android-instant-tetheringTethering and turning our phones into WiFi hotspots is handy when you need to do some work on your laptop and the current WiFi is either too slow or not stable or simply not available. However sometimes setting up a WiFi hotspot can be a bit finicky but not to worry as Google seems to have a solution.

As discovered by the folks at Android Police, it seems that with Google Play Services 10.2, Google has introduced a new feature called “Instant tethering” to Android. So what is this feature about? Basically it will attempt to link up devices that are associated with your Google account, like if you have a Chromebook, an Android smartphone (or smartphones), or a tablet.

So when a connection drops for one device, it will ask if you want to tether to your other devices instead without any additional setup required as it will rely on Bluetooth for the connection. We guess the idea is that you’ll be able to seamlessly continue doing your work or using your internet without having to go through the fuss of setting up the tether again.

That being said, Android Police notes that this is a server side enabled feature so even if you have Google Play Services 10.2, you might not necessarily see it. Also they point out that the feature is being enabled on Nexus and Pixel devices running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, so perhaps that’s a requirement as well.

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