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Why can't I use screentime or some other controls to fully disable hotspot on the iPhone?

It makes no sense to spend time setting up a lot of restrictions under Screen Time if your kid can enable the hotspot and do whatever they want on a different device. I've seen a number of posts over the years and Apple and various helpers always say something about asking your carrier to do it...but that's not actually an option for, as far as I can tell from looking online, any of the major carriers, at least in the USA. It's really not a big ask: when my child is at home, I have restrictions on the wifi. I have restrictions on their phone under Screen Time. I would like them to have the phone available; and I would like the phone to not allow them to bypass the rest of my restrictions by simply turning on their mobile hotspot. I'm not asking for any low-level change, just the ability to lock a setting in the "off" position. It can't *possibly* be that difficult.


Failing that, if Apple believes that it knows better about having personal hotspot always available to be enabled, it should run everything through the restrictions I have put in place, not allow the connecting device to connect to anything the phone itself wouldn't be able to use. I believe that would be *much* more difficult to implement, but, it would also solve the problem. ... I'd prefer the easier to implement solution, though....

iPhone SE

Posted on Sep 23, 2020 6:44 PM

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4 replies

Sep 23, 2020 6:56 PM in response to eyrieowl

eyrieowl wrote:

That does not get the "why" question answered, but thanks....

Nobody here can answer "why" questions.


We are not Apple and discussing Apple Policy (aka why) is not permitted.


Are you sure the child is not using the same Apple ID as the "host" phone? iOS has a feature called Instant Hotspot which is not the same as Personal Hotspot. It has no off. It is enabled whenever 2 iOS devices have Bluetooth, Wifi enabled and signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID.


https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT209459



Why can't I use screentime or some other controls to fully disable hotspot on the iPhone?

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