Imagine as an iOS 11 owner being able to share your WiFi connection with friends or colleagues, but not have to give out the password. Such a scenario would surely be of use? Fortunately, on Monday at the WWDC, Apple presented such a feature as part of its latest mobile OS. Called the Share Your WiFi Feature, it will allow you to do just that, without having to hand over sensitive information.
iOS 11 Share Your WiFi Feature: The Details
On stage, Monday, Apple wowed the waiting world with a vision for iOS 11. One that includes greater customizability, flexibility, ease of setup, and a natural streamlined build, all of which are welcomed. As such this new version of the OS includes many automatic features that allow for the easy set up of features and account logins. And as we’ve already touched on, this also extends to WiFi networks.
How the Share Your WiFi feature works, is as follows, a friend visits your home. He or She has an iPhone running iOS 11; this would enable you to auto log them into your home WiFi network, with a single tap.
An Improvement?
Before iOS 11, it had become accepted practice, that to share a network connection, a password and other details had to be shared. Previously, there was no control within iOS over this part, as tethering via iOS was not possible. However, now, thanks to the improvements being delivered in iOS 11, iCloud is more intelligent and can deliver information in an encrypted manner.
Easy Setup
Want to invite a friend or family member to Share Your WiFi? Thankfully, Apple has done the work to make such an invitation easy to do and finalize. With what looks surprisingly like the interface used by the owners of AirPods, there is a pairing process.
Imagine this; you have an iPhone or iPad already connected by WiFi, a friend with another iOS running device enters your location. As they approach, on your connected device you will see a pop-up card. This card will contain information requesting that the new iOS device be connected too.
It is at this point that with a single tap you will be able to send across encrypted login details to the new iOS 11 device. And, as such your friend or family member will be able to share your internet connection.
Security and Peace Of Mind
Along with the obvious advantages of not having to physically look for your router login details each time you share. This new iOS feature also increases your security. How? It removes the need to share your router access codes as plain text and ensures future security.
The only requirement is that the iPhone or iPad wanting to connect is unlocked and ready to receive the encrypted login details.
Now, while this may not be a feature that you will use often, it does prove that Apple is looking to improve the usability of iOS. As such, you can expect this latest version of the mobile operating system to contain many more surprises.
