What is Wifi direct? Wi-Fi Direct on the phone - what is it? How to enable Wi Fi Direct on Android and transfer files. Useful features of Wi-Fi Direct

Each method of transferring files between devices has its drawbacks: it is impossible to transfer large amounts of data via Bluetooth, a USB cable is not at hand when you need it, Wi-Fi speed may be too slow, and mobile Internet traffic is limited. But we found the optimal solution - using Wi-Fi without an Internet connection.

Wi-Fi Direct function

If you need to transfer files from one smartphone to another, you can use the built-in Wi-Fi Direct function. Let's see how it works using two Android phones as an example.

Open your smartphone's settings. Go to the Wi-Fi (WLAN) section. It is not necessary to connect to the Internet. Go to the Wi-Fi Direct tab - it may be hidden in the additional menu.

When transferring files between phones from different manufacturers, connection interruptions and other errors may occur, so sometimes you have to use third-party software.

If you want to transfer files between phones, computers and tablets, use special applications for transferring data via Wi-Fi. Lifehacker talked about one of these programs. available on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS. But this is not the only option.

SHAREit

To transfer files, you need to install SHAREit on both devices. The application is available for free on all platforms.

After installation, launch the program. On the sending device, click the Send button and select the file or application. On the receiving device, click “Receive”. A radar will appear in the center of the screen, displaying the icon assigned to another device on the network. Click on it to establish a connection and start transferring the file.

When moving data from the phone memory to a computer, you need to select the “Connect to PC” mode. Otherwise there are no changes. A search screen will appear where you need to select the icon of the receiving device.

Filedrop works in a similar way. The application must be installed on all devices that will participate in file sharing.

To establish a connection, launch the program. Usually pairing is set up automatically, but sometimes you have to enter a four-digit code. On your phone you can see it by clicking on the button in the upper right corner. On - by right-clicking on the program window.

If you're transferring data from your phone, tap the box icon. A simple manager will open in which you can select a file to send. When moving data from your computer, you can simply drag it into the program window.

File transfer is also available through the Filedrop website. When you open it in a browser, the main page displays devices running the application connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

But here you may encounter failures: some devices are not detected or do not accept files. No such problems were found when working with applications.

Instashare

The Instashare program at one time solved the problem with transferring files on Apple devices. However, after the massive adoption of AirDrop, it no longer made sense for Instashare to exist solely within the Apple environment. Therefore, the developers made the application cross-platform.

Instashare works the same way as SHAREit and Filedrop. The only difference: you have to pay for the program on your PC. Apps for iOS and Android can be downloaded for free.

To move data between iPhone and Android smartphones, they all also use Wi-Fi Direct.

Probably every smartphone user has at least once encountered a situation where they need to quickly transfer files from one smartphone to another. If you have high-speed Internet access, you can synchronize devices; if you have a laptop and a USB cable, you can upload files through it. What to do if there is neither one nor the other? The obvious answer is to use Bluetooth. But such a connection does not always provide a sufficiently high speed. What if you need to transfer many files at once?

In this case, you should pay attention to Wi-Fi Direct technology, which is available in many modern smartphones and provides a connection at a speed of about 50 Mb/s.
With this connection, two smartphones create a kind of local network using the same Wi-Fi transmitters, only in this case a router is not required.
The advantage is the high speed characteristic of high-speed wireless Internet access, but the disadvantage is not very good support from the software, as well as the lack of information about the procedure for creating such a connection.
Let's try to figure out how to transfer several hefty files - 25-40MB each in fifteen seconds. To do this, let’s take the SONY Xperia ZL and Meizu MX2 smartphones to show that the technology is universal. I will illustrate the procedure using the SONY Xperia ZL as an example.

Procedure:

3. Turn on the switch in the very top line, then carefully look to see if the smartphone has automatically connected to any network (status “Connected”), if connected, long press on the name of the network and in the menu uncheck “Connect automatically” (after transfer files, you can install it again). After that, turn off Wi-Fi and turn it on again using the switch on the top line. We carry out the procedure on both smartphones.

As practice has shown, Wi-Fi Direct often cannot work on smartphones simultaneously with an Internet connection via Wi-Fi.

The "Connected" status should appear.

The file transfer will now begin. Please note that, unlike Bluetooth, file transfer is carried out in a single package and without additional requests. In the status line of the receiving device, only a modest notification appears indicating the degree of completion of the operation. Received files are saved in the device's internal memory in the "Download" folder.
I was unable to transfer folders this way, but I was able to transfer 10-15 files at a time, each about 30MB in size, without any problems. Transferring one such file takes only a couple of seconds.

There are many terms that are not clear to ordinary users, which is why it is worth understanding each of them. You may be wondering what WiFi Direct is. This technology was announced quite a long time ago, it was intended to simplify the establishment of communication between a pair of separate Wi-Fi devices. In a sense, it's Bluetooth powered by Wi-Fi. It differs from the first in greater speed and distances, and from the second in ease of setup and safety. And everything seems fine, but it’s worth really looking into it.

A little history

To understand what WiFi Direct is, we need to take a look at the past. To organize wireless communication of consumer devices, Bluetooth was directly used, which is quite simple, has a short range, low cost and quite reasonable energy requirements. Nowadays, when smartphones have almost caught up with computers in terms of performance, we want something more. And here it is worth noting that there is Wi-Fi, which works faster and has a longer range, but there is an important nuance.

The original idea was that Wi-Fi can operate in two modes: direct, when several devices organize a simple mode, and infrastructure, which involves the use of an access point, which is a kind of traffic arbiter. The second option developed and moved forward over time, but the first one was simply stuck in the nineties: now it is not supported by all household devices, it is characterized by low operating speed, and also insecurity. That is, it is dangerous, inconvenient and completely unusable, so modern Wi-Fi simply cannot do without an access point.

How are things going now?

Manufacturers of household Wi-Fi want to simplify the life of modern users so much that home access points currently have almost no settings, and many of them work directly out of the box at default. Many users simply do not know how to turn on WiFi. It is this factor that has allowed the emergence of a huge number of free Wi-Fi from the best Internet providers. This became the reason for such a strong popularization of Wi-Fi, but at the same time it gave rise to many myths about the insecurity of such connections. All of the above has led to the fact that vendor priorities have changed in favor of a simple and secure wireless network. This is where the question of what WiFi Direct is arises.

Peculiarities

This connection method has numerous advantages:

Secure direct connection between devices, established similarly to Bluetooth, that is, you just need to select the appropriate element from the list, without thinking about PSK and SSID;

The speed of such networks is much faster than traditional Bluetooth;

A significantly greater distance between devices is allowed;

A high degree of reliability and security is guaranteed by constantly running WPA2, which cannot be disabled.

Implementation

So, what WiFi Direct is becomes clear; all that remains is to sort out the issues related to the intricacies of providing such access. Adoption of a new amendment to the 802.11 standard will take several years. It was decided to contrive within the framework of the specifications and standards available at the moment.

WiFi is fast. Therefore, WiFi Direct technology was adopted to quickly transfer data between two devices, and it is even much easier to enable, configure and use and can be used for a wireless connection.

The first company to introduce WiFi Direct support was Intel: they introduced the first standard, the Centrino 2 platform, in 2008.

Then, two years later, several major players in the networking industry followed suit, such as Marvell, Atheros, Broadcom, Realtek Ralind. It is possible that your laptop's Wi-Fi is from one of these manufacturers.

Google also added support for WiFi Direct on Android 4.0. Blackberry OS received an update to version 10.2, and the first to support WiFi Direct Xbox was the Xbox One, launched in 2013.

Note: Some people make the mistake of WiFi Direct wireless connections by confusing it with Ad-Hoc.

This connection connects two computers using WiFi, but its speed is limited to 11 Mbit.

How Wi-Fi Direct works

The most important principles behind the WiFi Direct standard are very simple. The mode of operation is as follows: the device detects another, as if opening a wireless network. Then enter the password or press the button and you're done, the equipment is connected.

There is no need to set visibility, just enter a numeric key, just like Bluetooth technology.

Additionally, only one of the two connected devices must support Wi-Fi Direct.

To connect two devices via Wi-Fi Direct, one must create an access point, like a router, and the other device connects to that access point. This process happens automatically, there is no need to do anything manually.

You can print wirelessly and send photos from your phone to your computer, or play music on your TV from your tablet or smartphone.

As with modern routers, simply enter the number displayed on the screen or press the connect button.

With its simplified configuration and faster speeds, WiFi Direct is a much better option than Bluetooth when it comes to transferring files between two or more devices.

Benefiting from ease of installation and scope of application, SEA is a useful standard for connecting peripheral devices.

Some analysts are even predicting the end of the Bluetooth era, although the technology is new enough that it could still be years away. If you have any questions, please use the comments section below. Good luck.

The TV can be directly connected to a Wi-Fi Direct/Wi-Fi compatible device (such as a smartphone, computer) that also supports the “DLNA Push Controller” function. Device contents such as photos/music/videos can be played on the TV. No wireless router (or access point) is required to use this feature.

Steps

If the connection fails

When the standby screen for Wi-Fi Direct mode is displayed, press the OPTIONS button, then select [Manual].
If your device supports WPS, select. Otherwise, select [Other Methods] and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.

Connecting to another device

Follow the above steps to connect your devices. You can register up to 20 devices, and connect up to 5 devices at the same time. To connect another device when 5 devices are already connected, disconnect the unnecessary device, then connect the desired device.

Changing the TV name displayed on the connected device

When the standby screen for Wi-Fi Direct mode is displayed, press the OPTIONS button, then select [Edit Renderer Name].

Display a list of connected devices/unregister devices

When the standby screen for Wi-Fi Direct mode is displayed, press the OPTIONS button, then select [Show device list / Erase].

To unregister a device, select the device you want to remove from the list, then click the button. Then select [Yes] on the confirmation screen.

To deregister all devices, press the OPTIONS button in the list, select [Delete All], then [Yes] on the confirmation screen.

A dialog box appears when you try to connect your device to your TV

Activating this function allows you to avoid connecting an unnecessary device.

When the standby screen for Wi-Fi Direct mode is displayed, press the OPTIONS button, then select [Registration Notification].

Please note that after rejecting a registration request from a device, the device will not be able to connect until it is removed from the device list.

To connect a rejected device, press the OPTIONS button, select [Show Device List/Erase], then delete the rejected device. Then make a new connection to this device.

Skip connection steps the second time

After you register your device by completing the following settings, you can immediately start playing content on your TV by sending content from your device (except for Wi-Fi Direct mode).

Press the HOME button, and then select [Settings] → [Network] → [Standby Mode for Wi-Fi Direct] → [On].

If the TV is connected to (or to an access point) on the 5 GHz frequency using a USB wireless LAN adapter, set [Standby mode for Wi-Fi Direct] to [Off].

• Wi-Fi is a mark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

• Wi-Fi Direct is a mark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Notes

• If your TV is connected to a 5 GHz wireless router (access point) using a USB wireless LAN adapter:
• - 5GHz connection will be disabled in Wi-Fi Direct mode and you will not be able to use functions such as Media Remote, TrackID™, etc.
• - the connection will be resumed when exiting Wi-Fi Direct mode.
• When connecting devices, the following must be taken into account:
• - Wi-Fi Direct enabled devices: 2.4 GHz connection (5 GHz not supported).
• - Devices that do not support Wi-Fi Direct: IEEE802.11n/g, 2.4 GHz connection (5 GHz not supported).

You know what Wi-Fi technology is and use it every day. You know what Bluetooth is and use it quite often. The strengths of these two technologies can be reduced and this is called Wi-Fi Direct.

You can use Wi-Fi Direct on a TV only if it is a smart TV and it even has Wi-Fi, this does not mean that you can enable Wi-Fi Direct - this function may simply be missing. So the Samsung ue55ju6600uxua TV has it, but the Philips 40PFS5709 does not, although both have Wifi.

You can connect on a Samsung, Sony, HP computer or laptop with Microsoft windows 10, windows 7 or windows 8.1 installed if they support Intel WiDi, via Windows Media or a virtual Wi-Fi Direct adapter from Microsoft.

Android devices, iphone (iPhone), for example, 5s and smartphones or tablets with Miracast support were not left out.

In general, this does not depend on the manufacturer, be it lg, samsung galaxy, philips, and chinese meizu, zte blade, huawei honor 5a - even a printer can support Wi-Fi direct.

What does Wi-Fi Direct mean and what is it for?

IWfi, a wireless communication technology with many applications, is the most common Internet connection.

The most common way to meet WiFi for the typical user is to access the Internet using a router.

A router is a physical device that creates an access point (AP) that you see on your smartphone, phone, or computer when searching for networks to connect to.

To connect, select a network, enter a password (if necessary), and voila - you have access to the Internet.

There are only cases when you don’t need the Internet, you want to connect only two devices and exchange data between them: send a file, for example, to a printer to print anything.

There is a technology designed to help even in these cases, and it's called Wi-Fi Direct.

Wi-Fi Direct - a little history

To send data to another device without wires and third equipment, one of the most popular types of communication is Bluetooth, which appeared in 1998.

It is ideal for connecting peripherals to your computer, such as a mouse and keyboard, or using wireless headphones, since they do not require fast data transfer.

WiFi is fast. Therefore, WiFi Direct technology was adopted to quickly transfer data between two devices, and it is even much easier to enable, configure and use and can be used for a wireless connection.

The first company to introduce support for WiFi Direct was Intel: they introduced the first standard, the Centrino 2 platform, in 2008.

Then, two years later, several major players in the networking industry followed suit, such as Marvell, Atheros, Broadcom, Realtek Ralind. It is possible that your laptop's Wi-Fi is from one of these manufacturers.

Google also added support for WiFi Direct on Android 4.0. Blackberry OS received an update to version 10.2, and the first to support WiFi Direct Xbox was the Xbox One, launched in 2013.

Note: Some people make the mistake of WiFi Direct wireless connections by confusing it with Ad-Hoc.

This connection connects two computers using WiFi, but its speed is limited to 11 Mbps.

How Wi-Fi Direct works

The most important principles behind the WiFi Direct standard are very simple. The mode of operation is as follows: the device detects another, as if opening a wireless network. Then enter the password or press the button and you're done, the equipment is connected.

There is no need to set visibility, just enter a numeric key, just like Bluetooth technology.

Additionally, only one of the two connected devices must support Wi-Fi Direct.

To connect two devices via Wi-Fi Direct, one must create an access point, like a router, and the other device connects to that access point. This process happens automatically, there is no need to do anything manually.

You can print wirelessly and send photos from your phone to your computer, or play music on your TV from your tablet or smartphone.

In this case, you can forget about passwords. WiFi Direct technology uses Protected Setup (WPS), which is an easy way to connect two devices using secure wifi.

As with modern routers, simply enter the number displayed on the screen or press the connect button.

With its simplified configuration and faster speeds, WiFi Direct is a much better option than Bluetooth when it comes to transferring files between two or more devices.

Benefiting from ease of installation and scope of application, SEA is a useful standard for connecting peripheral devices.

Some analysts are even predicting the end of the Bluetooth era, although the technology is new enough that it could still be years away. If you have any questions, please use the comments section below. Good luck.

The Internet has firmly entered our lives, and now you can configure it not only on a smartphone or personal computer, but also on related devices. Installing Wi-Fi Direct on your printer makes sense in many cases. You can create an access point when there is no router or access to the corporate Internet. This solves the problem of unnecessary wires and allows you to send documents directly for printing without wasting extra time.

Let's consider several ways.

Creating an access point

When using this method, the printer itself forms an Internet point. You can connect to it from a PC or phone. The method is possible when the device has a display.

You need to turn on the panel, open the Wi-Fi Setup settings, select Direct and “connect”. When the installation is complete, the password for the new access point that the program created will appear on the window.

Installation without display

To connect the Internet on devices that only have control buttons, you need to make changes to the router. Modern routers have a WPS function - on the back of the case there is a button of the same name that you need to press.

Let's move on to setting up the printer. You need to hold down the Wi-Fi button for a few seconds and wait until the status indicators start flashing. When they turn green, it means the device has connected successfully. Further settings are made on the PC.

Connection to a public network

If you do not need to install Direct, we recommend connecting to an existing network. This will also allow you to print from any devices connected to the same access point, eliminating the need to run wires.

Go to the settings on the printer display, select Wi-Fi (recommended) - Setup Wizard. In the panel, find your network, enter the password and connect. If the network is open, you will not need to enter anything. After the installation is successfully completed, a message about this will appear on the window, and you will be asked to print a report.

The setup on the PC is completed. You need to go to Control Panel - Devices and Printers - Add a Printer. The computer itself will find the device connected to the network and begin installing it.

Connecting Wi-Fi directly to the printer greatly simplifies the work and speeds up the process. Files for printing can be sent from any device connected to the Internet, even if you are in the next office.