The Wi-Fi connection in our homes or work areas, as is clear, is something totally private to which only we and those people we have authorized at some point in our home should have access. However, no matter how safe it is, it may be the case that someone outside of us manages to access it without our permission. In addition, there are surely several people who try to violate the security of our network to connect to it.
This is very common and happens every day, so it is not an isolated case. To our luck, we will be able to identify and block these possible intrusions from our Android phone. Wireless networks, practically in their entirety, are visible by simply activating this function on a device, leaving the door open to different users. Therefore, if you have the suspicion that they may be stealing your Wi-Fi from your home, it is probably because you have some clue that has led you to think about it. So it is time for you to learn to discover if it is true, in addition to remedying this problem.
the signs
It will not be a thought that suddenly comes to mind, the most normal thing in the world is that we have some other indication that has made us think that someone is stealing our connection. In general, we will find clear facts that can make us suspect that our network may be stolen by a person outside of us.
The first indication that will make us think of this possibility will be a clear decrease in Wi-Fi speed and performance . If this occurs, it is because the bandwidth is being shared with another device to which we are connected, which is possibly limiting our ability to download or upload files.
Although it will not be the only one that will lead us to think this. And it is that we also have a second indicative, which has to do with cuts in the connection, whether they are more or less continuous interruptions. In addition, and in the worst case, it could happen that we are left out of our network. In other words, the ‘ hacker ‘ has accessed our router and changed the password of our Wi-Fi router, so it will be impossible for us to connect to this network.
Luckily, there are several ways to check if we are really suffering from this problem. So you should pay close attention to be able to take action on the matter and put an end to it.
Check it with an app
To be able to find a possible intruder in our connection, the truth is that there is a very effective and simple way, and for this we will only need to have a mobile device that has Android at hand. Although it will not be with an exclusive function of this operating system, since we will have to resort to one of the apps that we will show you below.
The truth is that there are quite a few applications of this type available in the Play Store, although we bring you the three apps that could give you the best results when you check it out on your own. In addition, its operation will be quite similar in each of them, it is similar to all of them, giving us all a clear image of what is happening at all times in our Wi-Fi connection.
finger
One of the best options that we will find will be Fing , which can be downloaded completely free from Google Play. Once downloaded, we will have to click on Search for devices to start a complete scan of all the devices connected to our network.
And we should not be scared if we see unknown names, since it is possible that, although we do not recognize the name of one, it belongs to our house. Therefore, we must stop to think and analyze one by one to identify tablets, Smart TVs or even other connected mobiles or smart devices. It will even show us the MAC address , which we will need later to block this supposed intruder.
IP Tools
The second app that we bring you is called IP Tools. This is a security tool that will also be very useful for our Wi-Fi network. Basically it provides us with a significant number of functionalities with which to improve the security of our wireless connection.
Among the different options available in this free Google Play app is that of informing us if there is someone connected to our network without our consent, as well as the fact that it will tell us their MAC address at all times. We can even use this software to correct or search for problems in our connection.
Who uses my Wi-Fi
Another app that probably sounds familiar to Android users is the Who Uses My Wi-Fi app. However, of the three options, it is the one that will give us the worst results. Although it is still an alternative to check if the results of the previous applications were correct. However, this option is more difficult to understand, since, apart from being in English, it has an interface that will not be as easy to understand for a user who does not have this type of knowledge.
Once we enter this free Google Play tool, it will directly show us the devices that appear connected. However, and unlike the other apps, this one will not tell us the name of the specific device, but most of these appear as Unknow, so we must choose to check if the MAC address is the same or has found a possible intruder that the other tools did not detect.
How to know?
After seeing that these tools for Android mobiles show you those devices that are connected, you have to know that your own devices may appear with strange names (although Fing will be more precise), but you may not know how to identify them. For this reason, you should always take into account, for example, if you have some of the following in your home:
- PC.
- Mobile or tablets.
- chrome cast
- Smartwatches and smartbands.
- smart speaker
- Console.
- SmartTV.
Although they won’t be the only possibilities, since everything that you are going to connect to your network can always appear in the Android application itself to analyze your Wi-Fi connection. Therefore, you should check it well before you panic.
Kick it
The applications that we have just shown you also have an option to fulfill this objective. Thanks to these apps we can expel someone who connects without permission to our Wi-Fi. So, if we see one that we do not know, we will have the option to expel it.
However, by knowing your MAC address , we can also act manually on our own. To do this, we must access the router configuration from the Android mobile. If you know how to enter it, write this address in the URL bar of your browser : 192.168.1.1. It will take you to a page where you will have to log in by entering the user (in some cases it will not be necessary because Admin will appear by default) and the password that will come on the white label of your router.
When entering, in general, we will find a section called Connected Devices and even Disconnected Devices . Once we have reached this point, we will have to recover the MAC address of the supposed intruder to look for it in the list that the router itself will offer us. When we find it, we will only have to restrict its access to our Internet so that it can never connect again.
How to avoid it
To prevent the same thing from happening to us from now on, we will only have to take a series of security measures that will be easy to carry out. In addition, the principle of the previous method will be followed, since we will have to write 192.168.1.1 in our browser and then enter the username and password. And within the router configuration, we can now move on to the following tricks.
Change the name and hide it
Although each manufacturer has its own configuration page for its routers, we will give you a series of main points that should be enough for us to find the setting that will allow us to change the name of our connection. You just have to navigate through its menus until you find the Network name or Wi-Fi (SSID) section, which is the name with which your wireless connection will appear when you try to connect to it.
Once we get to this section, we will have to enter the name we want, in this way we will prevent someone from knowing if we belong to one operator or another, since there are people who have the algorithms of that operator, so it will be easier for you to enter our connection. There are even many routers that will have an option to hide the Wi-Fi name right in the same box that allows us to change its name.
Modify the password
Within the previous section of our network, we will find the option to change the password of the wireless connection . Of course, avoid creating especially simple passwords, whether they are simple combinations, such as different personal data or dates that can be obtained because they are significant for us. In addition, now there are many routers that will tell us if the key that we have entered is good or bad, so that we can get an idea of whether it is secure or not.
