Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.mobile.android > #143373 > unrolled thread

home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network

Back to article view | Back to comp.mobile.android

Contents

  home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-15 06:30 +0200
    Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2024-09-15 05:15 -0500
      Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-15 19:18 +0200
        Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-18 08:52 +0200
          Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-18 17:40 +0200
    Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2024-09-15 23:15 +0200
      Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-19 03:05 +0200
        Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2024-09-19 08:52 +0100
          Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-30 00:53 +0200
            Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2024-09-30 09:04 +0100
              Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-10-02 01:39 +0200
                Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2024-10-02 05:11 +0100
        Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2024-09-19 10:06 +0200
        Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-28 13:39 +0200
          Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-28 15:10 +0200
            Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2024-09-28 21:55 +0200
            Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-29 21:03 +0200
              Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-30 00:30 +0200
                Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2024-09-30 09:00 +0200
                Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-30 16:52 +0200
          Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2024-09-28 21:55 +0200
    Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-18 08:50 +0200
      Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-18 17:40 +0200
        Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2024-09-18 14:07 -0500
          Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-19 02:59 +0200
            Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2024-09-19 01:09 -0500
              Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-19 21:42 +0200
                Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2024-09-22 08:29 +0000
                  Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-23 06:11 +0200
                    Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2024-09-23 14:11 +0000
                      Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-23 17:34 +0200
                  Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-23 06:32 +0200
        Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-28 13:40 +0200
          Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-28 15:17 +0200
            Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2024-09-28 22:08 +0200
            Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-29 21:06 +0200
              Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> - 2024-09-30 00:32 +0200
                Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2024-09-30 16:54 +0200

Page 1 of 2  [1] 2  Next page →

#143373 — home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network

Instead of waiting for the phone to find the network and connect to it,
especially when there is a long list of available networks that have been
already connected to, is there a way to make a home screen icon to quickly
connect to a definite wi-fi network ap (without using the settings)?

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#143374

Enrico Papaloma <enrico@papaloma.net> wrote:

> Instead of waiting for the phone to find the network and connect to it,
> especially when there is a long list of available networks that have been
> already connected to, is there a way to make a home screen icon to quickly
> connect to a definite wi-fi network ap (without using the settings)?

I doubt your finger is faster to click an icon, and run a process to
select a wifi hotspot, than the scanning to determine which wifi hotspot
is within reach and has the strongest signal.  Of course, that assume
automatic hotspot connect, not where you have to authorize the connect.

https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/wifi-network-selection

If you are at home, your phone should automatically switch to the wifi
modem in your house, not try to use a wifi hotspot across the country
where you were vacationing up until yesterday.

Personally I don't want auto-connect except for my home wifi cable
modem.  Anyone can pretend they're a hotspot to which you were connected
before, or pretend they're the hotspot where you are, like running their
own hotspot named StarbucksFreeWifi at a Starbucks shop.  I prefer to
get prompted to allow a hotspot connect rather than allow automatically.

https://news.uthsc.edu/announcements/cybersecurity-tip-of-the-week-how-to-disable-wi-fi-auto-connect-and-bluetooth/

Except for your home wifi hotspot, auto-connect should be disabled for
the other hotspots saved on your phone (for those you haven't
deleted/forgotten, because you're not going back there again).  If only
your home wifi hotspot has auto-connect enabled, and the rest don't (you
get prompted to allow those), the auto-connect to your home wifi should
be extremely fast, and faster then your finger.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pw.wifishortcut

That puts an icon on your screen to quickly jump to wifi settings
instead of having to drop the shade to navigate through the settings
menus to the wifi settings.  Never tried it since Android 10 minimum is
required, and I'm on an ancient Android 8 phone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.opengait.wifishortcuts

Maybe that gives you what you want.  It defines a widget to a specified
wifi network, and you can set the widget to connect when tapped.  No
idea if it works on your phone (no Android version mentioned).  This
says it works back to Android 5, was last updated in 2020, but that
doesn't mean it will work on whatever Android you have.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143376

On 9/15/2024 12:15 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
> I doubt your finger is faster to click an icon, and run a process to
> select a wifi hotspot, than the scanning to determine which wifi hotspot
> is within reach and has the strongest signal.  Of course, that assume
> automatic hotspot connect, not where you have to authorize the connect.
> 
> https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/wifi-network-selection

Thank you for trying to help me as I have spent hours and hours on this, 
where all I want is something so basic that I don't know why it's hard.

All I want is to put a shortcut on my home screen that connects to a known 
access point bssid/ssid pairing, which should be simple to create, right?

That link goes to "Wi-Fi network selection" which "outlines the algorithms 
and procedures used in Android 12 for selecting and switching between Wi-Fi 
networks" (I'm on Android 13, but it shouldn't be much different than 12).

Reading that was interesting because I've always wondered what the 
algorithm is for how Android orders the possible wi-fi connections
(for example, if an RSSI is rapidly changing, it falls down in the list).

That nice article explains how the candidates are evaluated, where it says 
"The candidate with the highest score is the winning candidate", which is 
neat but which doesn't solve the problem of creating a shortcut to an ap.

However, one useful point they hammer home is that the connection is to the 
BSSID and not to the human-readable SSID (which everyone thinks it is, but 
it's not). The BSSID is what's unique. Not the SSID (which is just words).

What's also very important is that deep down in that nice article is says
"Android has a user connect choice algorithm that allows the selection 
process to prefer Wi-Fi networks that a user has explicitly connected to, 
for example, a home network", which is a fundamental thing to understand.

> If you are at home, your phone should automatically switch to the wifi
> modem in your house, not try to use a wifi hotspot across the country
> where you were vacationing up until yesterday.

By setup design, mine doesn't automatically connect to any wi-fi hotspot.

That's because automatic connections require a repetitive broadcast packet 
of the known wi-fi network bssid, which is a detrimental privacy issue.

That's why I just want to tap once on one of a set of prepared home screen 
icons to connect to any given known wi-fi access point, in a single tap.

> Personally I don't want auto-connect except for my home wifi cable
> modem.  Anyone can pretend they're a hotspot to which you were connected
> before, or pretend they're the hotspot where you are, like running their
> own hotspot named StarbucksFreeWifi at a Starbucks shop.  I prefer to
> get prompted to allow a hotspot connect rather than allow automatically.
> 
> https://news.uthsc.edu/announcements/cybersecurity-tip-of-the-week-how-to-disable-wi-fi-auto-connect-and-bluetooth/

You are wise to not automatically connect, not only because of an 
access-point-name impersonation (which isn't really likely given they use 
the bssid, and not the ssid to do the connection) but because the bssid of 
every autoconnect setting has to be broadcast in order to connect to it.

As an example, if there is a location that is collecting the broadcast 
packets (which is easy to do), then that location can tell you are there 
every Monday and Wednesday but never on Saturdays (for example), simply by 
collecting your unique bssid broadcast packets seeking your access point.

That means your phone is always shouting out who you are everywhere you go.

> Except for your home wifi hotspot, auto-connect should be disabled for
> the other hotspots saved on your phone (for those you haven't
> deleted/forgotten, because you're not going back there again).  If only
> your home wifi hotspot has auto-connect enabled, and the rest don't (you
> get prompted to allow those), the auto-connect to your home wifi should
> be extremely fast, and faster then your finger.

I disagree but I understand you are assuming that there is a duplication in 
the human-readable name of the home access point - but as I understand 
wi-fi connections, the phone connects to a bssid - and not to an ssid.

Even so, the problem is when you're away from your home access point.
Then the phone is shouting out your ssid/bssid pair everywhere you go.

Which is unique to your phone, so it betrays you everywhere you go.
(Well, it could also be unique to all the phones in your household.)

> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pw.wifishortcut
> 
> That puts an icon on your screen to quickly jump to wifi settings
> instead of having to drop the shade to navigate through the settings
> menus to the wifi settings.  Never tried it since Android 10 minimum is
> required, and I'm on an ancient Android 8 phone.

Thanks for that pointer to com.pw.wifishortcut, which I hopefully installed 
and tested, but it doesn't do anything more than running the intent
com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$WifiSettingsActivity
which you can show by connecting the phone to adb and running this command
adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$WifiSettingsActivity

That's not a different number of steps than longpressing the wi-fi tile at 
the top of your screen (if you have the wi-fi icon in the first 5 tiles).

It's not a bad program though. But it doesn't connect to a known network.
Too bad. But thanks for finding that application for the question.

I especially appreciate you found a well rated free app with no ads.
 
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.opengait.wifishortcuts
> 
> Maybe that gives you what you want.  It defines a widget to a specified
> wifi network, and you can set the widget to connect when tapped.  No
> idea if it works on your phone (no Android version mentioned).  This
> says it works back to Android 5, was last updated in 2020, but that
> doesn't mean it will work on whatever Android you have.

Thanks for that pointer to net.opengait.wifishortcuts, which sounded 
promising until I started it up and it requires a whole bunch of 
permissions that it shouldn't need - like location being always on.

Again I appreciate you found a well rated free app with no ads, 
but it says after Android 8.1 (Oreo) it needs location permission to scan 
for nearby access points, which I simply don't understand since Android 
itself scans for nearby access points WITHOUT needing location permission 
to always be on. It says "The app won't function without location being 
turned on" and they're right. Too bad, as it's a nice app otherwise.

I wish this Pixel suggestion would work for my Galaxy but it doesn't.
How to create shortcut for hotspot on home screen
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/203734046/how-to-create-shortcut-for-hotspot-on-home-screen

That's too bad because the title is EXACTLY what I want to be able to do!

I did find this rather complex potential solution by searching.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/5477-absolutely-tired-of-the-wifi-toggle-in-android-13-alternatives

It was more of a gripe session but the basic task the guy was asking for is 
similar, which is a shortcut to connect to a known wi-fi access point.

After an hour of trying the solution, I gave up as it suggests something 
called "Better Internet Tiles" which needs "Shizuku" for its Shell Access.
https://github.com/CasperVerswijvelt/Better-Internet-Tiles/releases/tag/v3.0.0
Name: app-release-github.apk
Size: 5213175 bytes (5090 KiB)
SHA256: 7390BE3640B3E21155E4F325ABC2F29CD4F0CB4692D3FC065601449A0051B4D4
which requires pairing of adb with the Shizuku for non-root Android phones
and which itself requires developer options wireless debugging=on, which is 
no problem as most of the time I'll be home when I want a wifi connection.
 
Since I'm not rooted, I need to use adb to start Shizuku on Android 13.
https://github.com/RikkaApps/Shizuku/releases/tag/v13.5.4
Name: shizuku-v13.5.4.r1049.0e53409-release.apk
Size: 3442426 bytes (3361 KiB)
SHA256: A05832CE3716AFB1FCCCF46F348006D2A296CA777E1FF3D223797DC74D06B31F

Since I'm not rooted, I had to also use adb to pair adb to the phone.
adb pair 192.168.0.10:38623 55898 (you get the pairing code from wireless 
debugging tile which you turn on in the developer options settings).

And then I had to use the adb shell to connect that pairing to Shizuku.
adb shell sh /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/moe.shizuku.privileged.api/start.sh

Then I had to grant access for "Better Internet Tiles" to "Shizuku" in the 
Android settings for the "Better Internet Tiles" settings, which was fine.

Only then could I run "Better Internet Tiles" (which put a shortcut on my 
home screen when I had installed it) which then said "Missing permissions"
which said "Shell Access is required" (which I gave it via Shizuku) which 
worked as the Better Internet Tiles GUI went from pink to green saying
"Shizuku allows normal apps to use system API's directly with elevated 
privileges using ADB on non-rooted devices", so that part worked perfectly.

When in the "Better Internet Tiles" GUI, everything was green, there were a 
few "plus" (+) buttons to add new tiles to the Android home screen top bar.

One was a "Wi-Fi" tile, while other improved tiles were for "Mobile data", 
"Internet", "Airplane mode", "NFC" and an improved "Bluetooth" tile.

While adding improved tiles to the top swipe of an Android home screen is 
probably useful (especially perhaps the improved "Mobile data" tile), when 
I added the improved "Wi-Fi" tile, it doesn't do anything that the old 
original "Wi-Fi" tile didn't do, so all that effort turned out ineffective.

All I want is a shortcut that connects to a known access point, so I'll 
keep looking as it shouldn't be this hard to do something that obvious.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143383

Enrico Papaloma, 2024-09-15 19:18:

> On 9/15/2024 12:15 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
>> I doubt your finger is faster to click an icon, and run a process to
>> select a wifi hotspot, than the scanning to determine which wifi hotspot
>> is within reach and has the strongest signal.  Of course, that assume
>> automatic hotspot connect, not where you have to authorize the connect.
>>
>> https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/wifi-network-selection
> 
> Thank you for trying to help me as I have spent hours and hours on this, 
> where all I want is something so basic that I don't know why it's hard.
> 
> All I want is to put a shortcut on my home screen that connects to a known 
> access point bssid/ssid pairing, which should be simple to create, right?

No, since user Apps are not allowed to connect to networks, only the
system itself or "system" apps which got provided by Google as part of
Android or the phone manufacturer can do this.


-- 
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143385

On 9/18/2024 1:52 AM, Arno Welzel wrote:
>> All I want is to put a shortcut on my home screen that connects to a known 
>> access point bssid/ssid pairing, which should be simple to create, right?
> 
> No, since user Apps are not allowed to connect to networks, only the
> system itself or "system" apps which got provided by Google as part of
> Android or the phone manufacturer can do this.

Thank you for that explanation of why something so easy is harder to do.

It seems that the reason why this is so hard to do, where even the apps
that VanguardLH found can only either simply bring up the settings app 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pw.wifishortcut or 
they can only display the strongest locally available wi-fi access points
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.opengait.wifishortcuts
where the former doesn't require location services, but the latter does.

I can easily make an Android homescreen shortcut to the activity named 
com.android.settings/com.android.settings.Settings$WifiSettingsActivity
but what I really want to bring up is an activity to a specific access
point BSSID/SSID pair such as "01:02:03:04:05:06/my-access-point-01".

Given a known BSSID/SSID to my own home access points, if anyone figures
out how to directly connect to them with a terminal command, let me know.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143377

On 2024-09-15 06:30, Enrico Papaloma wrote:
> Instead of waiting for the phone to find the network and connect to it,
> especially when there is a long list of available networks that have been
> already connected to, is there a way to make a home screen icon to quickly
> connect to a definite wi-fi network ap (without using the settings)?

Have a look a what widgets your phone has. Look for the one named 
"settings". Then you have to select what setting you want it to 
activate. There is one named "internet" which is close but not what you 
want.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143392

On 9/15/2024 11:15 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2024-09-15 06:30, Enrico Papaloma wrote:
>> Instead of waiting for the phone to find the network and connect to it,
>> especially when there is a long list of available networks that have been
>> already connected to, is there a way to make a home screen icon to quickly
>> connect to a definite wi-fi network ap (without using the settings)?
> 
> Have a look a what widgets your phone has. Look for the one named 
> "settings". Then you have to select what setting you want it to 
> activate. There is one named "internet" which is close but not what you 
> want.

It seems only the Pixel has a widget that will automatically connect to a
known unique BSSID/SSID pair, but I have a Samsung, which doesn't have it.
https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/203734046/how-to-create-shortcut-for-hotspot-on-home-screen

Remember the home router is always set to not broadcast your BSSID/SSID
pair, which is prudent not for security but for privacy reasons since then
phones don't upload your unique BSSID/SSID pair to Internet databases.

So two things are set which most people don't know why they'd set them.
(1) The home router is set to NOT BROADCAST your unique BSSID/SSID pair.
(2) The phone is set to NOT AUTO CONNECT to any known wi-fi access points.

Those are set for privacy. 
Not for security.

Most people don't understand the difference, but the end result is if you
leave auto connect on the default setting, then your phone will constantly
shout out your unique BSSID/SSID pair everywhere you go in the world.

That allows anyone with even minimum skills to track your every movement.
I don't want that.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143397

Enrico Papaloma wrote:

> It seems only the Pixel has a widget that will automatically connect to a
> known unique BSSID/SSID pair

Even a pixel doesn't have a widget *that* specific.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143545

On 9/19/2024 9:52 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
>> It seems only the Pixel has a widget that will automatically connect to a
>> known unique BSSID/SSID pair
> 
> Even a pixel doesn't have a widget *that* specific.

May I ask you for advice, since you seem to understand what is being asked.

If no app exists, that's fine - but the COMMANDS must be happening on the 
phone, and therefore that series of commands must be known to somebody.

Do you have any advice as to how to find what those commands are to connect 
to a known access point when that access point is hidden.

I would think the sequence of commands is similar to what happens when you 
FIRST connected to that hidden access point, where you had to add 
credentials, where all the variables are known, such as BSSID & passphrase.

Obviously I've googled, XDA Developers included, but I haven't found it 
yet. Given that, do you have any suggestions for finding that information?

Maybe a "sniffer" of sorts that I can run on the phone (maybe wireshark?)
will identify the packets - but that doesn't tell us what the phone did.

What I need is to tie together the commands the phone does to connect to a 
known AP such that it's a single tap instead of the normal 3 steps.

From the Android home screen, it's currently 3 steps in the worst case.
 [1] Swipe down to expose the Wi-Fi tile (if Wi-Fi isn't turned on already)
 [2] Longpress the Wi-Fi tile to turn it on (if it's not already turned on)
 [3] Tap on the saved hidden WAP (which is set to not auto-reconnect)

It's still 3 steps even if the Wi-Fi is turned on.
 [1] Swipe down to expose the Wi-Fi tile (even if Wi-Fi is turned on)
 [2] Longpress the Wi-Fi tile to expose a list of saved hidden connections
 [3] Tap on the saved hidden WAP (which is set to not auto-reconnect)

Using the Wi-Fi Shortcut app, you can reduce that to only two steps.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pw.wifishortcut
 [1] Tap on Wi-Fi Shortcut to expose a list of saved hidden connections
 [2] Tap on the saved hidden WAP (which is set to not auto-reconnect)

But I'm trying to reduce those two steps to a single step for efficiency.
Any ideas how to do both of those taps in a single tap for each known WAP?

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143551

Enrico Papaloma wrote:

> If no app exists, that's fine - but the COMMANDS must be happening on the
> phone, and therefore that series of commands must be known to somebody.
> 
> Do you have any advice as to how to find what those commands are to connect
> to a known access point when that access point is hidden.

I did have a look at the APIs

<https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/wifi/WifiManager>

But I couldn't find a straightforward call like

wm = getSystemService(WIFI_SERVICE);
wm.setWifiEnabled(true);
wm.connectToSSID("whatever");

It might require code like this

<https://gist.github.com/cp-radhika-s/74d2eb717bad62f39d28a8727708af9c>

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143578

On 9/30/2024 10:04 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
> Enrico Papaloma wrote:
> 
>> If no app exists, that's fine - but the COMMANDS must be happening on the
>> phone, and therefore that series of commands must be known to somebody.
>> 
>> Do you have any advice as to how to find what those commands are to connect
>> to a known access point when that access point is hidden.
> 
> I did have a look at the APIs
> 
> <https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/wifi/WifiManager>
> 
> But I couldn't find a straightforward call like
> 
> wm = getSystemService(WIFI_SERVICE);
> wm.setWifiEnabled(true);
> wm.connectToSSID("whatever");
> 
> It might require code like this
> 
> <https://gist.github.com/cp-radhika-s/74d2eb717bad62f39d28a8727708af9c>

Thanks for that link to the wifimanager developer reference.

This might be what is needed but it might only pick & not connect.
ACTION_PICK_WIFI_NETWORK
Activity Action: Pick a Wi-Fi network to connect to.

This might provide enough information about the connection to force it.
EXTRA_WIFI_INFO
The lookup key for a WifiInfo object giving the information about the
access point to which we are connected.

This might be misused to force the connection to a known bssid.
EXTRA_BSSID
The lookup key for a String giving the BSSID of the access point to which
we are connected.

BTW, I wasn't aware of a connect to multiple access points simultaneously.
WIFI_MULTI_INTERNET_MODE_MULTI_AP
Wi-Fi simultaneous connection to multiple internet-providing Wi-Fi networks
(APs) is enabled.

There's a lot to dig through. I'll start with these breadcrumbs to follow.
reassociate()
This method was deprecated in API level 29. a) See
WifiNetworkSpecifier.Builder#build() for new mechanism to trigger
connection to a Wi-Fi network. b) See
addNetworkSuggestions(java.util.List),
removeNetworkSuggestions(java.util.List) for new API to add Wi-Fi networks
for consideration when auto-connecting to wifi. Compatibility Note: For
applications targeting Build.VERSION_CODES.Q or above, this API will always
return false.

There is also a lot to dig through on the link for connecting to a Wi-Fi
connection which might not have internet.
https://gist.github.com/cp-radhika-s/74d2eb717bad62f39d28a8727708af9c

That code seems to be something that might work if I can create an app in
Android Studio to run it, then I'll see if I can tweak it after getting it
to work (if it works) as I'm not all that good with Android Studio yet.

Lots of homework for me to dig through. Thanks!

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143583

Enrico Papaloma wrote:

> This might be what is needed but it might only pick & not connect.
> ACTION_PICK_WIFI_NETWORK
> Activity Action: Pick a Wi-Fi network to connect to.

I think the wifimanager only takes hints, rather than solid instructions.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143398

On 2024-09-19 03:05, Enrico Papaloma wrote:
> On 9/15/2024 11:15 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> On 2024-09-15 06:30, Enrico Papaloma wrote:
>>> Instead of waiting for the phone to find the network and connect to it,
>>> especially when there is a long list of available networks that have been
>>> already connected to, is there a way to make a home screen icon to quickly
>>> connect to a definite wi-fi network ap (without using the settings)?
>>
>> Have a look a what widgets your phone has. Look for the one named
>> "settings". Then you have to select what setting you want it to
>> activate. There is one named "internet" which is close but not what you
>> want.
> 
> It seems only the Pixel has a widget that will automatically connect to a
> known unique BSSID/SSID pair, but I have a Samsung, which doesn't have it.
> https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/203734046/how-to-create-shortcut-for-hotspot-on-home-screen
> 
> Remember the home router is always set to not broadcast your BSSID/SSID
> pair, which is prudent not for security but for privacy reasons since then
> phones don't upload your unique BSSID/SSID pair to Internet databases.

No, I don't remember. You did not say this in your first post.
And no, my routers all are set too publish the SSID.

Should I say "Hello Arlen"? Now we can understand why your initial question.

You have a problem of your own creation.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143531

Enrico Papaloma, 2024-09-19 03:05:

[...]
> Remember the home router is always set to not broadcast your BSSID/SSID
> pair, which is prudent not for security but for privacy reasons since then
> phones don't upload your unique BSSID/SSID pair to Internet databases.

Why do you think, that the phone won't do this, when it is *connected*
to that SSID?

> So two things are set which most people don't know why they'd set them.
> (1) The home router is set to NOT BROADCAST your unique BSSID/SSID pair.
> (2) The phone is set to NOT AUTO CONNECT to any known wi-fi access points.
> 
> Those are set for privacy. 
> Not for security.

What has auto-connect to do with privacy if you are using your own WiFi
network?

> Most people don't understand the difference, but the end result is if you
> leave auto connect on the default setting, then your phone will constantly
> shout out your unique BSSID/SSID pair everywhere you go in the world.

Do you have a source where one can learn more about this?

> That allows anyone with even minimum skills to track your every movement.
> I don't want that.

With even "minimum skills"? How?

-- 
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143535

On 9/28/2024 6:39 AM, Arno Welzel wrote:
>> Remember the home router is always set to not broadcast your BSSID/SSID
>> pair, which is prudent not for security but for privacy reasons since then
>> phones don't upload your unique BSSID/SSID pair to Internet databases.
> 
> Why do you think, that the phone won't do this, when it is *connected*
> to that SSID?

Good question. I don't know the full answer but I suspect the correct
answer has a lot to do with the word "this" in your sentence.

What, exactly, do you mean, by "this"? (See what I mean, below.)

What you're saying, and which I agree may be happening, is if you grep the
packets emanating from the phone "during" a connection to your WAP, the
BSSID is likely being ping-ponged back and forth, hidden in those packets.

That's explicitly why I said a war driver can "see" your BSSID, but not a
"normal" user whose phone is simply configured for a default Google setup.

But I have auto-connect turned off, so the phone is not "looking" for any
WAP, and therefore once the phone is disconnected from that WAP, it stops
sending those packets containing the BSSID of the home router WAP.

Given that situation, I suspect the correct answer to your excellent
question is that the packets are fundamentally different when a phone is
"looking" to connect to a WAP versus when the phone "is" connected to it.

While I can't control other people's phones, they are set up by Google to
look for the "I'm here!" packet (which I'll call the "broadcast" packet).

And while I can't control nefarious stores like the Cannabis store or the
Pawn shop, they too are looking at the "Are you there?" packets I assume.

In my setup there is no "I'm here!" packet coming from my home router.
And in my setup there is no "Where are you?" packet coming from the phone.

>> So two things are set which most people don't know why they'd set them.
>> (1) The home router is set to NOT BROADCAST your unique BSSID/SSID pair.
>> (2) The phone is set to NOT AUTO CONNECT to any known wi-fi access points.
>> 
>> Those are set for privacy. 
>> Not for security.
> 
> What has auto-connect to do with privacy if you are using your own WiFi
> network?

Most people don't understand a thing about wireless networking and how it
impacts their privacy, so I'm not surprised you don't know how it works.

I can't teach you a course in networking here, but the simplest way to
answer your question is to first patiently explain that most phones are set
to auto-connect to a known WAP if it sees it, and most routers are set to
broadcast the WAP's presence, but that's not the situation in my setup.

The router is set up to not broadcast the WAP's presence, which is done to
keep the phones that pass by the home from picking it up (by default).

The phone is set to connect to that "hidden network" but not to reconnect.
That's done to keep the Cannabis store from picking up my unique home WAP's
BSSID while I'm away from home. Together, it's three things for privacy.

 [1] Home WAP set up as hidden network (it doesn't broadcast availability)
 [2] Phone set up to connect to the hidden network (credentials are saved)
 [3] But phone is also set up to never auto connect (it doesn't look)

I could skip step [2] above but that would be inconvenient in daily use.

>> Most people don't understand the difference, but the end result is if you
>> leave auto connect on the default setting, then your phone will constantly
>> shout out your unique BSSID/SSID pair everywhere you go in the world.
> 
> Do you have a source where one can learn more about this?

It's basic stuff. Nothing I've said is incorrect so it's everywhere.
 
>> That allows anyone with even minimum skills to track your every movement.
>> I don't want that.
> 
> With even "minimum skills"? How?

Again, this is kid's stuff. It's basic networking. Very simple. Look it up.

We didn't even get into MAC randomization where by default, newer phones
randomize any given access point connection MAC (set for life), and if you
tweak Developer options, Androids randomize the MAC on every connection.

Why do you think that is a fundamental part of Android privacy nowadays?

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143538

On 2024-09-28 15:10, Enrico Papaloma wrote:
> On 9/28/2024 6:39 AM, Arno Welzel wrote:


> The phone is set to connect to that "hidden network" but not to reconnect.
> That's done to keep the Cannabis store from picking up my unique home WAP's
> BSSID while I'm away from home. Together, it's three things for privacy.
> 
>   [1] Home WAP set up as hidden network (it doesn't broadcast availability)
>   [2] Phone set up to connect to the hidden network (credentials are saved)
>   [3] But phone is also set up to never auto connect (it doesn't look)

And this is why we told you that we do not need to tap anywhere to connect.

As soon as we get in range of home, the phone connects to it, very fast.

You did not explain in your first post what you were doing that is so 
different from what people do. People do not need a home icon to tap to 
connect to home WiFi. The phone is faster than humans in doing this on 
its own, unless you do things to impede normal working.

And as you changed your name yet another time, we could not remember 
what you do.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143541

Enrico Papaloma, 2024-09-28 15:10:

> On 9/28/2024 6:39 AM, Arno Welzel wrote:
>>> Remember the home router is always set to not broadcast your BSSID/SSID
>>> pair, which is prudent not for security but for privacy reasons since then
>>> phones don't upload your unique BSSID/SSID pair to Internet databases.
>>
>> Why do you think, that the phone won't do this, when it is *connected*
>> to that SSID?
> 
> Good question. I don't know the full answer but I suspect the correct
> answer has a lot to do with the word "this" in your sentence.
> 
> What, exactly, do you mean, by "this"? (See what I mean, below.)

In my sentence "this" means "upload your unique BSSID/SSID pair to
Internet databases".

[...]
> But I have auto-connect turned off, so the phone is not "looking" for any
> WAP, and therefore once the phone is disconnected from that WAP, it stops
> sending those packets containing the BSSID of the home router WAP.

Yes, but as soon as you connect, this is not the case any longer. So
your *own* WiFi network will be known.

> Given that situation, I suspect the correct answer to your excellent
> question is that the packets are fundamentally different when a phone is
> "looking" to connect to a WAP versus when the phone "is" connected to it.

The phone will automatically see any broadcasted SSIDs and connect to it
when *when* it knows that SSID. There is no need to broadcast anything
at all.

> While I can't control other people's phones, they are set up by Google to
> look for the "I'm here!" packet (which I'll call the "broadcast" packet).
> 
> And while I can't control nefarious stores like the Cannabis store or the
> Pawn shop, they too are looking at the "Are you there?" packets I assume.

You assume wrong. A WiFi router does not send any "are you here" packet.
It will usally just broadcast the SSID and all clients which know the
SSID might try to connect to it.

[...]
>> What has auto-connect to do with privacy if you are using your own WiFi
>> network?
> 
> Most people don't understand a thing about wireless networking and how it
> impacts their privacy, so I'm not surprised you don't know how it works.
> 
> I can't teach you a course in networking here, but the simplest way to
> answer your question is to first patiently explain that most phones are set
> to auto-connect to a known WAP if it sees it, and most routers are set to
> broadcast the WAP's presence, but that's not the situation in my setup.

Just name a website where all this is explained.

[...]
>> Do you have a source where one can learn more about this?
> 
> It's basic stuff. Nothing I've said is incorrect so it's everywhere.

So then it should be easy to name at least one of the websites which are
"everywhere".

[...]
>>> That allows anyone with even minimum skills to track your every movement.
>>> I don't want that.
>>
>> With even "minimum skills"? How?
> 
> Again, this is kid's stuff. It's basic networking. Very simple. Look it up.

No - *you* claim something, then *you* name the sources.


-- 
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143543

On 9/29/2024 9:03 PM, Arno Welzel wrote:
>> What, exactly, do you mean, by "this"? (See what I mean, below.)
> 
> In my sentence "this" means "upload your unique BSSID/SSID pair to
> Internet databases".

You seem to be intelligent in that you've looked up how it works, 
so that's good as it's worth it for me to try to explain networking.

All of this information is on the Internet but you have to know what to
look for and you have to know what kinds of specific questions to ask.

The upload of your BSSID/SSID (only the unique BSSID matters) doesn't
happen from your phone so much as from everyone else's phone.

It also happens from your phone if you let Google do it.
But you have total control over that so it shouldn't do it.

>> But I have auto-connect turned off, so the phone is not "looking" for any
>> WAP, and therefore once the phone is disconnected from that WAP, it stops
>> sending those packets containing the BSSID of the home router WAP.
> 
> Yes, but as soon as you connect, this is not the case any longer. So
> your *own* WiFi network will be known.

You need to think about the situation at home being DIFFERENT from the
situation away from home - and you need to realize the situation is
DIFFERENT depending on how you set up your home router's access point.

In my situation, when I'm at home, the router is not shouting out the
access point BSSID so it's not being uploaded to Internet databases.

However, that means in my case, I need to either connect manually (entering
in the passphrase & SSID for example) every time I connect, or, I need to
press an existing saved network, which is set to not auto connect again.

From what I know of networking, in that case, the packets will certainly
show the BSSID but not in the broadcast sense - which is what the Internet
databases are obtaining from every Android phone that drives by your home.

Only wardrivers will see them, and that's something you can't prevent
directly, but randomizing every BSSID by access point (which Android now
does by default) and by every connection (which is set in Developer
options) goes a long way in preventing wardrivers making use of the BSSID.

You seem to be aware of this MAC randomization feature, which negates (we
hope) most of the threat from those wardrivers sniffing all the packets.

>> Given that situation, I suspect the correct answer to your excellent
>> question is that the packets are fundamentally different when a phone is
>> "looking" to connect to a WAP versus when the phone "is" connected to it.
> 
> The phone will automatically see any broadcasted SSIDs and connect to it
> when *when* it knows that SSID. There is no need to broadcast anything
> at all.

Not when it's a hidden access point.

The good news is you seem to have subsequently looked up how networking
works, so you realize I have been saying correctly how it works all along.

Any phone not already set up for that hidden access point doesn't even see
that hidden access point - which is the whole point of making APs hidden.

As for your own phone, for convenience, your own phone is set to remember
the access point, but your own phone is also set to NOT auto reconnect.

Any other pairing settings will defeat the purpose as the router must be
set to hide the access point (to prevent upload into Internet databases,
whether or not you use "_nomap") and at the same time, your own phone is
usually set for convenience to "remember" that hidden access point
credentials, but to never automatically connect to it (which is what
prevents your phone from shouting out the "Are you here?" command when
you're at the local cannabis shop buying that classic bong of the 70s).

You do not have to set your phone to remember the hidden connection, but
then you'd have to enter your SSID & passphrase every time you get home.

>> While I can't control other people's phones, they are set up by Google to
>> look for the "I'm here!" packet (which I'll call the "broadcast" packet).
>> 
>> And while I can't control nefarious stores like the Cannabis store or the
>> Pawn shop, they too are looking at the "Are you there?" packets I assume.
> 
> You assume wrong. A WiFi router does not send any "are you here" packet.

Since I can tell you know how basic networking works at the highest level,
I think what's confusing you is there are DIFFERENT ways to set it all up.

Under a normal setup, with the router access point not hidden, and with the
phone set up to automatically reconnect to that known access point, your
router DOES advertise the availability of the "I'm here" packet.

That router "I'm here" packet is what most Android phones driving by your
house pick up and send to Internet databases (even if you append "_nomap").

> It will usally just broadcast the SSID and all clients which know the
> SSID might try to connect to it.

Yes. I knew you understood the highest level of basic networking, which
everyone knows, which is that if you set your home router to not hide your
access point, then the router screams out "I'm here" to all the world.

The Android phones driving by your home use that "I'm here" packet to
upload your GPS location and unique BSSID to the Internet databases.

This happens whether or not you append "_nomap" or "_optout_" to the SSID.

This happens BECAUSE of two things, one of which is you allowed your router
to broadcast the "I'm here" packet, and the Android defaults allow the
phone to upload those "I'm here" packets into Internet databases.

On my setup, that does not happen.

>> I can't teach you a course in networking here, but the simplest way to
>> answer your question is to first patiently explain that most phones are set
>> to auto-connect to a known WAP if it sees it, and most routers are set to
>> broadcast the WAP's presence, but that's not the situation in my setup.
> 
> Just name a website where all this is explained.

You didn't google first. And yet, nothing I've said has been wrong.

>>> Do you have a source where one can learn more about this?
>> 
>> It's basic stuff. Nothing I've said is incorrect so it's everywhere.
> 
> So then it should be easy to name at least one of the websites which are
> "everywhere".

My fee to teach people who don't google, is $200 an hour.

>>>> That allows anyone with even minimum skills to track your every movement.
>>>> I don't want that.
>>>
>>> With even "minimum skills"? How?
>> 
>> Again, this is kid's stuff. It's basic networking. Very simple. Look it up.
> 
> No - *you* claim something, then *you* name the sources.

This is tantamount to claiming I'm a liar - which - is an unsound
assumption for you since it's clear you didn't even google for it once.

First google it. Otherwise pay me my $200/hour.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143550

On 2024-09-30 00:30, Enrico Papaloma wrote:
> On 9/29/2024 9:03 PM, Arno Welzel wrote:
>>> What, exactly, do you mean, by "this"? (See what I mean, below.)

...

>>> Again, this is kid's stuff. It's basic networking. Very simple. Look it up.
>>
>> No - *you* claim something, then *you* name the sources.
> 
> This is tantamount to claiming I'm a liar - which - is an unsound
> assumption for you since it's clear you didn't even google for it once.

Post an exact google search string which produces the information.

> 
> First google it. Otherwise pay me my $200/hour.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#143558

Enrico Papaloma, 2024-09-30 00:30:

> On 9/29/2024 9:03 PM, Arno Welzel wrote:
>>> What, exactly, do you mean, by "this"? (See what I mean, below.)

Please do not remove quote introductions, thank you!

[...]
>>>>> That allows anyone with even minimum skills to track your every movement.
>>>>> I don't want that.
>>>>
>>>> With even "minimum skills"? How?
>>>
>>> Again, this is kid's stuff. It's basic networking. Very simple. Look it up.
>>
>> No - *you* claim something, then *you* name the sources.
> 
> This is tantamount to claiming I'm a liar - which - is an unsound
> assumption for you since it's clear you didn't even google for it once.

No, I do not say, that you are a liar. I just asked for *one* example
for a website with information about the things you talk about.

> First google it. Otherwise pay me my $200/hour.

Why should I Google for anything? I wont't find *exactly* what you are
referring to and in the end you will tell me that I found the wrong sites.

About payments - nope, I won't pay you to add sources for your own claims.

-- 
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

Page 1 of 2  [1] 2  Next page →

Back to top | Article view | comp.mobile.android

csiph-web