Q: Cannot turn off personal hotspot

I had AT&T update my witless plan. That plan included the ability of having AT&T's blessing in using the iPhone's personal hotspot function. I did not know this until after my first post to this topic. Now the odd thing is that this function should have been active before I ever walked out of the ATT store. It did not show up until about two weeks after the implentaton of the new plan. I checked the Console logs to verify. So, I am of the mindset that AT&T's release of the block of the hotspot plays a big role on what I am seeing on my end. But still y'all, really, it's disconcerting to some and vexing to others.  Apple could be a bit more forthcoming about it.

Yep they are. No I have not.  I don't see why this is so hard for people to understand. MY HOTSPOT IS TURNED OFF! Therefore it should not be broadcasting its hotspot SSID, much less allowing other devices to connect to it and turn the hotspot switch on no matter what the status is for iCloud. This would be the equivalent of me removing my keys from my car, and then having the car  start up  and unlock the door just because someone tapped on the windows.

Using the same iCloud ID on every device is not giving any one of them permission to broadcast their wireless SSID as a personal hotspot connection. That is done by turning ON the personal hotspot feature. Let me say again. Mine is turned off on every device.

At no time should a wireless hotspot connection be allowed without at a minimum of two requirements being met. Note that these features are built into the system to supposedly prevent any old Joe from accessing and using your personal hotspot. 

1. Personal hotspot is physically turned on (I emphasize again, mine is not)
2. The required password found in Settings > Personal Hotspot > Wi-Fi password  being entered

The only excerption to a password would be if you entered the password and told your device to remember the password. If that still is not clear enough, ley time try one more method. Turn all security off on the WiFi in your house and lets go post your address in  a hacker bulletin board. I cannot emphasize enough this must be the WIRELESS PERSONAL HOTSPOT PASSWORD, not the password  of a different app / feature.

I understand the what Apple wants to do. I think it is a good idea for those that want to use it. However, a end user should always be required to turn a feature on if they want to use it. It should be a Opt-In issue, not Opt-out. At the very least there should be a note somewhere in the updates that says "Hey ! All of you security conscious paranoid IT techs, please note this new access feature we have that we have so kindly turned on for you without asking and made it impossible to turn off."

By the way, this is being typed on my brothers iMac, which is connected to my wife's iPhone 6 hotspot, without having to enter a password. My Wifes Hotspot was found by browsing the built in WiFi connection utility. Icloud isn not intentionally turned on for this iMac.  You may claim it cannot happen all you wish, I am doing it at this moment.

All of my devices use the same  iCloud id for several reasons.

1. I can use  Find My Iphone to locates users and devices,. More importantlyI can use it ping my devices when I set them down in la la land, which I do often. . I am not in favor of having 9 separate iCloud accounts to turn this feature off and then having to remember what the account and passwords are for all of them.
2. Make sit much easier to share music and app purchase.
3. I can easily control purchases. At this time, purchases can only be made by redeeming gift cards. No credit cards on file.
4. Yes I understand you can use family sharing to fix point number 2, but family sharing FORCES me to associate a credit card with the top level account. For those of that think this is a great idea you probably do not have kids and never had or heard of anyone that has opened a credit card bill and seen  a thousand dollars worth of charges from iTunes that you have not authorized your children to buy. Most of these kids do not do it in purpose. All the think of is it will tell me no when I run out of money, not realizing that once you run out of gift card money, it automatically charges the credit card.

Nad if anyone wants to pull the There they're , Their grammar nazi stuff, please come by my house and let me keep you up for 28 hours taking care of sick kids,

Yes, we realize your hotspot is off, but if you come into range of any of your other devices that do not have cell capability but are logged into the same iCloud account the Personal Hotspot will be turned on. It is secure.

If you want Apple to change this stop ranting here and go here instead: https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Exact same situation. My iMac sees my iPhone 6 advertise a hotspot when i have the feature OFF. This is not a good thing.

PS: If I turn off bluetooth on my iPhone 6 the problem goes away. So it is using my phone's bluetooth connectivity...

blazzzinred wrote:

 

PS: If I turn off bluetooth on my iPhone 6 the problem goes away. So it is using my phone's bluetooth connectivity...

Yes, the Instant Hotspot feature uses BT to discover the other devices active on the same Apple ID.

Connect your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac using Continuity - Apple Support

By the way, Airdrop, even though it transfers files over WiFi, uses BT in the same way.

Thank you so much for the tip about the Bluetooth involvement.  I have now  turned off Bluetooth on my new iPad Air and the hotspot no longer shows up. 

How I wish I had been aware of this problem sooner.  I have an iPhone 6 and an iPad Air which is three weeks old.  The day it was purchased I transferred all my data from my old iPad to the new, at my home where I have a broadband router.  I did not realise Personal Hotspot was turned on.  I spent several hours running the transfer and in doing so incurred an excess charge from my 4G provider of more than £70 above my monthly fee, due to a 3GB excess.    At no time have I ever put in a password to initiate a hotspot connection, in fact I had no knowledge of such facilities.  Reading this discussion thread has helped me avoid this problem for the future.  Thank you.

Your password you put in is your iCloud password. Which is on your iPad Air.

I completely understand the one apple ID for managing. Unfortunately, the only way to stop the auto-activation of personal hotspot that is set to off in your scenario is to turn off bluetooth. This is a design flaw. To verify turn off bluetooth and then toggle personal hotspot on then when prompted select wifi and usb only. You will notice that now when phone 2 tries to access the personal hotspot it requires the password as expected the first time.

Now this only works for the devices you have in your possession. You cant stop other devices using the same apple id from turning on their blue tooth and autoactivating personal hotspots on other phones under the same ID from being used. There are many unintended consequences.

noeldon wrote:

 

I completely understand the one apple ID for managing. Unfortunately, the only way to stop the auto-activation of personal hotspot that is set to off in your scenario is to turn off bluetooth. This is a design flaw. To verify turn off bluetooth and then toggle personal hotspot on then when prompted select wifi and usb only. You will notice that now when phone 2 tries to access the personal hotspot it requires the password as expected the first time.

 

Now this only works for the devices you have in your possession. You cant stop other devices using the same apple id from turning on their blue tooth and autoactivating personal hotspots on other phones under the same ID from being used. There are many unintended consequences.

There is an even simpler solution: Don't share Apple IDs. Use individual Appel IDs. If you need to share purchased content, use Family Sharing.

TThat's a great idea Meg... Except... ( yea I know ***** moan ***** moan) , family sharing requires a credit card for tha master / parent account. Some of us that have had credit card info stolen from vendors and used, or that have had a few thousand dollars in charges unknowingly made in itunes by kids, do not like to and will not place a credit card on file with any vendor. In a store like itunes it is far too easy to rack up charges without knowing, especially for kids who have not yet learned fiscal restraint. Heck even for adults who aren't paying attention ( mea culpa)..

I Actually love family sharing. If Apple would jus gets id of the need for me to maintain a CC on file I would weep with joy.

no matter what though it still comes down to Apple has tied two unrelated services together. iCloud and personal hotspot. You can access one without entering the password specifically dedicated to that service. IE you can access my personal hotspot without entering the very long and obtuse password I have created for it. Even that wouldn't be too much of a issue if I could turn off the hotspot so it can be used only when I want it turned on, and not willy nilly by anyone who happens to be nearby. Before you respond , I have already demonstrated inside my own household that you can access my wife's iPhone6 hotspot from a device on a different iCloud account. I have duplicated it routinely between these two devices, figured out how to stop it By doing a complete factory restore on the device.

turning off Bluetooth is not a solution . That kills my Bluetooth phone functionality with my vehicles. Turning off Bluetooth to stop a wireless feature is screwey  in the first place. Kinda liked closing my garage door to run the car off .

NO matter how you look at it, if I turn off the personal hotspot, it should be off. Period . Why else have a on off switch?

Submit your feedback directly to Apple using the appropriate link on the Feedback page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

We just found about this after getting hit with a higher than expected phone bill.

It is a nice feature to have iCloud remember some settings but it is not good to lose control when one sets the Hotspot off it means off.

We found that with the Hotspot off on the iPhone when the iPad tried to connect (probably it had the settings for it already saved from a previous use) something turn Hotspot back on on the iPhone and we started to consume bandwidth above our plan limit.

Dear Apple, where do I have to send the AT&T bill for you to pay ?

Thanks & Regards

Jorge

Guys I have the same problem and have been talking to Apple, It is caused by the Iphone and Ipad having the same Username and Password to iCloud. The only way I got around it is by turn off the Bluetooth on the Ipad which stopped it automatically creating the hotspot with out my knowledge but still allowed my car kit to work on the Iphone.

Apple are aware of the issue but this appears the only simple way around the issue at present with IOS8.3. Hopefully IOS8.4 resolves the issue.

Of course Apple is aware of it. It's the way they designed it too work.

I've just received a huge bill thanks to instant hotspot and my children connecting to my phone without my knowledge.  Is Apple going to help pay for this?

Beware of this feature.  It's not a good one.