From Mount Everest base camp, to the London Underground, the range of free Wi-Fi hotspots is ever increasing. Unless you know about the free Wi-Fi, it can be tiresome having to constantly search for hotspots and risk using up precious data.
But in the coming weeks, Google is introducing a feature called Wi-Fi Assistant to people with Nexus phones, which lets the device automatically connect to free Wi-Fi hotspots.
Google announced the news in a post on Google Plus this week.
The post stated that the feature ‘allows you to automatically and securely connect to more than a million, free open Wi-Fi hotspots.’
Before now, the Wi-Fi Assistant was exclusive to people using Google’s Project Fi phone service.
However, the company is now expanding the update to all Nexus users in the United States, Canada, Mexico, UK and Nordic countries.
To activate the service, Nexus owners can go to the Android Settings app, and toggle the feature on and off in the ‘Networking’ section.
The Wi-Fi Assistant uses a virtual private network (VPN) to try to secure a connection.
This allows the phone to decide whether a hotspot is safe, without the need for you to check manually.
Last year, Apple also introduced a ‘Wi-Fi’ assist function in its iOS 9 update.
However, unlike Google’s, which automatically connects to free Wi-Fi, Apple’s assistant automatically disconnects from the Wi-Fi if signal is poor.
It is unclear when the Wi-Fi Assistant will become available, however Google has said it will be in the ‘next few weeks’.
