Question How to tell a WiFi connection "go away" until I need it? and putting network shortcut on desktop

[biptunia]

On an Android tablet, if I have several networks saved, is there an easy way to basically put one to sleep until I need it, without forgetting the password? Or at least have another one automatically connect every time?

I have several on our farm, and a main one I almost never use on that tablet. (Tablet is for controlling an astrophotography set up that acts as its own router). But my home network is the strongest so the tablet tries to connect to that first when I don't want it to. It's annoying.

But I don't want to Forget the home network on that tablet, sometimes I need to connect to the Internet to upload a test image.

Second question, related, is there a way to put a network shortcut on the Home Screen so I can connect to that with one tap if I need to?

Thank you.

 

[VidJunky]

Welcome to Android Central forums. Not sure if this will help and you don't mention what device you have but on my Samsung device I have the option to not automatically connect in my WiFi options. So for each connection I can choose to automatically connect or disable this, which doesn't affect the agreement between the devices but simply makes it so if there is one connection I prefer and others that I would like to have in reserve, I can tell the device it is OK to automatically connect to this one but not to these other ones.

As for putting some kind of shortcut on the screen there might be an app for that. For instance I have a Bluetooth app that gives me a shortcut for turning it on and off for a specific device. I would imagine there could be one similar for WiFi. I don't know what that app would be but a quick Google might turn up some results. Otherwise just using the quick launch menu that you get when you pull down the your notifications panel, you can press and hold the WiFi symbol and it will open the screen showing all available connections you can choose from. It makes switching networks easy.

If you have a Samsung, I don't know if tabs have Bixby, but something like Bixby or Google Assistant might be able to automatically switch networks for you based on location since you mention the being on a farm. If there is enough separation between areas I know somethings can be controlled by location.

 

[biptunia]

Thank you. I'll look for that option.
Is the option on yours Per Network or global?

I will check when I am out there tomorrow. If mine is global might not help, would probably still be same number of taps to get it where it needs to be. If Per Network, perfect.

I usually would mention the device in a tech question. But it's discontinued and not a company name I'd heard of before so I figured it wouldn't help. Amazon listed it 2 years ago as

"PRITOM 10 inch Tablet, 3 GB RAM, 32GB ROM, Android 10.0, IPS HD Display, Octa-core Processor, GPS, FM, Type-C, WiFi 2.4&5G, Double Speakers-Android Tablet"​

lol.

 

[VidJunky]

Yeah, off brand, old or discontinued devices are typically difficult to research but sometimes they pop up in certain searches for known issues. This case probably wouldn't count since this isn't really an bug or issue like that. Here is an article on how to use Assistant with location but I couldn't find turning on and off WiFi.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj7_I2b_eOAAxUsg4kEHQ37DecQFnoECBUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.androidcentral.com%2Fgoogle-assistant-routines-home-away-triggers&usg=AOvVaw0OwxFff8pSHvWapVu5jIrG&opi=89978449

I found sources that say you can say "Hey Google" "turn-on WiFi" and that should work. I wonder if you could be more specific, like "connect to wifi xyz"? Then you wouldn't have to use routines. Just talk to the tab. Tasker might be more helpful. They used to offer a trial version online at Tasker.com. There are a lot of places to get support for that app and lots of user created profiles already made.