Fun new project! Over the past couple of days I've been hard at work on a small project that I've temporarily dubbed "WideFi", which is an Android application that you can use to share your Android device's internet connection with other devices like a laptop or game console.
This came about after a weekend in an area with no Internet. I had connection to the Internet on my Android phone, but my Nintendo Switch could not get online to download updates from the eShop. I thought to myself there must be a better way, and thus after a week of frustration, WideFi was born.
WideFi is a play on the word WiFi, and the idea of opening up the "single" internet connection to a wider audience - your other devices.
WideFi is currently a work in progress but I hope it will get to a state of "generally working well" soon.
WideFi works by creating a WiFi network using your Android device via the Wi-Fi Direct technology. WideFi creates a Wi-Fi Direct legacy group with a network name and password that any device can connect to. Now normally, this Wi-Fi Direct group does not give access to the outside internet, but WideFi solves this problem by also running a very small HTTP proxy server on the Android device. A connecting client device can connect to the Wi-Fi Direct group, and set their network proxy settings to WideFi's proxy server at 192.168.49.1 and port 8228.
By doing so, any device can use the internet connected Android device to proxy it's connections. You can use this to connect to the web for general internet browsing and "normal" usage. Due to limitations with Android, it is currently not possible to use WideFi to get your game console an open NAT type to play multiplayer games, though you should be able to browse most game stores (note that the connection to the Playstation Network fails currently, so the PS store can't be accessed). This can allow you to do things like connect to and download games from the eShop when your Switch does not have access to Wi-Fi.
I hope to one day better understand what causes an open NAT type on a game console so that WideFi can be used as a full proxy to allow you to play multiplayer online games as well. But first thing's first, I will need to finish up the starting version and release it onto the store.
Until then, you can find WideFi's source code here on GitHub, though it's heavily a work in progress.
Stay tuned!
========================
Follow pyamsoft around the Web for updates and announcements about the newest applications!
Like what I do?
Send me an email at: pyam.soft@gmail.com
Or find me online at: https://pyamsoft.blogspot.com
Follow my Facebook Page
Check out my code on GitHub
=========================