Finding IP address of PI connected to mobile hotspot

It took me a while to figure out how to find the IP address of the Pi that is connected to my mobile hotspot on Android 13. I have a Google Pixel 6 Pro and it doesn’t show you the ip address of the connected pi. There are a lot of different solutions listed if you search around, including using a terminal app like Connectbot or Termux that didnt work for me, but I finally found a way that works for me using an app called Network Analyzer from the Play store. If you are connected to any wifi networks, you need to disconnect or temporarily turn off wifi. Then go to LAN Scan and click on scan and it should show up in the list. If you dont turn off wifi or disconnect it will only show you the IPs of the network you are connect to…Anyways, thought I would throw this out there in case it helps anyone else on Android where using a terminal app doesnt work.

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Do you have a link to the app you used? I had someone else mention that they used Network Analyzer but the one I downloaded showed nothing about mobile hotspots on my test phones. Only the terminal solution worked for me.

What did the terminal show you when you typed in ‘ip neighb’?

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@rfjohnso I also have a Pixel 6P, I just use ZeroTier for pretty much all instances I try to network multiple devices together. That IP never changes so it can be used in the KrakenSDR app for hotspotting as a solution, too.

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Here are the screen grabs for the version I am using. Looks like it’s the version dated Sept 4th 2022. My Pixel is Running Android 13. Also, as I replicated this so that I could take screenshots, I had to remember to turn off my VPN in addition to wifi, otherwise it didnt work. Once both my wifi AND VPN were turned off, the only devices that show up in the LAN scan is my phone and the Raspberry Pi running the Kraken software.


On my Android 12 Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G configured as mobile hotspot I can find the Pi’s IP address under “Settings / Connections / Mobile Hotspot and Tethering / Mobile Hotspot / Connected devices” under a device named “krakensdr”, provided that the Pi is actually connected to my mobile hotspot.

To connect to the Pi using a browser (to access the KrakenSDR application) or using a Putty app (to access the Pi’s console) on my mobile simultaneously configured as hotspot I will have to enter the Pi’s IP address. Entering the Pi’s hostname “krakensdr” instead of the IP address will not work on my Android 12.

However if I connect from my Windows PC over WiFi to my mobile hotspot I can use “http://krakensdr:8080” to access the KrakenSDR application on the Pi or specify “krakensdr” as hostname to the Putty app and log into the Pi’s console. Typing “ifconfig” on the Pi’s console will reveal the Pi’s IP address under the tag “wlan0”.

I second the Zerotier recommendation. It’s working great to connect to my Kraken stations from IOS, Android, Windows and Rpis.

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I chose a hardware solution to the “where’s my Raspberry Pi?” problem.

I bought a TP-Link AC750 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router(TL-WR902AC) and reserved a DHCP address for for the Pi in the router. Now, the Pi always gets the same IP and I can connect the router to whatever mobile hotspot or WiFi (or wired) LAN I want without having to change anything in the Pi or the devices that connect to it.

The only problem I’ve found, so far, is that if the hotspot loses the link to the mobile hotspot or external WiFi, you have to reconnect it manually. Other than that, for $35, it has simplified a lot of the spurious connection nuisances I’ve been running into.