Personal hotspot not working? Follow these steps!

You just had a nice app conversation and now your internet bundle is up. Bummer! Your friends are lifesavers and you may continue chatting on their hotspot. But then you run into this problem: the personal hotspot doesn’t work. In this blog, we cover the following topics:

• The personal hotspot is untraceable
• Personal hotspot methods
• Personal hotspot not working due to provider or settings

The hotspot is untraceable

The personal hotspot does not work because it is untraceable. You fix this by going to Settings > Personal hotspot and checking that the switch is on. Keep this screen open until the connection is established. Also check that the password that needs to be entered is correct, it is on the screen you now have in front of you. If you are using an iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro or iPhone 12 Pro Max, enable “Maximize Compatibility. Is your personal hotspot still not working? Then reboot both iPhones (the one acting as a hotspot and the iPhone that wants to receive the hotspot connection) and try again.

Personal hotspot methods

There are several ways to use a personal hotspot. The most common way is via Wifi (the method mentioned above). The personal hotspot does not work over WiFi? Then try one of the other methods:

Bluetooth: Bluetooth makes it possible to establish a personal hotspot connection. This method is just not used very often because it is important for the two devices to be close together. Still, it can be very convenient because it uses less energy.

USB: You can use a USB connection between your iPhone and your MacBook for the personal hotspot. When the devices are connected, you can select the desired network from the list of network facilities.

Personal hotspot not working due to provider or settings

With recent iPhones and iOS versions, it is increasingly common for the personal hotspot not to work due to provider or data bundle settings. Not every bundle supports hotspot use, and some providers disable this feature by default. Therefore, check if your mobile subscription supports tethering. You can usually find this in your provider’s app or website. Sometimes the feature has to be activated manually.

It may also help to reset your network settings. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or reset iPhone > Restore > Restore network settings. Note that this will delete saved Wi-Fi networks and passwords. Are you using an eSIM or recently transferred SIM card? If so, you may need to reboot your device or update your provider settings. Go to Settings > General > Info and check if an update is available. In addition, a poor 4G or 5G connection may cause the personal hotspot to not work stably. Try this in a different location or temporarily disable 5G and test again.

Unfortunately, did the above steps not help you and your personal hotspot is still not working? We then recommend going to a professional repair shop (for example, ThePhoneLab – check here for a branch near you). At ThePhoneLab, we always do a free diagnostic first. After this, you are not required to proceed to repair, but of course you can. Make your appointment here: