Hotspot

How to share your Mac’s Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection as a hotspot for your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, and other devices

Ankur Thakur ∙ December 1, 2022

You're already familiar with Personal Hotspot on your iPhone and cellular iPad, which lets you share mobile data with other devices. Similarly, your Mac also has this hidden feature that allows you to share its internet connection with an iPhone, iPad, Android phone, another MacBook, or anything that can connect to Wi-Fi.

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to turn your Mac into a wireless Wi-Fi router and share its internet connection. Plus, we'll also show you how to share your Mac's Wi-Fi with your iPhone or iPad via Lightning cable or Bluetooth.

How to change the Personal Hotspot name on iPhone or cellular iPad

Ankur Thakur ∙ November 29, 2022

When you go to iPhone Settings and tap Personal Hotspot, you only see the option to modify the hotspot password, not its name. But if you want to change your iPhone's hotspot name, you'll have to tweak your main iPhone name. It's very easy, and we'll show you how.

How to fix iPhone Personal Hotspot not working on Mac

Ankur Thakur ∙ April 14, 2022

Your iPhone's Personal Hotspot is readily available on your Mac. However, at times, iPhone hotspot may not work on Mac or even show up on the Wi-Fi screen.

If you cannot connect your Mac or other devices to your iPhone or cellular iPad's Personal Hotspot, this guide will help fix the problem.

Some malformed network names can break your iPhone’s Wi-Fi, requiring a factory reset to fix

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 5, 2021

An iPhone hotspot vulnerability that Apple hasn't fixed yet breaks your ability to connect to wireless networks, requiring a factory reset to restore Wi-Fi functionality.

iOS and iPadOS 15 keep your Wi-Fi hotspot connections more secure with WPA3 support

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 5, 2021

iPhone hotspot connections have become more secure and private thanks to built-in support for the improved WPA3 security protocol in the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 updates.

How to choose when iPhone should use 2.4GHz or 5GHz Wi-Fi band for hotspot tethering

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 21, 2021

All iPhone models from the iPhone 12 onward can use a faster 5GHz Wi-Fi band to boost hotspot tethering performance. But if your client devices encounter issues with the 5GHZ band, you can always set your Personal Hotspot to use a slower 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band. Follow along to learn how to switch between 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands for the iPhone hotspot tethering.

How to share your iPhone hotspot with family members

Sandy Writtenhouse ∙ Updated April 15, 2022

You might use the Personal Hotspot feature on your own device so that you have a data connection if you’re without internet. So it’s nice to know that you can do the same for your family, meaning they can share yours.

If you use Family Sharing, setting this up is simple, and your family members can join without the password. Here, we’ll show you how to share your Hotspot with your family members.

Harpy: A new jailbreak app that lets you rule your local Wi-Fi network with an iron fist

Anthony Bouchard ∙ January 11, 2019

After refreshing my Cydia sources this week, I happened upon a peculiar package dubbed Harpy by iOS developer midnightchips. But more importantly, I was pleasantly surprised after tapping on the package to learn more about it.

As it would seem, Harpy is a lightweight networking app that can help you control the users on your local Wi-Fi network or Personal Hotspot. Right out of the box, Harpy provides users with the following features:

This tweak masks your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot password

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 17, 2017

Your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot password is displayed as a string of text in the Settings app, which means anyone can look over your shoulder and figure out your password without you knowing.

A new free jailbreak tweak called MaskedHotspotPass by iOS developer Andreas Henriksson helps to do away with this problem by concealing your Personal Hotspot password from the preferences pane.

Personal Hotspot not working? Try this

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated June 15, 2018

Personal Hotspot is an incredibly convenient feature that comes bundled into your iPhone; it lets you share your iPhone’s data connection with other devices, effectively transforming it into a wireless modem, as long as it has service from your carrier.

As convenient as it might be, it can sometimes come with headaches from not working as expected. In this piece, we’ll talk about some common troubleshooting steps for problems related to Personal Hotspot on your iPhone.

T-Mobile’s new ONE add-ons bring unlimited LTE tethering, daily HD passes & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 29, 2016

When T-Mobile announced its upcoming ONE service that'll give all customers “unlimited” 4G LTE data, eagled-eyed readers discovered in the fine print that mobile tethering is limited to sluggish 2G speeds, with 5GB of 4G LTE tethering sold as a $15 add-on. Today, the carrier clarified that ONE would include unlimited tethering at 3G speeds at no additional cost after all while unveiling ONE Plus upgrades with unlimited 4G LTE tethering, daily HD passes and more.

CES 2015: AT&T unveils LTE case for Wi-Fi iPads

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 6, 2015

If you ever wanted to buy a cellular iPad but couldn't wrap your head around forking out an extra $130 for LTE functionality, AT&T has you covered.

Here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the #2 U.S. wireless carrier announced a new case that gives Wi-Fi-only iPads the ability to connect to its high-speed 4G LTE network.

It's basically a case with an integrated mobile LTE hotspot and it's available in several editions, including versions for the iPad Air and iPad Air 2, as well as all three generations of the iPad mini.