Personal Hotspot Not Working on iPhone or iPad? Try These Fixes

There are a lot of reasons for your personal hotspot to stop working, however, mostly it’s the network inconsistency having to do with the Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and VPN settings that can also be responsible for this issue to occur.

After investigating this particular issue thoroughly, it turns out that there are several different underlying reasons that might prevent you from establishing a personal Hotspot within your iOS device. Here’s a list of potential culprits:

Now that you are aware of every potential reason that might prevent you from establishing a personal hotspot on your iOS device, follow the methods below to troubleshoot & fix the problem away:

1. Change Name of the Phone and Password of Hotspot

As it turns out, one of the most effective and easiest fixes out there is to change the name of the iPhone and iPad and the password of the hotspot.

On top of allowing you to return your Personal Hotspot assistant from a glitched state, this will also serve the purpose of forcing the computer (or another device) connecting to the hotspot to ask for the password again, thus refreshing the Wi-Fi connections.

If you’re looking for step by step instructions on changing the name of your iPhone or iPad along with the hotspot password, follow the instructions below:

1. First things first access the Settings icon from the home screen of your iPhone or iPad device.

   

2. Once you’re inside the Settings screen, tap on General, then tap on the About menu from the menu that just appeared.
3. Inside the About tab, tap on Name and press the (x) icon next to the current name.
4. Finally, enter a new name and tap Done to successfully change the name of your iPhone.

   

5. Now that the name of your iOS device has been adjusted, time to handle the password part. To do this, return to the root directory of Settings and tap on Cellular.
6. Once you’re inside the Cellular tab, go ahead and tap on Personal Hotspot.

   

7. Inside the Personal Hotspot tab, tap on Wi-Fi Password, then press on the  (x) icon to remove the current password so you can set another one.
8. Once a new password is enforced, tap on Done. After you do so, you’ll see all your connected devices be promptly disconnected.
9. Finally, reboot your iOS device in order to allow the network connection to be re-established.
10. Once your device boots back up, attempt to use the Personal Hotspot functionality once again and see if the problem is now fixed.

If the problem is still not fixed, move down to the next potential fix below.

2. Reset Network Settings

According to a lot of affected users, you can also expect to encounter this particular issue due to a network inconsistency related to temporary data containing info about Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or VPN settings.

If this is the source of this issue with the Personal Assistant, you should be able to fix the problem by resetting your network settings in order to clear every networking temp data cache and reset all cellular settings to their factory defaults.

We’ve managed to find a host of users confirming that once they’ve reset the network settings, they can finally use the personal hotspot functionality.

Here’s a quick step by step guide that will walk you through the process of resetting your iPhone’s or iPad’s network settings from the Settings menu:

1. From the home menu of your iOS device, tap on the Settings icon.

   

2. Inside the Settings menu, tap on General, then tap on Reset from the dedicated menu that just appeared.
3. Once you’re inside the Reset tab, go ahead and tap on Reset Network Settings.
4. After doing so, you’ll be prompted to tap on Reset Network Settings once again to confirm.

   

5. After you confirm your choice, your iPhone or iPad will turn off automatically – This is perfectly normal so don’t freak out.
6. Your iOs device will boot back up with the network cache cleared. Once this happens, attempt to set up the personal hotspot once again and see if the problem is now fixed.

If the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next potential fix below.

3. Disable and Re-Enable Cellular Data

This is one of the few minor software glitches that are still around on iOS software years after iPhone and iPad users have started reporting it.

A software glitch affecting the management of cellular data is often responsible for breaking the Personal Hotspot feature. Most commonly, this issue occurs because there’s a problem bridging the cellular data with the hotspot feature.

Note: Keep in mind that when other devices attempt to connect to your personal hotspot, they’re actually using the cellular data on your cell phone plan.

Fortunately, most affected users have reported that they managed to fix this issue by turning the cellular data Off and then back On in order to fix the minor software glitch.

Follow the instructions below to learn how to do this:

1. From the home screen of your iOS device, tap on the Settings menu.

   

2. Inside the Settings menu, tap on Cellular to access the dedicated menu.
3. Once you’re inside the Cellular menu, tap on the Celular Data toggle to disable it temporarily.

   

4. Once the cellular data is disabled, wait for a full minute before re-enabling Cellular Data using the same toggle.
5. Return to the Personal Hotspot screen and see if you are now able to set up a hotspot without experiencing the same kind of issue.

If this problem is still not fixed, move down to the next potential fix below.

4. Install the carrier update

One lesser-known culprit but one that can cause an entire host of issues related to Internet Connectivity is a pending carrier update that needs to be installed in order to take advantage of the cellular data.

Keep in mind that every mobile carrier up there regularly releases a settings update that makes some adjustments in regards to the used ports, servers, and gateway addresses.

This particular scenario is very likely if you’re also having trouble making or receiving calls or send SMSs.

Note: This process is automatic on Android, but on iOS, you will need to accept this update manually by accepting it when the pop-up appears.

If an update like this is pending after you ignored the pop-up when it first appeared, you can force it to come up the screen again by accessing the About tab.

Follow the instructions below for a step-by-step guide on forcing the installation of the pending carrier setting update:

1. From the home screen of your iOS device, tap on Settings.
   

   

2. Inside the Settings menu, tap on General from the list of available options.
3. From the General tab, tap on About and wait for 15 seconds or more until you see the update pop-up showing up on the screen.

   

4. Once the update prompt shows up again, follow the on-screen prompts to update your carrier settings by installing the pending update.
5. After the installation is complete, restart your phone or tablet and see if the issue is now fixed.