Support for WiFi direct (P2P) (IDFGH-4715)

[DavidJRobertson]

There have been mentions a few years ago that wifi direct was on the to-do list, but it is still not implemented.

This is surprising because there are very clear reasons why developers would want to use wifi direct in an IOT project. Specifically, it would greatly improve the user experience of using wifi to connect to the ESP32 device from an Android phone without the need for network infrastructure or provisioning.

Right now the alternative is to either use bluetooth (which is low-bandwidth and has licensing/certification cost issues) or to use soft AP on the ESP32, which provides poor user experience due to the requirement for the smartphone wifi connection to be manually switched, interrupting the phone's normal network connection. At least on some Android devices, it is supported to connect to a normal AP and a wifi direct group at the same time.

I note that the upstream wpa_supplicant project includes support for wifi direct/p2p so I presume this could be made to work on the ESP32.

[tanguy-penfen]

Permit me to agree with what is said in this feature request.
If application is mobile and range not short enough for bluetooth, the only way to share data with a device is creating soft AP. That means users will loose internet connectivity on their devices which is not acceptable... Unless there are other ways I don't know about.
Please consider implementing this.

[sagb2015]

@DavidJRobertson - Yes, this is on our TODO list, but it may not be available any time soon since our focus is currently on the protocols that are more important from security perspective (WPA3, PMF, DPP) or that cover more IoT/wireless scenarios (FTM, 11kv, 11r etc). However, depending on the demand we may consider to increase the priority of implementing this feature as well.

[kaedros]

We have also been waiting for this feature for many years and it would bring a huge improvement in the experience already described very well by @DavidJRobertson.

We cannot imagine that this demand is not important for everyone who develops for IoT.

[wagner-rebello]

This feature can help a lot for IoT usage.
The network configuration using a smartphone app would be very simple as the network do not need to change.
Changing networks on Android or iOS is painful. There are many factors that implies in the network refuses to change.
Using wifi direct "kills" all that factors.

[mauriciofarina]

@DavidJRobertson and @sagb2015
We are also on standby for this feature for a log time!

[itamardv]

It would be great

[jensolsson]

Need this too. Now we are looking for another chip for our project but the ESP32 would be perfect if it only supported WiFi Direct / P2P

[TeschRenan]

I agree that it's not extremely important, but I support inclusion.

[beYunfei]

Need this too. Now we are looking for another chip for our project but the ESP32 would be perfect if it only supported WiFi Direct / P2P

What is the another chip are you talking about?
...I would be happy to use an alternative if if provides both BT and wifi with wifi-direct.

[wuujiann]

I too am looking for this feature. Hopefully, this feature can be impelmented soon.

[palpopite]

This feature would be decisive in our IoT products! As @wagner-rebello pointed out, developing an App that can connect via Wifi to an device without Wifi-Direct is really hard, and even if you manage to do that, the end result is not user friendly as @DavidJRobertson said. Looking forward to see this implemented in ESP-IDF!

[writetosumeet]

Any timeline for Wifi Direct for ESP32?
We are considering using ESP32 for a new product but inability to provide WIFI direct is a big hinderance!

[maleiter]

We'd need WiFi Direct too. The lack of WiFi Direct support forces us to use another chip with the next version of our product.