Scan Wi-Fi hotspots on Android in hotspot mode

Question

I have a question about checking WiFi and AccessPoint mode on Android.

The first thing I noticed when playing with setting up the access point is that WiFi is “turned off” (obviously, WiFi should be turned on somehow, but I think that “turned off” refers to the fact that we cannot connect to another access point).

My question is: why can't I scan access points on Android in access point mode? Apparently, this has nothing to do with the WiFi standard, since it works on my Ubuntu laptop - when I activate the hotspot mode and create an access point with another device, after that I can still check and see the new access point.

To be more specific: if WifiManager.isWifiEnabled () is true, WifiManager.startScan () returns true and delivers the scan results. However, if my phone acts as an access point, isWifiEnabled () returns false, as well as startScan (). I would like to see the available hotspot access points.

I do not understand why the WiFi chipset should not scan access points, acting as an access point, and I would be grateful for some clarification.

Thanks a lot, Micah.

Answer 1

Have you tried making WifiManager.startScan() and it returns false ? It is not clear what you have.

As for your question, I do not know the answer. But I know that not every WiFi chipset supports both scans, and is also an access point for other devices. Maybe it’s easier to just disable the functionality of the software, and not know if its chipset supports it (it is assumed that there is really no functionality, I think we will find out when you try!)