Captive Portal on Android

Owned by Support
Last updated: May 20, 2016
1 min read

Summary

Some Android-based devices are not redirected to the Captive Portal when the user gets connected to WiFi network with Android device. 

The Captive Portal is not triggered automatically when is the testing domain accessible.

On some Androids is that feature missing.

How Android determine if it has an Internet Connection

  1. The Android devices check for the following domains which are hosted on Akamai network:
    http://clients1.google.com
    http://clients3.google.com
    and other domains used for this purpose by Google.
     
  2. If the domain is accessible and returns “generate204” code, the captive portal is not triggered automatically. “generate204” response means the device is connected to the internet

How to test it on Android

Make sure you have no active internet session. If yes, wait until your active session expires.

  1. Connect to your WiFi network (hotspot registered at SOCIFI Dashboard)
  2. Do not connect through SOCIFI Captive Portal
  3. Open regular Android browser such as Google Chrome and enter the "clients3.google.com" to the URL
    1. Android DNS cache can influence the result. It is recommended to repeat procedure on desktop version of Google Chrome in incognito mode
  4. If you are redirected to the Google.com domain, the Google.com domain is accessible

How to test if Android device can trigger the Splash Page automatically

Remove all walled garden records from the hotspot settings and connect to the Wi-Fi and test if the "Sign into the network" assistant or browser will be triggered automatically.

Possible solution

  1. Check your Walled Garden settings or your Firewall Policy. *.google.com domains and/or corresponding IP addresses have to be inaccessible to unauthenticated users.

  2. If you won't use or don't use a Google+ Authentication method
    Remove all walled garden entries mentioned at Want to Allow Google+ login?
     

  3. If you'll want to use or you use a Google+ Authentication method
    Possible solution how to prevent this issue is to use following Google+ Walled Garden list mentioned at Want to Allow Google+ login? and replace all *.google.com domains by the complete list of third-level domains Google use in your region.

     

We are looking forward to your inputs and thoughts. Thank you for letting us know about your improvements.

Related links:

http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs/network-portal-detection


Related pages

DNS Fix to keep Android Splash Page and the Captive Portal Notification active

Android Splash Page Workaround Switcher

Android Sign in to Wi-Fi Network Settings (Workaround)