How to connect to the Raspberry Pi using Mobile Hotspot

Welcome back to another article. In my previous article, I said setting up a Router each time to connect to the Raspberry Pi isn’t cool. So I decided to put up a new article that will be much easier to execute and more convenient on the go. In this method, you only need your PC to cast Pi screen and a power bank to power on the Pi each time you need it. No need for internet and router. But this method will only work with newer version of Raspberry Pi because they have the Wi-Fi chip build in and we will be using the WI-Fi only. however, you can use older versions of Pi with the help of a WiFi dongle.

Let’s start on with setting up the mobile hotspot.

Step 1

• Open your mobile settings. Turn on Mobile Hotspot. No need to activate mobile data or wifi

• Note the name and password of your Hotspot

• keep the Hotspot on.

Step2:

• Login to your Raspberry Pi. This was the IP address we got when we used the Router in the previous article.

• Enter the Username and Password which are ‘pi and raspberry’ respectively by default.
• Run the command “sudo apt update” and “sudo apt upgrade”. It’s a good practice to upgrade and update the Raspbian OS after booting.

Step 3:

Set up the Wi-Fi Settings in Raspberry Pi.

• Run this command “ iwlist wlan0 scan “ and press enter. It will list down the available wifi networks around with their SSID and other details.

You should find your hotspot name. if it’s not listed, reboot the Raspberry Pi and run the code again.

We can see the name of my Hotspot “FYDE”

Now, let’s type in the SSID and PSK which are the hotspot name and password respectively.

• Run “sudo raspi-config”

• Navigate to system options

• Then click on wireless LAN

• Enter the SSID and PSK

Next, shutdown the Raspberry Pi

Step4:

Now, let’s find the IP address provided by the Mobile hotspot

• Turn on the Raspberry Pi and make sure that the mobile hot spot is turn on.
• Check the connect devices. There will be a new user with the name “raspberrypi”.

• Click on “raspberryPi” to get the IP address but this will be different from the previous one.

Note: Most of the mobile will directly show the IP address. If the IP address doesn’t show up, then login to Putty from PC, type “ifconfig”

Step5:

Finally, let’s connect with this new IP address to be sure it’s all set properly.

• Reboot the Raspberry Pi. SSH into the Pi using the new IP address
• Enter the Username and Password which are pi and raspberry respectively.

Done!

Easy, right?

You see that we didn’t enable mobile data. So when next we want to work on the Raspberry Pi we need just the Pi, a power bank, PC and obviously your mobile.

Note: Make sure your Mobile Hotspot is turned on before you power on the Raspberry Pi.

If you’re curious about trying out the new IP address, well so am I😊. Check my next article where we’ll use a PIR Motion Sensor to detect motion. See you there!