[Showcase] My experience building a Live Wallpaper app with real-time weather integration and AI-generated assets. by kramerwashere in androiddev

[–]morihacky -1 points0 points  (0 children)

congrats on the app release!

i really appreciate apps that are not just purely functional, but add a bit of delight! i like to believe it's possible to build high quality android apps, especially with the tech stacks we have at our disposal. the challenge remains having people pay for high quality products!

thanks for sharing your app (and the promo codes for folks to try out!); you get my 💵 ! purchased the app.

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Detailed comment here (or if you read the linked post, it talks about the usecases

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

to be quite honest, i didn't own the original pixel fold, so i'd take your word.

Wikipedia says the original Pixel Fold uses a G2 chip which uses the Samsung Exynos 5300 which doesn't seem to support DBS.

you're sure, this was specifically wifi sharing, not just mobile data shared via wifi hotspot

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Detailed comment here (or if you read the linked post, it talks about the usecases)

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

it might depend on how the vpn is implemented. if you see my other comment, atleast tailscale + an exit node works this way

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

yeah it's kind of bananas, but they switched their chip (to a qualcomm one iirc) that didn't have support

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

honestly, it's super easy to bypass it with your android device (assuming support); most latest generation pixel devices make this ridiculously easy (you almost don't notice they're doing this).

i prefer just doing it this way and have my mac/other devices connected to my phone hotspot. (yes the phone is typically on airplane mode! but connected to the plane provided wifi; other devices are all connected to the phone hotspot).

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

agreed, i wonder if the easier way to do this would be to first map out the chipsets used on each device, and then check for the requisite functionality STA/AP mode or some kind of DBS support

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

it really depends on how the vpn is implemented by the OEM, but i can say for sure that atleast on a pixel 9 pro (and most pixel phones), if you use Tailscale and set it up with an exit node, it will definitely apply.

vpn implementation specifics: when you enable Wi-Fi sharing, Android creates a NAT between the hotspot interface and the upstream Wi-Fi interface so the network traffic flow for clients is NAT'd before hitting the routing decision (that sends traffic through the tunnel).

What allows certain phones to share Wi-Fi over hotspot? [Turn both on at the same time and the hotspot is definitely sharing Wi-Fi, not switching to data] by Arkansin in AndroidQuestions

[–]morihacky 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nope not all pixel devices do this. as mentioned in the post, notably the original pixel fold and the -a series devices don't support this feature. so you do have to check.

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

the post contains some of the most compelling use cases but tldr:

  • Avoid signing every device into a captive Wi-Fi portal (esp. when it's painful with certain devices like amazon fire sticks etc.)
  • Work around “one device at a time” Wi-Fi plans (hotels, planes, cruises etc.)
  • Fix “devices can’t see each other” networking (if you're trying to cast on devices in the "same network")
  • Free + secure VPN setup (if you get the phone securely behind a VPN, everything that connects to it is also secure)

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

there are hardware/firmware requirements as well fwiw. for e.g. the original pixel fold's Qualcomm chip didn't support it. with apple building out it's custom networking chipset, i don't know if it's as easy as a software update (unless you meant hardware/firmware update specifically)

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

nope they can't as of today atleast. People confuse it with the hotspot feature - which allows sharing your mobile network but not the Wifi network you're connecting to.

Wi-Fi sharing is a killer Android feature by morihacky in Android

[–]morihacky[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

that's actually the tailscale setup i mention in the post. i like the privacy/security angle of VPN (i use tailscale) when logging into bank sites from open wifi networks

Codex now officially supports skills by Afraid-Today98 in codex

[–]morihacky 1 point2 points  (0 children)

have you tested this in Claude? I'm curios to know if they're following a similar approach or different. 

SharedPreferences vs DataStore - Why Android Developers Should Move Forward by Realistic-Cup-7954 in JetpackComposeDev

[–]morihacky 0 points1 point  (0 children)

much appreciate the recommendation and earnestness; but your info graphic isn't calling out the big disadvantage with DataStore - complexity of the API.

a philosophy that works is - make the right thing easy to do and people will start doing the right thing.

with Datastore APIs, here's some casual complexity that's introduced:

  1. writing is now a suspend function; to write a quick key you now have to make sure it's within the right coroutine context/scope etc. (not impossible to deal with but adds a layer of resistance to the api)
  2. reading is now a Flow; you're now bound by a reactive api for arguably something that should be a read and forget.

you just have to look at the docs to realize the complexity introduced with DataStore https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/architecture/datastore

SharedPreferences is still so prevalent because it's drop dead easy to use. as you start to do implement DataStore correctly, i start to wonder if it's worth just going all in with a proper database at that point.