WiFi Hot Spot App

straight talk and several others from the same international company
have custom 'ROM'/ Operating system
its NOT google issue Android
straight talk and its sister companies do not allow tethering on phones and plans that do not have that feature
i doubt a factory reset will work
you can download an APK file of some hotspot App
and install from an SD card
but then straight talk will very possibly cancel your account
it is in the 'terms of service' of the use of straight talk phone

check one of the low cost data options like visibl or ting
ting.com has a hotspot for $25 a month 30GB 4G LTE, on the Sprint network

If doing a factory reset will restore it, I would just do that. Just back up your photos and anything else you have on the phone first.

Maybe make a list of your apps, because that phone might be old enough that it doesn't automatically restore your apps after a reset. You may have to go to Google Play and reinstall them individually by hand, the way you did when you first got them. I don't recall, from when I had the S5, whether it was automatic or not.

Thanks for the replies. This phone does not have the tethering/hot spot icon. A year after I bought it, 4 years ago, I went looking for it and couldn't find it. Went back to Wal-Mart and was told that it was omitted by Straight Talk and the only way it might be restored is by doing a "factory restart". I just let it go. Now I'm planning an extended trip this Summer/Fall and the availability of a hot spot would be real handy. I might just have to buy a new phone and switch to one of the extended data plans Straight Talk, or another carrier offers. Get these holidays behind me and really zero in on this.

yes it has wifi hotspot

little mis-understanding here

its the vzw plan i have that forces me to use foxfi or to change my plan

i have an 'OLD' grandfathered Unlimited data plan, NO slow down, No GB limit, No prioritizing

but tethering & hot spotting were NEVER allowed on that plan, that plan is so old, wifi hotspot option did not exist then, only the ability to 'tether' with a USB cable, got that plan when i had a 'feature phone' (now they call them dumb phones, but they are not dumb} with basic mobile internet browser
{i'v been using mobile cellular internet since it was a dialup option that used 'minutes' not mega/giga bytes}
{i had 300 daytime minutes and unlimited nighttime and weekend minutes}

without foxfi, vzw would charge me for every megabyte of data used by my PC or tablet, using data connection from the phone

i would change my plan, but no one has convinced me i can equal use for less dollars per month

I had an S5 on T-Mobile for years, loved that phone. It had hotspot capability. Have you done a search in settings?.

Samsung S-5 with Verizon, and Foxfi works for me
I used it last night, when att was not so good
I still have an old unlimited data plan where he data is for the phone and not Wi-Fi, Hot spotting is an extra charge, so I need foxfi for this plan

I had very poor luck with Fox-Fi..
But my T-mobile pones Samsung s-3 5 and 7 all had hot spot apps.

Foxfi and PDAnet won't work on my phone either, but I think if you're using an older phone that doesn't have the latest, greatest Android, you'd be good. It/they were awesome back in the day.

I didnt think Foxfi worked anymore - at least not for me. If I open the app it says 'This app was built for an older version of android - check for updates' and when I do there are no updates. I either use my hotpsot on the phone or Easy Tether Pro if hooking it to the laptop

The old Galaxy SIII we just retired had native hotspot capability, so it may be a carrier restriction that requires you to use third party applications. If you are trying to keep your phone lean and clean, you may want to look if you can unlock it from the original carrier and get that native feature enabled.