Android Wifi Hotspot, USB and Bluetooth Tethering greyed out

I got my Android phone flashed. A couple of buttons switched.

This led to my Wi-Fi Hotspot, USB and Bluetooth Tethering greyed and completely disabled. With these options unavailable, you won’t be able to share your Internet connection with other users.

My phone has been my modem for the past couple of years and I have successfully used it to grow my online business. It was some embarrassment that I suddenly was locked out. So while looking for the solution, I found out a lot of users were in the same pot of soup. So I’m sharing the exact steps I used to resolve the issue in minutes

Table of Contents - What is covered in this post

Android Wi-Fi Hotspot, USB and Bluetooth Tethering disabled!

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Many Android phones build in features that allow users to share their Internet connection easily. These generally are:

Wi-Fi Hotspot: Wireless Internet sharing with option to protect with password. I have been able to share my connection with up to 3 different users. But this drinks out your data depending on how much your nodes use the net (Browsing, Social media, YouTube videos, etc)

USB Tethering: You just need a USB connected to your machine and phone. It’s a quick and easy to not leak out your data. Unlike Wi-Fi Hotspot, no password is required.

Bluetooth Tethering: Bluetooth connection generally allows users to share files within a restricted zone. But recent development makes it possible to share Internet connection.

Once your bluetooth is enabled, anyone withing range will be able to connect. Not that I have not used this option in any way to share my Internet so I have no practical experience to share.

Setting up your Wi-Fi Hotspot options is allowed but card greyed

What you’ll notice is you will be able to set your Hotspot protection options easily – Password, active time, etc. But the option to turn on/off the card is completely greyed. That means your connection cannot be shared.

Apps Cannot create Hotspot

We’ve had to use third party apps to create hotspot to share your Internet connection. But if your Hotspot option is greyed out, no app will be able to to enable Internet connection sharing. So the only option is to find a fix.

Wi-Fi Hotspot greyed out – How to fix it in 2 minutes

Now this simple working step will also enable your USB and Bluetooth tethering.

But what went wrong?

All things being equal, the issue comes from you trying to save data. You do this by concisely (or not) enabling the your Android Data Saver. The simple solution is to disable it.

Go to Settings and locate your data usage options

Not that different Android versions have different locations of items. But the labelings are generally same. Look for Data usage -> Data saver.

Turn this option off and you’ve resolved the problem.

Data Saver helps you reduce data usage by preventing some apps from sending and receiving data in the background.

In the same line, the Wi-Fi hotspot and tethering options are disabled to prevent data from being sent or received from other connected devices. Disabling this feature will automatically open up your data sharing channels

Thanks and good luck