WiFi Direct: WiFi Without the Internet

What Is WiFi Direct?

Over the past decade or so, even the smallest electronic devices gained WiFi connectivity. This increased the need for ad hoc networking and the ability to connect two devices to each other without a wireless router and at speeds fast enough to transmit multimedia files.

The need for faster data transfer speeds meant that existing wireless technology standards such as Bluetooth were insufficient. A new wireless technology standard had to be developed, one that would provide simple connections for simple tasks such as sending a file from a smartphone to a computer or printer.

To give the world the wireless technology standard it so desperately needed, the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit organization that promotes Wi-Fi technology and certifies Wi-Fi products if they conform to certain standards of interoperability, developed the WiFi Direct standard, enabling devices to easily connect with each other without requiring a wireless router.

How to Use WiFi Direct?

WiFi Direct is supported by more devices than most people realize. The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) included WiFi Direct in its interoperability guidelines in November 2011, and Google has been supporting the standard in all versions of its Android operating system since Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Samsung has been taking advantage of the WiFi Direct support in Android since Android 2.3 on the Galaxy S2, while the users of Apple devices have been enjoying WiFi Direct since iOS 7 in the form of Air Drop. Even BlackBerry had supported the standard before the company faded into irrelevance.

Besides Android WiFi Direct-enabled devices, the standard can also be found on gaming consoles, such as the new Xbox, or WiFi Direct Windows 10 computers. Many hardware devices and peripherals, such as portable media players, wireless headsets, computer mice and keyboards, or printers, use WiFi direct to connect with other devices instead of Bluetooth.

That’s great news for end users because WiFi Direct is straightforward to use as there are no unwieldy set-up procedures to go through. For example, to connect two WiFi Direct Android smartphones together, all you have to do is activate WiFi Direct on both devices, wait a short while for the two devices to find each other and then start the automated pairing process.

The smartphones will automatically negotiate the security key, and you may only be asked to press a button or scan a QR code to confirm that you indeed want the devices to connect to each other.

The pairing of other WiFi Direct devices works similarly, but it should be stressed that network created by a WiFi Direct device doesn’t behave as a standard wireless network does.

A WiFi Direct remote control of a streaming player such as Roku will most likely be able to connect only to the corresponding Roku player, a digital picture frame with WiFi Direct connectivity might provide only the most basic services needed to allow digital cameras to connect and upload images, and smartphones might have data tethering functionality and other advanced features.