Tetherbug

When your Mac's Wi-Fi disconnects, Tetherbug turns on your Android phone's hotspot and your Mac joins it, the way Instant Hotspot works with an iPhone. No reaching for your phone, no tapping through settings.

How it works

• Your Mac and phone stay paired over Bluetooth. When the Mac's Wi-Fi disconnects and no known network is around, it asks the phone for its hotspot.

• Tetherbug turns the hotspot on through Shizuku, and your Mac joins it.

• The hotspot shows up in your Mac's Wi-Fi menu as a Personal Hotspot, with the link icon, just like an iPhone's.

• Once nothing has used the hotspot for a while, Android turns it off again. You choose how long.

What you need

• Android 13 or later

• Shizuku, which lets Tetherbug switch the hotspot without root

• A Mac with macOS 14 or later, running the free Tetherbug app for Mac: github.com/xav-ie/Tetherbug

Private by design

• Tetherbug has no internet access and collects no data.

• Only a Mac you've paired with your phone can see its status or turn its hotspot on, and the Bluetooth link between them is encrypted.

Open source under the MIT license: github.com/xav-ie/Tetherbug