is completely different than mobile hotspot. To use wi fi sharing the host device must be connected to a wi fi network. To use mobile hotspot, the host must be connected to mobile data, which it is not when in airplane mode. That is the whole point of airplane mode - to turn off the mobile signal.

[ZdtY]

Obviously I want the mobile signal off. That was the whole point of the post. On my S24, I could turn on Airplane mode then turn Mobile Hotspot, and connect my devices over WiFi to my phone's hotspot, and use the phone's WiFi connection. You can say that isn't how it works as much as you want, but it worked well on my S24 and other Samsung and OnePlus phones I used in the past. I used Mobile Hotspot extensively with in Airplane Mode up until three days ago when I traded the phone in.

[LongHiker]

I would suggest that you report this via the Samsung Members app.

[realaud]

You. Are conflating two different things wifi sharing and mobile hotspot. Mobile hotspot shares your mobile connection as an internet signal to other devices. Wifi sharing requires a wifi connection to a wifi network in order to share it with other devices. You cannot connect to a non-existent network. If you are in airplane mode, you have no network connection unless you turn on WiFi and connect to a wifi network. If you somehow got it to work before, more power to you, but you must have also been connected to a wifi network.

[Ekamek]

As @realaud said, a mobile hotspot is a cellular service provided by your carrier over cellular data. Turning airplane mode on completely disables cellular services, including the ability to use a mobile hotspot. You can share WiFi over USB/and limited over Bluetooth but can't share mobile data via a hotspot without cellular data (in airplane mode).

It should be possible, but mobile hotspot is a big money maker for carriers, and they will not lose the battle/money.

[Robin621k]

Are you conflating Wifi Direct with Mobile Hotspot?