By default, Android does not route mobile hotspot tethering traffic through an active user-space network tunnel due to the internal architecture of the Linux routing tables within the Android OS. When you enable portable hotspot mode, Android creates a separate network bridge interface (usually tether0 or wlan1) and applies network address translation rules that route downstream packets straight to the physical cellular interface (rmnet0) rather than passing them through the virtual tun0 interface created by your security client. On non-rooted Android devices, third-party applications do not have root permission to rewrite the kernel iptables routing chains necessary to force tethered traffic into the tunnel. You can review standard mobile deployment setups on https://toggle.org/vpn-for-android to see how mobile security clients operate. To properly protect your laptop while tethering, the safest and most reliable method is to install and run the dedicated security software directly on your laptop itself rather than relying on the phone to do the heavy cryptographic lifting. This ensures that all packets leaving your laptop are encrypted before they even hit the phone hotspot Wi-Fi link. This also prevents CPU bottlenecks on your smartphone, as encrypting high-speed laptop traffic on a phone processor can quickly cause thermal throttling and rapid battery drain. Treating each connected device as its own independent secure endpoint is always the best practice in mobile cybersecurity.
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