There are several things that can cause a personal hotspot connection to stop working. Instant Hotspot is part of Apple’s Continuity feature. Instant Hotspot will let you share the cellular data connection of iOS device with your Mac. However, several users are reporting issues.
Although Personal Hotspot and Instant Hotspot offer similar functionalities, they are different. With Personal Hotspot, you have to enter your hotspot password to connect and you can use your iPhone’s or iPad’s cellular connection with Mac and Windows computers. However, Instant Hotspot offers more practicality, it also offers faster connectivity and you do not need to enter a password instead it uses your Apple ID for authentication.
See also: iPhone Keeps Saying Incorrect Wi-Fi Password (But It’s Correct)
This short article offers several tips for you to use If Instant Hotspot is not working. These tips will be also useful if you are having issues with Personal Hotspot.
You may see various error messages, for instance:
- Remote hotspot failure
- Unable to start personal hotspot
Before we continue, please ensure that:
- Your cellular device’s (your iPhone or iPad) plan includes tethering meaning your service provides support personal hotspot. If you are not sure, contact your carrier to verify that your wireless plan supports this.
- You log into the same Apple ID on all of your devices (your iOS devices and your Mac).
- You enable Wi-Fi and bluetooth on all of your devices.
Still, if Instant Hotspot is not working, try these things first:
How to fix
Please try the following steps. Also note that after each step, check to see if your issue is resolved.
- Update your devices:
- Update you iOS devices to the latest version of iOS. You can do so wirelessly by going to Settings > General > Software Update
- Update your computer also. If your Mac is already running Mac OS Mojave, then you can check updates by going to System Preferences > Software Update. If you are running an earlier version of Mac OS (El Capitan etc) then launch the App Store on your Mac and then click Updates.
- Restart your devices. It is simply, but may fix the problem.
- Turn off Wi-Fi on your iOS devices and wait a few seconds and turn it back on by going to Settings > Wi-Fi. And turn off Bluetooth on your iOS devices and wait a few seconds and then turn it back on by going to Settings > Bluetooth.
- On your Mac, disable Wi-Fi and wait a few seconds and then enable it by clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar. And disable Bluetooth and wait a few seconds and then enable it by clicking the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
- On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > [your name] > scroll down and > Sign Out. You will have to enter your Apple ID and password. And then sign back in. If you enable two-factor authentication, you will be asked to enter the verification code. See also: How To Sign In To iCloud.com
- On your Mac, go to Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud > Sign Out. Again you will have to enter your Apple ID credentials. You will be asked if you want to keep a copy of your iCloud data. And sign back in.
- On your iOS device, reset your network settings by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Note that this action will remove your Wi-Fi passwords etc.
- On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Network and select Wi-Fi, then click the settings icon and select “Make Service Inactive” and click Apply. Now Wi-Fi will be inactive. Now select Wi-Fi and choose “Make Service Active” and click Apply. If you are still unable to connect ,then select Bluetooth and follow the same steps: First make it “Inactive” and then revert back.
Still you are having this problem? Then you may want to contact Apple. You can also send feedback.
Thanks. Signing out of iCloud and iPhone and back in fixed my issue 🙂