Rish Bhardwaj

Google, Software Engineer

I lead the car side Android Auto Connectivity team at Google. In the past, I've built an app with over a million downloads, and worked at a startup where we built Android based thermal cameras.

Android Wifi Under the Hood

You call ConnectivityManager.requestNetwork() and boom - Wi-Fi connects. Feels like magic. But somewhere deep in the OS, daemons are dancing, HALs are handshaking, and the Wi-Fi stack is sweating bullets to make it happen. This talk is for anyone who’s ever thought: "Wait… how did that actually work?" We’ll trace the full journey - from the moment you call the WifiManager APIs to the instant your phone says "Connected." Along the way, we’ll break down what’s happening under the hood: who talks to whom, what parts of the system are involved, and how Android makes Wi-Fi feel effortless. If you’ve ever been curious about how Wi-Fi really works beneath the surface, this deep dive is for you.