Can Hotspot See Internet History? | How to See User’s browsing history of a Hotspot?

See History of User using Mobile Hotspot: To view a user’s browsing history through your hotspot, you must direct it to a DNS server which lets you view requests and logs made by connected users. For example, one of the servers that can record sites by list is OpenDNS.

You can use hotspot speed-enhancing tips if you’re having trouble controlling your hotspot speed. The open DNS server performs this technique, and by replacing the default DNS IP address (given by the ISP) with the open DNS IP address, you can trace the past data of other users on your hotspot network. However, you won’t be able to find personal user information; instead, you’ll be able to see all of the websites that received visitors.

This article contains methods for tracking user requests and retrieving a list of sites visited in the last few hours.

• Advantages of viewing Browsing History on your Hotspot
• How to see a Hotspot’s browsing history?
  • Legal Spying by Using Google Account
  • Using DNS to Access History
• Precautions regarding See History of User using Mobile Hotspot

Advantages of viewing Browsing History on your Hotspot

If your hotspot has a restricted data consumption limit, watching the browsing history of your devices connected may help you determine whether the data is being utilized for vital purposes or not. This approach is typically introduced with Cisco’s OpenDNS servers’ child control the parent feature.

This technology allows you to view the browsing history that the network’s connected users requested. You can see the details of the websites that received the requests but not the user details. This is useful for identifying when only a few users are connected to a network.

Although OpenDNS can display all queries, you can figure out who is making them. All you have to do is get various hotspot networks and connect different people to each one, then examine what they’re looking for using separate OpenDNS accounts.

How to see a Hotspot’s browsing history?

If you want to keep track of your hotspot network’s history, there are two options. As you may be aware, you can log in with a Google account on the Chrome browser and view the history of searches made with that Google account. However, OpenDNS operates in a unique manner, which you will explore in this context.

Legal Spying by Using Google Account

You may examine all of the surfing data from that pc simply by entering it into your Google account. Then, on the device, you want to track, create a Gmail account and enable the ‘Web & App Activity’ option for that account. After that, you may monitor all of the data the user browses on your hotspot network or any other network on that PC while logged in with that account.

The disadvantage is that if a person visits a website using an incognito browser, Google account tracking will not work, and you will need to rely on the OpenDNS server on your hotspot network.

To access the history with a Google Account, 

1. Have the users log in with a Google account.
2. Check to see if your browsing history is enabled.

The method is instantaneous; once a person conducts a Google search or visits a website, the information is recorded on the account and visible in real-time.

Using DNS to Access History

It’s safe and suggested to use a Google DNS for your static IP. However, if you want to follow the history of browsing statistics via the hotspot network, you’ll need to use custom DNS servers, which you’ll need to configure on your hotspot’s static IP setup.

After that, you must establish an account on the OpenDNS website using your static IP address and other information to see the requests made from your hotspot network for each website you wish to visit. Here’s how to get started:

• Set up a hotspot network and utilize the IP addresses of the OpenDNS servers (208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220).
• Create an account on OpenDNS with the essential details to trace down and examine the surfing history of all connected users after you’ve set the IPs on your hotspot network.
• After a few hours, you’ll get a list of all network requests, automatically updated after a certain length of time.

You’ll be able to see the list of domains that people have visited, but you won’t be able to see what they do after they’ve visited that site if it’s an HTTPS server. Instead, you’ll see direct queries made on the hotspot server, with no information about the user. If you’re looking for a list of domains that visitors visit daily, such as Facebook.com (500 requests), Twitter.com (104 requests), and so on, these facts will be sufficient.

Precautions regarding See History of User using Mobile Hotspot

Before reading other users’ data, you must first take a few safeguards and measures to ensure that the operation is safe. Here are those:

1. If you want to track users’ data in accordance with the privacy policy, you must display a notification to allow them to join your hotspot network.
2. You can safely retain the information, but it cannot be utilized for personal purposes.
3. When you use a third-party DNS, you give them access to your data. So, proceed with caution and do your work wisely.
4. If you wish to stop your ISP from tracking your surfing data, configure your DNS server to the default one provided by your ISP or use Google DNS.

Conclusion

If you want to examine the surfing data of other users on the network, you must first obtain their permission. You may accomplish this simply by displaying a message asking if they want to share browsing data, and if they accept, you can connect to the hotspot and view records. It’s legal to utilize any DNS servers for tracking if you do it this way.

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