Feature Request: MAC Address Filtering & Persistent Internet Usage

[umeyir061]

Hello,

Could you please add a MAC address filtering feature to the application? I would like to ensure that only the specified MAC addresses have access to the internet.

Additionally, I’ve noticed that when we stop and restart the hotspot, the users' internet usage data gets reset. Could you also address this issue? The internet usage should only reset when I explicitly do so, and access should remain restricted to the designated MAC addresses.

Is it possible to implement these improvements?

Thank you.

[pyamsoft]

Hi

Both good ideas! Regarding these two issues, I am unsure if I will be able to implement them though.

MAC: we don't have access to device data at the address level as far as I know. We have zero control over the DHCP assignment process and the route table, we only have the very high level WiFi Direct API. Maybe the Mac is available in a device group API, but I am not sure. I will investigate.

Restart: right now the reason I do not persist the data is because: 1, I do not want to directly implement a database in the project if possible, since this will significantly increase app size. Two: Since I have no control over DHCP I cannot decide which device gets what IP address. Normally devices are given the same address, but this is not a guarantee. If I were to remember usage data, but the device was assigned a new address on restart, it would mess everything up.

I imagine for the devices that do remember addresses though internally, I could implement this feature as an opt in option. I will read through docs and think about this one.

Thank you for your interest in the project!

[umeyir061]

Thank you for your detailed response and for considering these ideas.

I completely understand the technical challenges you mentioned regarding MAC address filtering and persistent usage tracking. I appreciate your willingness to investigate the possibilities despite these limitations. Keeping the app lightweight is definitely important, and I agree that working within the constraints of the current API makes it challenging.

If there's any way I can help test or provide feedback on experimental features, please let me know. I'm very interested in this project and look forward to any future improvements you may implement.

Thanks again for your time and effort!

Best regards,