How to set up a Personal Hotspot

When you're not in range of a trusted Wi-Fi network, a Personal Hotspot lets you create a temporary, portable Wi-Fi network using the cellular data connection of your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular).

Set up Personal Hotspot

  1. In Settings, tap Personal Hotspot. Or tap Cellular, then Personal Hotspot.

  2. Turn on Allow Others to Join.

If you don't see the option for Personal Hotspot, contact your carrier. Learn how to use Instant Hotspot to connect to your Personal Hotspot without entering its password.

Connect to Personal Hotspot with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB

When you connect a device to your Personal Hotspot, the status bar displays a green Personal Hotspot icon. If you want to view the devices connected to your Personal Hotspot, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open Control Center. The number of devices that can join your Personal Hotspot at one time depends on your carrier and iPhone model.

Wi-Fi

  1. Make sure the device you’re connecting to has Personal Hotspot turned on. In Settings, tap Personal Hotspot, or tap Cellular and then tap Personal Hotspot. Stay on this screen until you’ve connected your other device to the Personal Hotspot.

  2. On the device that you want to connect, go to Settings and tap Wi-Fi.

  3. Look for your iPhone or iPad in the list, then tap the Personal Hotspot to join. If asked, enter the password for your Personal Hotspot.

If other devices have joined your Personal Hotspot using Wi-Fi, you can use only cellular data to connect to the internet from the device providing the Personal Hotspot.

Bluetooth

  1. Make sure that your iPhone or iPad is discoverable. In Settings, tap Bluetooth.

  2. Stay on this screen. Then on your Mac, follow the steps to connect a Bluetooth device.

USB

  1. Make sure that you have either the Finder or the latest version of iTunes on your Mac.

  2. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer with the USB cable that came with your device. If you see an alert that says "Trust This Computer?" tap Trust.

Disconnect devices

To disconnect a device, turn off Personal Hotspot, or select another Wi-Fi or cellular connection on the device connected to the Personal Hotspot.

Set or change your Wi-Fi password

  1. You need to set a Wi-Fi password in order to set up a Personal Hotspot. In Settings, tap Cellular, then tap Personal Hotspot to set or change your Wi-Fi Password. Or tap Personal Hotspot, then tap Wi-Fi Password.*

  2. Choose a Wi-Fi password that's at least eight characters long and uses ASCII characters. This includes all letters in English, both upper and lowercase, digits 0-9, and some punctuation marks. If you use non-ASCII characters (such as characters in Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and other languages), other devices can't join your Personal Hotspot.

* When you change your password, any connected devices will be disconnected.

Learn more

  • 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 an iCloud backup or upload photos to iCloud Photo Library or Photo Stream.

  • Get help with Personal Hotspot on your iOS and iPadOS devices.

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