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Need a hint as I am running out of ideas to progress in my project:

I have two phones: a Pixel 6a / Android 14 and an old Huawei / Android 9. I have a network with an Access Point for WiFi connections of PCs and Smartphones and a gateway to the internet. All works fine, PCs and smartphones can access devices in the local network as well as the internet.

When the connection to the internet goes down:

  • PCs can no longer access sites in the internet (obviously), but can access devices in the local network via browser specifying the local IP address (all devices are in the same subnet) – either with LAN connection or WiFi connection.
  • Smartphones, however, cannot access devices in the local network …. joining the WiFi network is successful (it states no internet access, which I know and don’t need now) but when specifying a local IP address in the browser the connection times out.

It's clear that the phone switches to cellular if the web connection of the WiFi gateway is down. However, I do not intend to connect to the web but want to connect to local devices through a browser specifying the local IP address while the connection to the web is down (for connecting to local devices I don't need the web connection). Accessing local devices is working fine while the web connection is up but times out when the connection to the web is down.

What setting on the smartphone might be wrong or missing that prevents access to local devices when the connection to the internet is interrupted?

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  • What Android version is installed and what device model do you use? Is the cellular data connection active in the smartphone? If yes then Android can switch to cellular data if the WiFi looses Internet connection. Newer Android versions can keep connection to the WiFi but older Android versions will completely switch to cellular data.
    – Robert
    Commented Sep 16 at 20:17
  • Thanks Robert, Have two phones: a Pixel 6a / Android 14 and an old Huawei / Android 9. It's clear that the phone switches to cellular if the web connection of the WiFi gateway is down. However I do not intend to connect to the web but want to connect to local devices through a browser specifying the local IP address while the connection to the web is down (for connecting to local devices I don't need the web connection). Accessing local devices is working fine while the web connection is up but times out when the connection to the web is down.
    – mountain dweller
    Commented Sep 16 at 20:39

1 Answer 1

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It seems perfectly reasonable to me that the software on the mobile has been written to not let the browser run if there is no internet. Note the stress on "mobile" While the mobile will can use data from Wifi, the browsers are a different story.

I had a quick look, I can't find any setting to help you.

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  • Thanks Rohit, the part I’d like to understand is why - I can access from a smartphone to a local device through the browser specifying a local IP address via the WiFi network while the gateway does have a live connection to the internet (same subnet, all functions work fine) while - I canNOT access from a smartphone to a local device through the browser specifying a local IP address via the WiFi network while the gateway does NOT have a live connection to the internet (identical setup as above, only difference is connection to the internet is interrupted).
    – mountain dweller
    Commented Sep 17 at 9:04
  • The internet is not needed or used to reach a local device in the same subnet, thus why is a live connection to the internet necessary? It works fine from a PC under Windows …. with live access to the internet AND WITHOUT live access to the internet I can reach and use all functions on a local device.
    – mountain dweller
    Commented Sep 17 at 9:05
  • The only difference is indeed the live connection to the internet, which is not needed to access a local device from a smartphone in the same subnet ….. this makes me narrow down the potential cause to be in a setting on the smartphone / Android – however which setting as there is not much I can set (on a PC I can set the network properties ….. is there a way I can set these in Android?)
    – mountain dweller
    Commented Sep 17 at 9:05

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