Solutions to Common Android Wi-Fi Problems

Friends of mine who use an Android come over to me usually with problems related to their devices’ Wi-Fi connectivity. Moreover, it’s not a single isolated issue. There are all kinds of them they bring up.

I usually fix their problem after few troubleshoots but today while I was fixing a problem on my device, I realized that it could happen to any one — even to my readers on Guiding Tech. Hence we are going to discuss four of the most common Android Wi-Fi problems and see the probable causes and solutions to them.


Android Cannot Scan a Wi-Fi Network

Reason
There may be two reasons as to why your Android cannot scan a network automatically. The first reason may be that the network you are trying to connect to could be Ad-Hoc in nature. As most of the Android phones are not configured to work on Ad-Hoc networks but on access points, they don’t scan them.
The second reason may be that the Wi-Fi network you are trying to connect to might be hidden for security reasons.

Solution
By default, Android does not support Ad-Hoc Wi-Fi network but many developers patch the wpa_supplicant file on Android in order for them to work. If you do a quick Google search you will be able to find if there’s a fix available for your device but the fix can only be performed on a rooted phone. Furthermore, don’t forget to back up your original wpa_supplicant file if at all your phones goes into foreclose or boot loops.

If the problem is with the hidden network, you can try to add the network manually. In Android Wi-Fi settings open menu and tap to add a network manually. You must enter the correct SSID and authentication type and password in order to connect to the network. If both the credentials are correct, the Android phone will be able to connect to the network.

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