enableWifiTethering() silently fails on retail Samsung devices — Supervisor plugin required

Android

If you're using the Esper Device SDK to enable Wi-Fi tethering on a retail Samsung device, you may find that the operation appears to succeed but the hotspot never actually turns on. This article explains why this happens and shows you how to fix it.

Why Wi-Fi tethering doesn't work on retail Samsung devices

The Esper Device SDK's enableWifiTethering() method requires the Esper Supervisor Plugin to function on Samsung devices. Retail Samsung hardware does not include this plugin, so the operation silently fails — but the SDK incorrectly reports success to your app.

This means:

• Your app receives a success callback even though the hotspot was never configured
• No error is logged or returned to your application
• The Wi-Fi hotspot does not broadcast

This is a known limitation of the Esper SDK on retail Samsung devices. We are working on a fix to return a proper failure callback instead.

Before you begin

This workaround applies only to:

• Retail Samsung devices (for example, Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 5G)
• Esper Device SDK version 3.3.0101.27 and earlier

If you are using a custom-image or Esper-provisioned Samsung device with the Supervisor Plugin installed, this issue does not affect you.

How to fix this: use Knox Service Plugin instead

The supported workaround is to replace the Esper SDK call with Samsung's Knox Service Plugin (KSP), which can configure and control the hotspot on Samsung retail devices.

1. Integrate the Knox Service Plugin into your application. See Samsung Knox Service Plugin documentation for setup instructions.
2. Use KSP's hotspot management APIs to set the SSID and password instead of enableWifiTethering().
3. Call KSP's API to enable the hotspot when you need it (for example, on device restart or app launch).
4. Remove or guard the EsperDeviceSDK.enableWifiTethering() call so it does not run on Samsung devices. This prevents your app from relying on the false success callback:

   // Example: skip Esper SDK tethering on Samsung devices
   if (!isSamsungRetailDevice()) {
    EsperDeviceSDK.enableWifiTethering(ssid, password, true, callback);
   } else {
    // Use Knox Service Plugin instead
    configureHotspotViaKSP(ssid, password);
   }

5. Verify the hotspot is broadcasting by connecting a secondary device to the SSID after the KSP configuration is applied.

If Knox Service Plugin is not available

If Knox Service Plugin is also unavailable or restricted on your target Samsung device, consult Samsung Knox documentation for alternative tethering management approaches.

If you need native Esper SDK support for this feature

If you would prefer Esper to support Wi-Fi tethering on retail Samsung devices natively (rather than using the KSP workaround), you can submit this as a feature request. This is a known architectural gap, not a configuration issue. Contact Esper Support to discuss your use case.

Still need help?

If the false-success callback is causing problems in your application, or if you are seeing this behavior on non-Samsung devices, submit a support ticket with details about your device model, Android version, and SDK version.