If you’re out and about and there’s no free Wi-Fi available, you can use your iPhone’s internet connection on another device, like a laptop or tablet. This feature is called "Personal Hotspot" on the iPhone (also known as “tethering”), and you can use it over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB.
What You Need to Know About Tethering
First of all: not every cellular carrier includes this feature in every plan. If your cellular data plan doesn’t allow for tethering, you may not see the Personal Hotspot option at all on your iPhone’s settings screen. You may have to pay extra to gain access to it.
Second, it’s important to remember that when you use your iPhone as a mobile hotspot, you are using your mobile data plan and as such, if you have a data cap, then it will count towards that. If you have unlimited data or a large cap, then this might not trouble you, but you’ll otherwise want to be mindful of what you’re using you computer for when connected to your iPhone as a hotspot.
Even if you have unlimited data, there’s a good chance you have a limited amount of tethering data — or, at least, high-speed tethering data. Your carrier may charge you extra if you need more tethering data. Check your cellular plan for more details about your plan’s hotspot, or tethering, capabilities.
Lastly, Wi-Fi tethering will also drain your phone’s battery more quickly. If possible, connect your iPhone to a power source–or plug it into your laptop via USB cable–while tethering. Be sure to disable the hotspot when you’re not using it, too.
How to get your iPhone to work as a hotspot
To get your iPhone to work as a hotspot, follow these steps:
- Enable mobile data on your iPhone by swiping down from the top-right of your screen.
- Open Settings and tap Personal Hotspot, or Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot.
- Turn on Allow Others to Join.
At the bottom of the Personal Hotspot menu, you’ll see instructions for the three ways you can connect other devices to the personal hotspot you’ve just turned on: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB.
Connect to Personal Hotspot with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB
When you connect a device to your iPhone Personal Hotspot, the status bar displays a green Personal Hotspot icon. View the devices connected to your Personal Hotspot by swiping 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.
You can use your iPhone as a hotspot for your laptop, Android, iPad, TV, ETC. Use these steps to connect:
1. Connect to an iPhone Hotspot via Wi-Fi
To connect to an iPhone hotspot via Wi-Fi, here’s what you need to do:
- Make sure your iPhone has Personal Hotspot turned on. Go to Settings > Personal Hotspot, or Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot to verify the Wi-Fi password and name of the phone. Stay on this screen until you’ve connected your other device to your iPhone Personal Hotspot.
- On the device that you want to connect (PC, MacBook, TV, ETC), go to Settings > Wi-Fi and look for your iPhone 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.
2. Connect to an iPhone Hotspot via Bluetooth
Personal Hotspot supports Bluetooth connections with Mac and third-party devices.
To connect to an iPhone hotspot via Bluetooth, follow these steps:
- To make sure that your iPhone is discoverable, go to Settings > Bluetooth and stay on that screen.
- On your Mac, follow the steps to connect a Bluetooth device.
3. Connect to an iPhone Hotspot via USB
To access your iPhone’s hotspot over a USB connection on a laptop or desktop computer, follow these steps:
- Connect your iPhone 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
You need to set a Wi-Fi password in order to set up a Personal Hotspot. To change the Wi-Fi password, go to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot or Settings > Personal Hotspot, then tap the Wi-Fi password. Choose a Wi-Fi password that’s at least eight characters long and use ASCII characters. If you use non-ASCII characters, other devices will be unable to join your Personal Hotspot. Non-ASCII characters include characters in Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and other languages. ASCII characters include:
- All the letters in English, both lowercase and uppercase
- The digits 0 through 9
- Some punctuation marks
When you change your password, any connected devices will be disconnected.
Should I Use Wi-Fi Or Mobile Hotspot?
We recommend that you always use Wi-Fi when it’s available. Connecting to Wi-Fi doesn’t use up your iPhone’s data and your speed will never get throttled — which means slowed down after you’ve used a certain amount of data. Wi-Fi is typically faster than a mobile hotspot anyway, regardless of throttling.
Is It Safe to Use Personal Hotspot?
If you’re sharing your internet connection via Wi-Fi in public, you might be concerned about security. But the most important thing to remember is that you aren’t sharing access to your iPhone’s data.
Your device is acting as a pass-through for access to the wider internet. Your personal data isn’t accessible even if you give someone else the password for your hotspot connection.
How Much Data Does Personal Hotspot Use On My iPhone?
Ultimately, that depends on what websites you visit and what you’re actually doing online. Activities like streaming videos on Netflix and downloading large files will use a lot more data than if you’re just surfing the web.
If I Have Unlimited Data, Does It Cost Extra To Set Up Personal Hotspot?
The cost of using personal hotspot varies depending on your wireless provider and the type of plan you have. With new unlimited data plans, you get a certain amount of data at high speeds. Then, your wireless provider throttles your data usage, meaning that any data you use after you reached that limit will be significantly slower. So, while you won’t be charged anything extra, your internet speeds will be very, very slow.
Below, we’ve created a table which compares high-end unlimited data plans of wireless carriers and how the affect your ability to use mobile hotspot on your iPhone.
| Wireless Carriers | Amount Of Data Before Throttling | Amount Of Personal Hotspot Data Before Throttling | Personal Hotspot Speed After Throttling |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | 22 GB | 15 GB | 128 kpbs |
| T-Mobile | 50 GB | Unlimited | 3G personal hotspot speeds |
| Verizon | 70 GB | 20 GB | 600 Kbps |
Tips For Using Mobile Hotspot On Your iPhone
- If you’re tethering your iPhone to your Mac, close all of the programs in the background of your Mac that could be using additional data. For example, the Mail app constantly checks for new emails, which can be a serious drain on your data plan.
- Always use Wi-Fi instead of mobile hotspot.
- Using mobile hotspot on your iPhone drains its battery more quickly, so make sure to keep an eye on battery life before tethering!
Internet Access Anywhere You Go!
You now know how to tether an iPhone and set up personal hotspot so you can always surf the web, even without Wi-Fi. We hope you’ll share this article on social media, or leave us a comment down below if you have any other iPhone related questions!