Learn how to easily discover and remove devices connected to your iPhone hotspot to ensure your personal data and internet speed remain secure.
How to know if someone is connected to your iPhone’s Hotspot
On iPhone with Dynamic Island
You will see the green Personal Hotspot icon in the top Dynamic Island of your iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max.
On iPhone with Face ID
If a device is connected to your iPhone’s Hotspot, you will see a green pill shape in the top left corner of the screen, where the time is shown.
On iPhone without Face ID
You will see a thin blue strip on the top of the screen.
See the total number of devices connected to your iPhone Hotspot
- Open Control Center and touch & hold the network tile to expand it.
- You will see the number of connected devices under the Personal Hotspot icon. It will say N Connections.
On iPhones without Face ID, the total number of connected devices is also mentioned in the top blue strip.
See all devices that connected to your iPhone Hotspot and used its cellular data
- Open the Settings app and tap Cellular or Mobile Data.
- Optional: If you use multiple SIM cards, tap Cellular Data from the top and pick a SIM.
- Scroll through the list of apps and services on the cellular settings page and tap Personal Hotspot.
- Here, you will see a list of devices that ever connected to your iPhone and how much mobile data each of them used. The list here may have clear device names or unhelpful MAC addresses.
Note: The Personal Hotspot device list will reset if you reset your cellular data usage statistics. And if you have two or more SIM cards on your iPhone, the data used previously by the connected devices will bundle as one option called Other devices.
Find devices currently connected to your Personal Hotspot
iOS does not show a precise list of devices connected to your phone’s Hotspot. All it does is show the total number of connected devices (which we already explained above).
However, third-party apps like iNet and Net Analyzer can give you this information and let you know which devices are connected to your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot at a given time.
iNet
- Download iNet – Network Scanner for free from the App Store.
- Make sure your iPhone is not connected to a Wi-Fi network and one or more devices are connected to its Personal Hotspot.
- Open iNet and allow it to find devices on your local network.
- Tap the curved arrow scan button from the bottom right and let the app scan.
- Once it’s done, you will see a list of devices connected to your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot. You will either see the device name (like Ankurs iPad Pro), their generic name (like Android), or just the IP address.
Network Analyzer
- Download the Net Analyzer app for free from the Apple App Store.
- Open the app and tap LAN from the bottom row.
- Tap Scan from the top right.
- Once the app finishes scanning, you will see a list of devices connected to your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot. The app may show the device or manufacturer’s names of some connected devices or just their IP along with the MAC address.
Note: The first option you see in both apps is most likely the information about the host device, that’s your iPhone. And after that, you see the connected devices. Even after a device disconnects from your iPhone’s Hotspot, it may still show in the app. You can scan again, and it should no longer appear in that list. If it still does, force quit and reopen the app and scan again.
Why you can’t see the exact device name in all apps
Some connected devices like Macs may allow their name to be visible on the host device, while smartphones may not permit this.
In the Net Analyzer app screenshot above, you can see that the name of my Mac mini and MacBook are shown, but the names of Android phones and the connected iPad are not. Instead, you just get to see their MAC address and IP.
I noticed a similar pattern on two Android phones in my house (Motorola and Xiaomi). I connected my iPad, iPhone, and Mac to their Hotspot and could see my Mac’s name under the Manage Devices section of Personal Hotspot settings. However, my iPhone and iPad appeared as Unknown devices (with their IP and MAC address shown).
Kick out connected users from your iPhone Hotspot
On Android phones, you can go to the Manage Devices section of the Hostpot settings and selectively disconnect connected users from your side. Unfortunately, iOS lacks this feature, and you will have to do one of the following to remove users from your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot.
Turn off Personal Hotspot
Go to the iPhone Settings app > Personal Hotspot and turn off the switch for Allow Others to Join. You can also expand the network tile of the Control Center and tap the Personal Hotspot icon to make it ‘Not Discoverable.’ Doing so will disconnect all users that are connected to your iPhone’s Hotspot.
Join a Wi-Fi
Go to the Settings app or the Control Center and join a Wi-Fi network. Personal Hostpot is automatically disconnected when your iPhone connects to Wi-Fi.
Turn off Bluetooth
If a device has joined your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot via Bluetooth, turning it off will disconnect them.
Unplug your iPhone from the computer
In case you’re sharing your iPhone’s mobile data via cable to a Mac or PC, unplugging it will automatically stop that.
Change your Personal Hotspot password
Go to the iPhone Settings app > Personal Hotspot and change the Wi-Fi Password, which will automatically disconnect the connected devices and also prevent them from reconnecting (unless you share the new password with them).
Turn off Personal Hotspot for family members
Go to the Settings app > Personal Hotspot > Family Sharing and turn off the switch for Family Sharing or tap a member’s name and set it to ‘Ask for Approval‘ as opposed to ‘Automatic.’
A word about Instant Hotspot
With Instant Hotspot, your iPhone or cellular iPad can allow your other iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Mac to connect to Personal Hotspot without the need to enter the Hotspot password. This involves no setup, and your iPhone or cellular iPad appears as an Instant Hotspot option in the Wi-Fi settings of your other Apple devices if the following conditions are fulfilled:
- Both devices use the same Apple ID.
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are enabled on the host iPhone or cellular iPad as well as the guest Apple device.
- Your host iPhone or iPad has cellular data enabled with a carrier plan that allows Personal Hotspot (which most do).
You cannot stop seeing your iPhone or cellular iPad as an Instant Hotspot option unless you dishonor the above requirements.
On the same note:
- How to change the AirDrop and Personal Hotspot name on iPhone or iPad
- How to fix iPhone Personal Hotspot not working or disconnecting on Mac
- How to choose when iPhone should use 2.4GHz or 5GHz Wi-Fi band for hotspot tethering
- How to stop iPhone, iPad, and Mac from joining personal hotspots when Wi-Fi is unavailable