Is the Hotspot on your iPhone not working right? You’re not by yourself, which is too bad. Sadly, network working issues are a common problem with smartphone connections. Keep reading if you can’t see or connect to your iPhone hotspot or if it doesn’t present itself. If a Personal Hotspot on your iPhone isn’t working, we’ll review all the possible fixes you may attempt.
iPhone Hotspot Not Working? How To Fix
Ensure Mobile Data & Personal Hotspot Are Enabled
To use your iPhone as a hotspot, you’ll need to connect to a cellular internet network and enable Personal Hotspot. If only cellular data is allowed, your iPhone hotspot won’t be visible. Go to Settings > Cellular Data to turn it on or off. Toggle Allow Others to Join after tapping Personal Hotspot.
Tip: To fix your hotspot problems, you should toggle the Allow Others to Join option on and off.
Don’t Put iPhone To Sleep
When you’re done setting up your iPhone’s Hotspot and making it available, please don’t press the Side button and put it down immediately. Instead, wake up your iPhone and connect your second device to the Hotspot. Then, put your iPhone to sleep. After setting up a connection, putting your iPhone to sleep may remove Personal Hotspot immediately, even if you just turned it on.
Check Mobile Data Plan
Your iPhone hotspot may not be working because of your data plan, even if you have a Personal Hotspot set and are sure your carrier allows sharing. To use Personal Hotspot with some providers, you must sign up for extra internet plans. If your package already comes with internet data, make sure you have enough. If you don’t restart your phone or add more data, your iPhone’s hotspot feature will stop working.
Maximize Personal Hotspot Compatibility
Go to Settings > Personal Hotspot and toggle on Maximize Compatibility if you have an iPhone 12 (or later).
With this function, the link is switched to 2.4 GHz, which has a better range. If you turn on the Maximize Compatibility option, your internet speed may slow down. The speed should be fine, though, if you’re doing light work and not watching a lot of media.
Tethering may not be possible on some providers’ devices for reasons that are only sometimes clear. Many locked devices bought from a carrier’s store have this problem, but it can also happen with phones and computers that are not locked.
There are many ways to talk about this issue. You may have seen that the linking option in the Settings menu is gone. To enable Personal Hotspot on this account, contact [carrier].” You may see a message on your screen saying this. A turning wheel will often go along with it. A quick look at the FAQs for your carrier may help solve the problem. For possible solutions, sending an SMS to your carrier to enable the option could work.
Your iPhone hotspot may stop working if there is missing APN data. Navigate to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Cellular Network if your carrier lets you use this option and you know the codes. One possibility is that the carrier may have completely removed the option for your account. You’ll need to contact the carrier’s customer service staff to get more information about the issue.
Restart Device
If your iPhone’s Hotspot isn’t working, you should always turn your device off and on. As a faster solution, try putting your phone into “Airplane Mode.” Please enable it for 10 seconds before turning it off. To connect to your iPhone hotspot, you should also restart the device. Consider that the issue may not be with your iPhone but the other device.
Remove & Reinsert SIM Card
Cell phones need a SIM card to make calls, send texts, and get mobile data. When your iPhone has a problem properly finding the SIM card, Personal Hotspot issues will surely arise. To solve this, remove and then reinstall the SIM card.
Try Different Connection Method
Personal hotspots are needs a Wi-Fi connection by most people. That’s not right. You may connect using Bluetooth or a reliable USB cord when your iPhone hotspot isn’t working properly. You can rule out (or prove) a problem with your phone’s Wi-Fi hardware by experimenting with different hotspot connection methods. As said in the first solution, you will still need to enable Personal Hotspot if you want to use a different connection.
Connect your iPhone to that device using Bluetooth if you want to share a hotspot with another computer or phone. Tap the device’s name in the issue after going to Settings > Bluetooth on an iPhone.
The process on your other device will depend on its running system. You may need to enter a PIN to verify your identity if this is your first time linking to the other device. Next, connect your iPhone to a computer using the USB connection method. If you see the question “Trust this Computer?” on your iPhone, tap Trust. Then, go to your computer’s network settings and choose the Hotspot from the list of networks you can connect to. The fastest way to connect is with USB, which is a benefit. This is the best solution if you value speed.
Update iPhone
Updating your iPhone to the most recent version of iOS may help solve the problem if your iPhone hotspot isn’t working. This is because updates include bug fixes. If you want to update your iOS device, go to Settings > General > Software Update. You’ll be asked to get and install any available changes.
Reset Network Settings
There is a built-in way in iOS to delete user data and reset settings to their original state. However, you may be more detailed and delete only certain data types. In this case, you only need to delete the network settings if the Hotspot on your iPhone isn’t working. To reset your iPhone’s network settings, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset > Reset > Reset Network Work Settings. You have to enter your passcode before the phone will let you go.
During resetting, your Wi-Fi, carrier, password, and custom iPhone names will be removed. This will give you a fresh start to ensure a bad network setup didn’t cause the hotspot problem.
Sign Out Of iCloud
Some people have also said that logging out of your iCloud account would fix the Personal Hotspot not working issue. Although it is still being determined why this would solve a network work issue, it is worth an attempt if something else has worked. Sign out of your iCloud account by going to Settings > [Your Name] > Sign Out. Re-login to your account to enable your iCloud features again.
Reset iPhone
Resetting the iPhone is the final solution.
- Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings to reset all your iPhone settings. In this case, the settings on your iPhone are reset to their original state, but no data is lost.
- If your iPhone hotspot still doesn’t work, you should only do this last resort: delete all your data and your device’s operating system. Navigate to Settings > General >
- Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings to reset your iPhone’s original settings. But you need to make a copy first.
- You may also do the same thing on a computer using Finder or iTunes. To restore your iPhone, connect your phone to your computer, open the Finder or iTunes app, pick your iPhone from the list on the left, and then choose Restore iPhone.
Conclusion:
You may need to head to an Apple Store (or an Authorized Service Provider) and have the professionals look into it if everything else fails and your iPhone’s Hotspot still doesn’t work. Hardware may be the cause of your issue. You will need more than just experimenting with connection types or settings to connect to an iPhone hotspot.
