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I cannot connect my MacBook Air to the Internet using Personal Hotspot

I have a 2017 MacBook Air running Catalina 10.15.3 and an iPhone Xs running ios 13.3.1.


I have Personal Hotspot activated and can connect to it from my MacBook Air. I cannot, however, connect to the Internet using that connection.


I have another MacBook Air and it is able to connect without problem through my iPhone using Personal Hotspot.


I have tried restarting both the iPhone and the MacBook Air, turning WiFi on and off on both the iPhone and MacBook Air, resetting the network. All to no avail.


My problem is not connecting to my iPhone through Personal Hotspot. It is connecting to the Internet on this one machine through Personal Hotspot.


Help would be much appreciated!

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 22, 2020 4:41 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 22, 2020 7:25 PM

If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) - Apple Support


The above might or might not help.


Are you using a... different iPhone name...different network name...different Wi-Fi password ?

9 replies

Feb 22, 2020 10:38 PM in response to fyip

I am using the same iPhone and network names.


The problem is partially solved. I followed the suggestions in the link that you provided and when I reset the network, two of

my three Mac Book Airs can now access the Internet, one cannot. I tried restarting both phone and computer, resetting the network again, but to no avail. The computer that can access the net is running macOS 10.15.3, as is the

computer that can't!

Feb 24, 2020 3:46 PM in response to fyip

I have have tried a range of things to get things working. Right now, on two of my computers, I can connect to my iPhone on wifi, but not to the Internet through wifi. My phone connects to the Internet using Safari with no problem. I can also connect to the Internet through Bluetooth from both computers.


I have reset the network several times, restarted the iPhone and computers several times, changed the name of my iPhone, turned wifi on and off on the computer and phone. I am pretty stumped!

Feb 24, 2020 4:03 PM in response to wadjela

Yes me also...and I was researching to find the answer to my question..."how many devices can you connect to iPhone Hotspot"

as it does not say in the phone.


The answer I found and it was from a few years ago was...it depends on the iPhone model and your carrier...another said 5.


I have a iPhone and a BlackBerry and my BlackBerry can have 8...maybe someone reading this post who knows will answer that question and if no-one does ask your carrier.

Feb 26, 2020 3:14 AM in response to fyip

Interesting. When I followed the link for Instant Hotspot, I was able to choose the iPHone easily from my Mac, but when I went to the iPhone/Settings/WiFi, there was no iPhone shown:


On your iPad, iPod touch, or another iPhone, go to Settings > Wi-Fi,

then tap the name of the iPhone or iPad providing your Personal Hotspot


I was unsure how to proceed with your second suggestion: "remove the network setting". I do not know how to remove the network setting on my Mac!

I cannot connect my MacBook Air to the Internet using Personal Hotspot

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