How to set up a Chromecast without WiFi - The Happy Android

A few months ago we bought a Chromecast for a family member, an excellent gift! The problem is that this person lives in an area where installing an ADSL line costs a lot, so the only Internet signal he has is the data connection of his mobile phone. Can a Chromecast be configured to work without Wi-Fi?

The first thing to say is that by default Chromecast requires to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network than our smartphone to be able to receive content on TV. What happens then if we do not have a router at home, the Internet is down or the Wi-Fi does not work? The good thing is that, luckily, we can establish a small pass, and that is precisely what we will see in this little tutorial.

How to use a Chromecast without being connected to a Wi-Fi network

In essence, the trick is to "trick" the Chromecast device into thinking it is connected to Wi-Fi. We do not need to have a router or anything similar installed at home: it is enough that we have our phone at hand and an extra smartphone to carry out the trick in question.

1- Create an access point with your mobile

The first thing we will do is take that additional phone that we discussed and share the connection by creating a Wi-Fi access point.

• We open the settings menu of our Android mobile.
• Let's go until "Networks and Internet -> Wi-Fi Zone / Share connection”.
• Click on "WiFi access point"And activate the connection tab (by default it appears in"disabled”).
• We write down the name of the access point and the password on a paper or notepad.

In this way, we will have a Wi-Fi network to which we can connect the Chromecast for the first time and make the necessary settings on the device.

2- Initial configuration of the Chromecast

The second thing we will do is take our mobile (the one we will use to send content to the Chromecast) and install the Google Home app. This app is absolutely essential, since it is the tool that we will use to communicate with the Chromecast for the first time.

Once installed, we connect our mobile to the access point we just created in the previous step with the other phone. Then, we connect the Chromecast to the TV and open the Google Home app.

• In the lower menu, we go to the settings of "Bill”(Profile icon, located on the far right).
• We select "Configure or add -> Configure device -> New devices”.
• The system will automatically search for the Chromecast and try to establish a connection. When detected, it will be added to our list of Google Home devices.

After making this initial configuration, we can proceed to deactivate the Wi-Fi access point, since we will no longer need it.

3- Connect the mobile to the Chromecast

This last point is where the magic begins. One of the characteristics of Chromecast is that if it detects the Wi-Fi network with which it was initially configured, the device automatically connects to that wireless network.

What we are going to do is take advantage of this detail to trick the Chromecast into thinking that it is connecting to the same access point that we configured at the beginning of the tutorial.

To do this, we take the mobile that we are going to use to send content to the TV and we create a new access point. Of course, it is very important that we use the same name and password established in the previous smartphone (which we should have written down on paper) for this new access point.

In this way, the Chromecast will detect the Wi-Fi network and it will automatically connect to our mobile. From here, we only have to enter YouTube to send any video, or share the screen, photos, music and other content of the mobile so that they are played on the Chromecast without problems.

In case there is any doubt, here is a small graphic summary of the steps to follow.

Note: If we normally use the Chromecast with our home Wi-Fi and our problem is that we are traveling, we just need to create an access point on our mobile with the same credentials as our home Wi-Fi and the device will still connect.

If you have found this post useful and you want to start spreading your Chromecast, you may be interested in taking a look at the article "The 10 best applications for Chromecast."