How to hotspot on an iPhone: our guide to using your phone as an internet source
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How to hotspot on an iPhone
Wherever you are in the world, there’s no such thing as a totally reliable Wi-Fi connection. Sometimes, your phone has to step in and help out with a much-needed network boost.
Luckily, mostAppledevices have a handy function called Personal Hotspot, which lets you share the mobile data connection of your iPhone or iPad when you don’t have access to a Wi-Fi network.
Below, we’ll walk you through the steps needed to activate or connect to one of these hotspots – and don’t worry, this method should work for all generations of iPhone, whether you own aniPhone 13or aniPhone 6S.
Steps
You’ll need to set up a Wi-Fi password to allow others to tether to your own device. Bear in mind that you’re only allowed to use ASCII characters when choosing your password (which includes all English letters, numbers and some punctuation marks), as non-ASCII characters (including Japanese, Russian, Chinese and other languages) won’t work.
If you can’t see the option for Personal Hotspot, contact your network provider to make sure you can use Personal Hotspot with your data plan.
How to connect to a Personal Hotspot
You can connect to your own or someone else’s Personal Hotspot using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB.
Using Wi-Fi:
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Using Bluetooth:
Using USB:
How to disconnect a device
Final thoughts
When you connect a device to your Personal Hotspot, the status bar turns blue and shows how many devices have joined. The number of devices that can join your Personal Hotspot at one time depends on your network provider and iPhone model.
If other devices have joined your Personal Hotspot using Wi-Fi, you can only use mobile data to connect to the internet from the host device.
With iOS 13 or later, devices that are connected to a Personal Hotspot will stay connected, even if the screen is locked, so those devices will still receive notifications and messages.
Certain apps and features that require a Wi-Fi connection might not work while using a Personal Hotspot. For example, you might not be able to make aniCloudbackup or upload photos to iCloud Photo Library or Photo Stream.
Happy internet sharing!
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Axel is TechRadar’s UK-based Phones Editor, reporting on everything from the latest Apple developments to newest AI breakthroughs as part of the site’s Mobile Computing vertical. Having previously written for publications including Esquire and FourFourTwo, Axel is well-versed in the applications of technology beyond the desktop, and his coverage extends from general reporting and analysis to in-depth interviews and opinion.
Axel studied for a degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick before joining TechRadar in 2020, where he then earned an NCTJ qualification as part of the company’s inaugural digital training scheme.
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