By default, creating access points following the directions on the previous page will result in a completely isolated network hosted by the AP. Clients on the AP network will be able to access the internet, but they will not be able to communicate directly with other clients that are connected to the upstream network. If you want to enable this direct communication between clients across the different networks, you need to set up a network bridge.
The following two diagrams from the official Raspberry Pi documentation illustrate the difference.
Un-bridged Network (default)
The AP network gets a different IP address space and clients on the different network segments cannot communicate directly.
Bridged Network
The AP network uses the same IP address space as the upstream network. Clients on the different network segments can communicate directly using their assigned IPs.
Setup Network Bridge
To setup the network bridge, you need to create a bridge connection with nmcli and then assign the bridge as the master for each of the sub-networks.
First create the bridge connection with this command:
sudo nmcli connection add type bridge con-name 'Bridge' ifname bridge0
Next, add the first sub-network with the bridge configured as its master. This example command connects an Ethernet connection to the bridge. If you're doing WiFi to WiFi, then substitute in an appropriate connection name and interface.
sudo nmcli connection add type ethernet slave-type bridge con-name 'Ethernet' ifname eth0 master bridge0
Lastly, delete and re-create the hotspot connection, assigning the bridge as its master:
# If you already have an un-bridged Hotspot network delete it sudo nmcli connection delete Hotspot # create a new Hotspot connected to bridge sudo nmcli connection add con-name 'Hotspot' ifname wlan0 type wifi slave-type bridge master bridge0 wifi.mode ap wifi.ssid <hotspot-ssid> wifi-sec.key-mgmt wpa-psk wifi-sec.proto rsn wifi-sec.pairwise ccmp wifi-sec.psk <hotspot-password>
nmcli con show should now list all of the following: Bridge, Hotspot, and Ethernet as in the screenshot below.
Now, just bring down and back up the two child connections followed by the bridge, to make everything active.
sudo nmcli con down Hotspot sudo nmcli con down Ethernet sudo nmcli con down Bridge sudo nmcli con up Hotspot sudo nmcli con up Ethernet sudo nmcli con up Bridge
Once the network is back up you can connect device to the AP and they'll be assigned IPs and be able to communicate with clients on the upstream network.
Page last edited April 07, 2026
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