Is there a way to disable/remove the hotspot functionality from a Samsung phone?
We are using them for our gate security, wifi connected to an ACL locked AP for usafe and security purposes. The phones have a SIM for backup if the AP goes offline. However, the security personal are activating the hotspot for their "buddies" to connect, hence the question to completely disable the hotspot function.
All assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.
I do not believe it can be removed or disabled, but you can change the SSID and password. Go to the hotspot settings, tap mobile hotspot, change the information for the network name and the password. I fail to see, though, how they can turn on your hotspot and gain access to it, since the phone has a default password that would be extremely hard to guess and remember. What makes you think it is security activating it, rather than some random neighbor? One has to be in close proximity to your phone for the hotspot to be usable, just like you have to be in your home or within range of your router to use your home network. Unless you live alone, I'd sooner think it was someone in your household or someone within 25 feet of your phone. If you live in an apartment/condo, it's a neighbor who is doing it. In this age of unlimited data, and wi-fi hotspots everywhere, I don't really think there would be a need for anyone to latch on to someone else's phone's hotspot unless they were trying to hack into your phone.
In any case, change the network name and password and make sure it's turned off at all times except when you, yourself, are using it. You can also set a data limit to zero, and then it's unusable and in that same section, you can see which devices are using it at any given time. In the mobile hotspot settings, tap on "mobile data shared today" and then you can see who's connected and set your data limit.
I am meaning the hotspot function on the phone itself. We have the phone connected via a wifi AP to our company network. The AP is locked to the phones MAC address. No other devices are allowed to connect to the AP. There is a company SIM in the phone for backup if the AP goes down.
Unfortunately, in South Africa, we do not have unlimited data and wifi hotspots and our mobile data is rather expensive, hence the connectivity to a company AP.
The Security guard has the phone for work purposes such as stock and vehicle tracking. They have already tried giving the AP wifi password to their "friends" but the cannot connect due to the AP's ACL, so they turn on the phone hotspot and get the friends to connect to that so that they can do their personal stuff on the company SIM card's mobile data.
If it is not a function that can be disabled in, say, "developer mode", I'll have to fall back on my other option of some sort of "Kiosk Mode" to limit functionality.
If you are in South Africa, you will probably get more help from a forum for your region. You have landed in the U.S. forum and, since hardware and software and regulations differ between countries, you are best served by looking for the support site for South Africa.
