iPhone Personal Hotspot Not Working? Here's How to Fix It

Personal Hotspot won’t turn on, doesn’t appear in the menu, or other devices can’t connect to or stay connected to your iPhone’s hotspot.

Why: Either your plan doesn’t include Personal Hotspot, the feature got disabled, or there’s a Wi-Fi compatibility hiccup between your iPhone and the device trying to join. Start with whether it’s even turned on.

Fix 1: Turn Personal Hotspot on (and check your plan)

1. Go to Settings > Personal Hotspot.
2. Turn on Allow Others to Join.

If you can’t find or turn on Personal Hotspot at all, the issue is your plan: confirm with your wireless carrier that your plan supports Personal Hotspot and that they’ve enabled it on your line.

Fix 2: Turn on Maximize Compatibility

By default, the hotspot broadcasts on 5 GHz, which some devices can’t join reliably. Maximize Compatibility switches it to a more universally supported band.

1. Go to Settings > Personal Hotspot.
2. Turn on Maximize Compatibility.

This option appears on iPhone 12 and later (and recent iPad Pro and iPad mini models). Try connecting again afterward.

Fix 3: Restart both devices and check the connecting device

1. Restart the iPhone sharing the hotspot and the device trying to connect.
2. On the device that’s connecting, turn Wi-Fi off and back on.
3. Make sure you’re picking the correct network name — it matches the name of the iPhone sharing the hotspot.
4. Make sure your iPhone is running the latest iOS (Settings > General > Software Update).

Fix 4: Reset network settings

If it still won’t work, reset the network configuration. This erases saved Wi-Fi passwords and cellular, VPN, and APN settings:

1. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset.
2. Tap Reset Network Settings.

Then turn Personal Hotspot back on and try connecting again.

FAQ

Personal Hotspot doesn’t appear in Settings at all. That almost always means your carrier hasn’t enabled it on your plan. Call them to confirm tethering is included.

A Mac or other Apple device can’t see the hotspot. Make sure both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on, then have the connecting device toggle Wi-Fi off and on.

Will Maximize Compatibility slow my hotspot down? It can reduce speed slightly because it uses a more compatible (slower) band, so turn it off again once your devices connect reliably.

Sources: Apple Support — If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad