Until a few days ago I used to be able to plug in any iPad or iPhone into a usb cable connected to my Mac and it would connect to the internet via Internet Sharing. Under internet sharing I would see options like "iPad USB" and "iPhone USB".
Now I only see iPhone USB but it doesn't actually provide internet. Tried different cables, all used to work. Seems a software issue.
How can I get this back to work?
iMac 21.5" 4K, macOS 10.15
Your USB-connectivity issue may be caused by an explicit security setting within iOS/iPadOS - intended to protect the iPad/iPhone from attack over its hardware (Lightning/USB) port.
To disable this security feature on iPad/iPhone:
Settings > TouchID/FaceID & Passcode > USB Accessories - set to ON
The default (higher security) setting is OFF; this configuration provides increased protection from hardware exploits.
I hope this is the key to solving your problem.
Whilst is was an idea, it clearly wasn’t the right one for your issue. I’m stumped.
At this point, I can only suggest that in addition to posting your question here, that you either repost your question to the Mac Communities within ASC, or contact the Apple Support Team for assistance.
One last thing, given that the problem has only recently occurred, have you tried a forced-restart of your iPad and Mac?
To force-restart your iPad:
Hello,
What is your iPad’s exact model number and what version of the system software is it running?
Settings > General > About
Hey
Check the iOS version on your iPad Settings>General>About
Or check the software up to date.
Is your iPad the cellular model or WiFi only?
I have this exact same problem. The difference is that I just finally upgraded from High Sierra to Catalina and met this problem. I can not only see iPhone USB and my iPad is not longer showing up. This is frustrating because I use a tethered USB for iOS development purposes.
Thanks, yes I've tried this as well. Still no luck.
As an iOS developer, I've been using device internet sharing for some years for rapid communications with my dev server application environment on my MBP. This problem happened suddenly when I upgraded from Mojave to the latest version of Catalina. From other reports, apparently it was working in the previous minor version of Catalina.
The iPad can communicate fine in all other contexts (e.g. building to the device from XCode).
For now I've posted a bug report.
Thanks again!
Clearly the trigger for the change in behaviour was your update of the Mac. As such, it’s reasonable to assume the MacOS Catalina is the source of the issue.
Sorry I couldn’t find a fix for you.
Did you post the bug report by way of Apple’s feedback pages - or some other channel?
Great idea! I tried your suggestion and rebooted both the iPad (13.4.1) and The MBP (10.15.4).
Still no luck.
This appears to be a major feature regression in Catalina 10.15.4 .
Internet sharing via usb stopped
