Probably everyone has used a public Wi-Fi network at least once. Perhaps it is not as secure as a private connection, but at airports, train stations and other public places, this is often almost the only way out, especially for users with a fixed volume of traffic at a tariff from the operator. However, for the majority, the main problem when using public Wi-Fi networks is not the potential danger of strangers reading the traffic, but the passage of authorization.
Public Wi-Fi will get easier in Android 11
With the release of Android 11, authorization in public Wi-Fi networks via web resources will become easier. This is indicated by the second beta version of the update. If now users, in order to connect, have to wait until the network automatically opens a website on their smartphone to confirm the connection, which sometimes simply does not happen due to failures, then this problem will be solved this fall. Google decided to make life easier for users in two ways at once. The first is by introducing a single API into the OS, which will always open the authorization site from the routers that have passed the adaptation. The second is by adding a special button to the connection settings, which will allow you to call it manually, even if it did not open itself.
What is a Captive portal
In Android 11, the site for authorization on the Wi-Fi network will almost always open. And if not, then it can be called manually
A captive portal is a network service (the same authorization site) that requires a user who connects to a public Wi-Fi network to perform certain actions that give him access to the Internet. Sometimes it can be a banal captcha input, sometimes it can be viewing ads, and sometimes it is going through registration in order to create an individual account. For some time now, registration in Russia in order to ensure the safety of the population has become mandatory. This way, administrators keep track of who has connected to the Wi-Fi network.
Now authorization sites in public Wi-Fi networks very often do not open not because of problems with equipment, but because of software failures. As a result, users, in order to connect to the Internet, are forced to perform various manipulations by calling this site. In some cases, a simple disconnection helps, and in some you need to follow the settings and delete the connection from memory, in order to then try to establish the connection again and provoke the appearance of the site. This happened due to the lack of a single API in Android. But in Android 11 it will appear. And if administrators do not adapt their networks for it, users will have the opportunity to call the site simply manually.
My phone won't connect to Wi-Fi
- To find this button, you need to go to 'Settings';
- Select Wi-Fi from the list of available tabs;
It is very, very easy to call the captive portal for authorization
- Find the desired network to which you are connecting and open it;
- In the window that opens, click the 'Open site' button and complete the connection.
Oddly enough, Google did not make the new API part of the Google Play services update, but decided to distribute it exclusively as part of Android 11. This will severely limit the range of devices whose owners can easily connect to public Wi-Fi networks. However, perhaps the whole point is in the complexity of the implementation of this mechanism, which requires binding to devices at the system level, and it is obviously simply impossible to achieve the necessary changes in the operating system by updating Google Play services.