Mobile data plans are getting cheaper by the day but nothing beats the good old Wi-Fi hotspot. Unlike your data plan, Wi-Fi hotspots are free and offer unlimited internet access. You can now watch FIFA World Cup matches on the move without having to worry about exhausting your mobile data plan.
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While Android phones come with a Wi-Fi manager that will scan your surrounding area for hotspots, it has failed to evolve beyond a point and offer only basic features.
- This WiFi hotspot app is fast and secure enough to protect your data. This app is an absolute tool for any iOS user, but the negative aspect is that you are required to have a second helper app on your Mac or PC for them to receive tethering. How To Turn Your Mac into WiFi Hotspot. VPN (virtual private network) is something.
- App is FREE for 3 simultaneous (online) users as we want to help people safely share their 3G/4G Internet to WiFi users. It allows parents to control their kids Internet usage. There is a PRO license that unlocks SSID feature and enables more users (limited by Android to 10).
Today, I will share some of the best Wi-Fi hotspot apps for Android that will allow you to find free hotspots nearby (think Starbucks and Google here) along with their passwords.
1. Avast Wi-Fi Finder
Avast offers one of the best antivirus apps for the Android platform but that is not the only product in their arsenal. They also have a Wi-Fi finder app that works right out of box.
It comes with a built-in map feature which will point out all the Wi-Fi hotspots available in the area. You can check whether they are secure or not. There is a speed test feature that will help you determine the fastest hotspot to connect to but in most cases, Avast Wi-Fi Finder will point out the fastest network by default.
The app will rate each Wi-Fi network on privacy and security because you know what they say: data is the new oil.
Finally, there is an offline mode to save all the hotspots in case you are traveling abroad and want to save on data. The app is free to use but comes with ads.
Download Avast Wi-Fi Finder/GettyImages-945440402-5bef066246e0fb0026a5650f.jpg "Wifi hotspot app download")
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Read More2. Wi-Fi Map
While Avast Wi-Fi Finder is a good app, it falls short when it comes to password protected Wi-Fi networks. This is where Wi-Fi Maps comes into the picture. Think of it as a social network where users share passwords of Wi-Fi hotspots available to the general public.
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The app claims to have a network of about 100 million users who have shared over 120 million Wi-Fi networks. That’s a lot of hotspots.
It comes with an interactive map which will display all the hotspots available in the city. Below the map, you will find a list that will display hotspots’ location with distance.
Wi-Fi Maps works pretty much wherever you go including countries like Africa and Europe. Whether you are sitting in Starbucks or a mall, you won’t have to ask for the password anymore again.
The offline mode will save hotspots with passwords for the entire city, so you don’t need an active internet connection to locate them. Sign up for a free account to share new hotspots in your area with the community and help it grow.
The app is free to use and you can remove ads for $1.99.
Download Wi-Fi Map3. Free Wi-Fi Map (Wiman)
Wiman, as it is popularly called by developers and users, is another Wi-Fi hotspot finder app with a database of over 60 million hotspots worldwide. Like Wi-Fi Map, Wiman comes with an interactive map, a strong user base, offline maps, and network and speed testing tools. Unlike the former, Wiman has a beautiful UI that is a joy to use and navigate.
One feature that I like is the ability to share your Wi-Fi with the community. So, if you have a shop with Wi-Fi access, you can use the app to list your location and password for other users.
As a user, you can set favorites and priorities which means if there are more than one Wi-Fi hotspots in the area, you will always be connected to the one you have shortlisted.
There is support for Android wear too which should make life easier. The app is ad-supported but otherwise free.
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Read More4. WifiMapper (Open Signal)
WifiMapper, by Open Signal, is probably the most popular name in the list. A crowdsourced solution that will help you identify Wi-Fi hotspots in your area. An active user community regularly updates the database with reviews and passwords of hotspots they have discovered.
What makes WifiMapper even more useful is not the minimalist and functional UI or the 500 million strong hotspots list, but the app’s integration with Foursquare. This provides you with additional information about the place like food and drinks quality, menus, and so on.
If you are looking for even more, I suggest you download Open Signal. Apart from the an interactive Wi-Fi map, the app will also locate and display all the cell towers in the area. This means no more signal issues or call drops. Open Signal also comes with a navigation tab. A big blue arrow that will point you in the right direction.
One caveat is the inability to download city maps to use offline, however, the developers have mentioned it in their list of future updates.
Both the apps are free to download and use and there are no ads whatsoever. I would recommend you to use both the apps to get the most out of it.
Download WifiMapper5. WiFi Finder
WiFi Finder is another Wi-Fi hotspot finder app that will help you locate free Wi-Fi hotspots in your vicinity. It works just like any other hotspot app but without the bells and whistles. You won’t find an active community to connect with or any social media integration.
There is however a way to add new Wi-Fi networks and you can download hotspots for offline use but for an yearly fee of $4.99. You can also filter hotspots based on categories like cafeterias, malls, offices, and so on. This will help you plan your outing better.
The app is not exactly a winner when you compare it to the likes of Open Signal and WiFi Maps, but still an option if nothing else works.
Download WiFi FinderWrapping Up: Hotspot Apps for Android
Internet has become a part of our lives so much so that we can't imagine a world without it. The number of Wi-Fi hotspots are on the rise and we need an app to stay updated on their location and performance.
Are you looking for a browser-based Wi-Fi hotspot finder? Check out the link below for more details.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextWiFi Stumbler: Web Based WiFi Hotspot LocatorAlso See#gps #wifi
Did You Know
In 1995, the first GPS navigation system was introduced in a car.
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MAC address filtering is one of those controversial features that some people swear by, whereas others say it’s a complete waste of time and resources. So which is it? In my opinion, it’s both, depending on what you are trying to accomplish by using it.
Unfortunately, this feature is marketed as a security enhancement that you can use if you are technically-savvy and willing to put in the effort. The real fact of the matter is that it really provides no extra security and can actually make your WiFi network less secure! Don’t worry, I’ll explain more about that below.
However, it’s not completely useless. There are some legitimate cases where you can use MAC address filtering on your network, but it won’t add additional security. Instead, it’s more of an administration tool that you can use to control whether or not your kids can access the Internet at certain times during the day or if you want to manually add devices to your network, which you can monitor.
Why It Doesn’t Make Your Network More Secure
The main reason why it doesn’t make your network more secure is because it’s really easy to spoof a MAC address. A network hacker, which can literally be anyone since the tools are so easy to use, can easily figure out the MAC addresses on your network and then spoof that address onto their computer.
So, you may ask, how can they get your MAC address if they can’t connect to your network? Well, that’s an inherent weakness with WiFi. Even with a WPA2 encrypted network, the MAC addresses on those packets are not encrypted. This means that anyone with network sniffing software installed and a wireless card in range of your network, can easily grab all the MAC addresses that are communicating with your router.
They can’t see the data or anything like that, but they don’t really have to break the encryption to access your network. Why? Because now that they have your MAC address, they can spoof it and then send out special packets to your router called disassociation packets, which will disconnect your device from the wireless network.
Then, the hackers’ device will try to connect to the router and will be accepted because it is now using your valid MAC address. This is why I said earlier that this feature can make your network less secure because now the hacker doesn’t have to bother trying to crack your WPA2 encrypted password at all! They simply have to pretend to be a trusted computer.
Again, this can be done by someone who little to no knowledge of computers. If you just Google crack WiFi using Kali Linux, you’ll get tons of tutorials on how to hack into your neighbor’s WiFi within a few minutes. So do those tools always work?
The Best Way to Stay Secure
Those tools will work, but not if you are using WPA2 encryption along with a fairly long WiFi password. It’s really important that you don’t use a simple and short WiFi password because all a hacker does when using these tools is a brute force attack.
Free Wifi Hotspot App
With a brute force attack, they will capture the encrypted password and try to crack it using the fastest machine and the biggest dictionary of passwords they can find. If your password is secure, it can take years for the password to be cracked. Always try to use WPA2 with AES only. You should avoid the WPA [TKIP] + WPA2 [AES] option as it’s much less secure.
However, if you have MAC address filtering enabled, the hacker can bypass all that trouble and simply grab your MAC address, spoof it, disconnect you or another device on your network from the router and connect freely. Once they are in, they can do all kinds of damage and access everything on your network.
Other Solutions to the Problem
But some people will still say it’s so useful to control who can get on my network, especially since everyone doesn’t know how to use the tools I mentioned above. OK, that’s a point, but a better solution to control outsiders who want to connect to your network is to use a guest WiFi network.
Connect Mac To Hotspot
Just about all modern routers have a guest WiFi feature that will allow you to let others connect to your network, but not let them see anything on your home network. If your router doesn’t support it, you can just purchase a cheap router and attach that to your network with a separate password and separate IP address range.
Wifi Hotspot Apps Android
It’s also worth noting that other WiFi security “enhancements” like disabling SSID broadcasting will also make your network LESS secure, not more secure. Another one people have told me they try is to use static IP addressing. Again, as long as a hacker can figure out your network IP range, they can use any address in that range too on their machine, regardless of whether you have assigned that IP or not.
Create Wifi Hotspot Mac
Hopefully, this gives you a clear idea of what you can use MAC addressing filtering for and what expectations to have. If you feel differently, feel free to let us know in the comments. Enjoy!
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