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How to Turn On Personal Hotspot and Change Its Password on iPhone

Enable Personal Hotspot, update its password, connect devices over Wi-Fi or Instant Hotspot, and troubleshoot common setup problems.
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To turn on Personal Hotspot, open Settings > Personal Hotspot and enable Allow Others to Join. To change its password, open Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot > Wi-Fi Password and enter a new password of at least eight characters. Menu labels can vary slightly by iOS version or region.

Turn on Personal Hotspot

  1. Open Settings on your iPhone and tap Personal Hotspot. If you do not see it, go to Settings > Cellular and tap Set Up Personal Hotspot, if that option appears. Follow the onscreen instructions.
  2. Turn on Allow Others to Join for devices that do not use Apple’s Instant Hotspot, such as a Windows PC or a phone outside your Apple Account or Family Sharing group.
  3. Keep the Personal Hotspot screen open while the other device connects if it does not immediately find the hotspot.

Personal Hotspot shares your iPhone’s cellular data connection; it does not rebroadcast a Wi-Fi network the iPhone has joined. Your carrier plan must support Personal Hotspot, and fees may apply. The number of devices that can connect at once depends on the carrier and iPhone model. See Apple’s iPhone guide to sharing an internet connection.

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Change the Personal Hotspot password

  1. Open Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot.
  2. Tap Wi-Fi Password.
  3. Enter a password with at least eight characters, then save or confirm it.
  4. On each device that used the old password, reconnect to the hotspot using the new one.

Apple’s instructions for connecting to an iPhone or iPad Personal Hotspot specify the eight-character minimum.

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Connect another device

Wi-Fi

On the device you want to connect, open its Wi-Fi settings, choose the network named after your iPhone, and enter the current hotspot password. The hotspot network name is your iPhone’s device name. To change it, open Settings > General > About > Name and edit the name.

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Instant Hotspot for Apple devices

Nearby Apple devices signed in to the same Apple Account, or included in Family Sharing, can connect through Instant Hotspot without entering the password. The provider iPhone does not need Allow Others to Join enabled for this flow. Apple’s Instant Hotspot guide says the devices should be within 30 feet (10 meters).

USB or Bluetooth

Apple also supports connecting a computer by USB or Bluetooth. These options can be useful when Wi-Fi is unavailable or you prefer a wired connection; follow Apple’s connection instructions for the joining device.

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If Personal Hotspot is missing or unavailable

  • Check that cellular data is turned on.
  • If the setup option is still absent, ask your carrier whether your plan supports Personal Hotspot or whether it needs to be added. Eligibility and fees vary by carrier.

Apple’s Personal Hotspot troubleshooting guide recommends checking cellular settings and contacting the carrier when the feature is unavailable.

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If another device cannot connect

  1. Confirm Allow Others to Join is on for a standard Wi-Fi connection.
  2. Check that the joining device selected the network matching your iPhone’s device name.
  3. Enter the current password, especially if you recently changed it.
  4. Leave the Personal Hotspot settings screen open on the iPhone while the other device tries again.
  5. If compatibility appears to be the problem, try Maximize Compatibility in Personal Hotspot settings, if available on your iPhone.

Maximize Compatibility is a fallback, not a routine requirement. Apple says it can lower performance and Wi-Fi security; on supported iPhone models it restricts the hotspot to 2.4 GHz and WPA2 Personal, disabling 5 GHz and, where applicable, 6 GHz. Details are in Apple’s Wi-Fi security guidance.

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