Managing the devices on your hotspot
The Clients screen in Connectify Hotspot 27 lists every device that is on your hotspot or has joined it before, and lets you manage each one: rename it, see how much data it has used, turn its internet or local access off, set Gaming mode, or give it a fixed IP address. Click Clients in the left-hand rail to open it. While devices are connected, the rail shows how many there are next to Clients.
The device list
Devices are in two groups, each with a count:
- Connected: the devices on your hotspot now.
- Seen before: devices that joined your hotspot earlier and have left.
Each row shows the device's name, its IP address and maker, a small graph of its traffic over the last minute (connected devices only), and its data used on the right. A device that isn't allowed to use the internet has a No internet tag. If no device has joined yet, the screen says "No devices have joined yet."
The traffic graphs aren't shown with Bridged network access or in Wi-Fi repeater mode.
Devices Connectify can't identify
Most phones, and many tablets and laptops, join Wi-Fi networks with a private (random) hardware address instead of their real one. Connectify Hotspot works out a device's maker from its hardware address, so for these it shows Private address as the maker and a generic icon. Often the device's own name still says what it is, but some devices send a name that doesn't. To tell them apart, check the IP address shown on the device's Wi-Fi settings, then give it a name you'll recognize (see below).
Device details
Click a device to see its Device details panel on the right. The first device is selected when you open the screen.
At the top are the device's name and how long it has been connected ("Connected for 48 min"), or "Not connected" for a device under Seen before.
- Rename: click the pencil button, type a new name and click Save. Names longer than 20 characters are shortened. Save an empty name to go back to the device's own name.
- IP address: the copy button next to it copies the address to the clipboard.
- Data used: everything the device has downloaded and uploaded through your hotspot. It keeps adding up across sessions, and resets only when you remove the device. See How much data are my clients using?
- Traffic, last minute: how fast the device is downloading (↓) and uploading (↑) right now, with a graph. Connected devices only, and not with Bridged network access or in Wi-Fi repeater mode.
- Hardware address: the device's MAC address.
- Maker: the company that made the device's network adapter, or Private address.
Internet and local access
Two switches decide what the device can reach. They work on every edition, including Hotspot Lite, and change right away, even while the hotspot is running:
- Can use the internet: turn it off to keep the device off the internet. It can still reach this PC and other devices if the next switch is on.
- Can reach this PC and others: needed for file sharing, printing, casting and pinging between the device, your PC and other devices.
Learn more in Device access (firewall) options in Connectify Hotspot, including the switches that set this for all devices at once.
Gaming mode
Gaming mode forwards the ports a game console's online network needs. Choose Detect automatically (the default), PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Nintendo or Off. Only one device per network can have it at a time: the device that has it keeps it until it disconnects or you change its Gaming mode, and a device you set to a network yourself takes it over from one that was only detected automatically. Gaming mode isn't shown with Bridged network access. See Gaming Mode.
Fixed IP address (Hotspot MAX)
To give the device the same IP address every time it joins, type the last number of the address (2 to 254) under Fixed IP address and click Fix. The panel then shows, for example, "Fixed at .10". Click Automatic to undo it. This needs Hotspot MAX; on other editions it shows a MAX badge. It isn't shown with Bridged network access. See Custom DHCP Ranges and Static IP Addresses.
Remove
A device under Seen before has a Remove button. It takes the device off the list and resets its Data used. It does not block the device: if it joins again, it shows up again, with its count starting from zero.
There is no Block button
To keep a device off the internet, turn off its Can use the internet switch. The device stays on your hotspot, with a No internet tag in the list, until you turn the switch back on. To keep someone off your hotspot entirely, change your hotspot's password on the Hotspot screen.
On the Hotspot screen
While the hotspot is running, the On your hotspot now card on the Hotspot screen lists the connected devices, each with its IP address, maker, how long ago it joined, its traffic and its data used. The switch on each row is the same as that device's Can use the internet switch. At the bottom, "Seen before" counts the devices that have left, and Data used by these devices adds up the Data used of the devices on your hotspot now. All clients opens the Clients screen.
