Fail to create personal hotspot after iOS 15.1 upgrade

Question

Level 1

4 points

Fail to create personal hotspot after iOS 15.1 upgrade

Hello all.

On iPhone SE v2, by toggling Wi-Fi on and then enable personal hotspot, a Windows 10 laptop fails to connect to it. Same happens on an iPhone SE v1 iOS 15.1, as a client, displaying similar text like "cannot connect to network 'iPhone name'".

All of this happens while the personal hotspot screen is open and it seems to associate (it appears a green bar with the number of clients) but fails at some point. I cannot see anything related on the event viewer.

On the other hand, I can use Bluetooth and it connects, despite the lower speed. I also tested the USB on a PC with Debian 11 and it works.

I already had done the "reset network settings" and doesn't solve the issue. Rebooting the iPhone doesn't solve the issue eider.

Once I have a Wi-Fi NIC which works under Debian, I will perform a radio frame capture to figure out were it fails and then I will update this question.

This behavior happened once on the previous iOS version (15.x , don't know which subversion) and never before.

The iPhone can connect to any supported Wi-Fi network, 2.4 / 5 Ghz, WPA2-PSK or no-PSK only, no roaming (802.11r), 802.11w off.

Thanks.

iPhone SE, iOS 15

Posted on Nov 8, 2021 11:37 AM

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Answer 1

ryane77

Community Specialist

Nov 16, 2021 8:48 AM in response to MJFML

Thank you for providing those details. Let's check to make sure all carrier updates have been installed using these instructions: Manually update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

To confirm, are you connecting to the "iPhone Name" that matches your iPhone in Settings > General > About > Name? We ask this to make sure that you're connecting to the correct device that is broadcasting the Personal Hotspot signal.

If the issue persists, can you confirm if the device is able to connect to other Wi-Fi networks? If so, do you know what security or encryption those networks are using?

Lastly, are any Bluetooth devices connected to either the iPhone or device connecting to Personal Hotspot? If so, if you disable Bluetooth, does the issue persist?

Have a great day!

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Answer 2

MJFML Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 10, 2021 1:16 PM in response to barberlives123

Hello barberlives123.

I added a 3rd client (USB 802.11n NIC on Debian PC) to the testbed which also fails to connect.

With this PC I get more information. On kernel log:

shows authentication success in one try, rarely in two;
shows 3 authentication attempts, followed by a timeout.

On Wireshark i can see the following relevant frames:

Authentication from STA to AP;
Authentication from AP to STA;
3x Association requests from STA to AP;
Some seconds later one or two Association Responses from AP to STA, with same seq num and with the status code "Association request rejected temporarily; try again later (0x001e)";

At this point, both Windows 10 and iPhone SE v1 prompts "cannot connect..."; Debian/Gnome asks again for the Wi-Fi password.

Yes, I had already viewed that page. I also changed the device name and the password without effect.

Based on the traffic capture, I estimate an air time occupation of around 50% from other devices. This can make an Wi-Fi NIC to backoff before transmitting but not in the order of seconds. This would be already visible in the authentication stage.

If I setup an AP in the Debian PC, using the same USB Wi-Fi NIC which previously was in STA mode, the Windows 10 laptop and the iPhone SE v1 connects to it without problems. And then I can share the internet from the iPhone USB. But I don't this overly complicated setup.

Thanks for the help.

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Answer 3

Nov 9, 2021 11:03 AM in response to MJFML

Hi MJFML

We understand that you're having trouble connecting your PC to the iPhone SE Personal Hotspot. Are other devices able to connect to the iPhone SE hotspot? If so, the issue may be isolated to the PC. Let's make sure all software updates have been applied to the PC.

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

Take care.

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Answer 4

Nov 10, 2021 3:39 PM in response to MJFML

Thanks for following up. To confirm, are other devices able to connect to the iPhone SE outside of the computer?

Do you use a VPN? If so, try temporarily disabling the VPN on both devices and try it again. If the issue resolves itself by disabling the VPN, you may need to adjust the VPN settings to allow the connection.

All the best.

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Answer 5

MJFML Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 20, 2021 11:28 AM in response to MJFML

Hello all.

The problem seems to be solved, no settings were changed.

I went into a remote area and managed to get iPhone SE v1 to connect to the iPhone SE v2. Then the laptop connected as well.

When back to the original setup, the three devices (Win 10 laptop, iPhone SE v1 and Debian 11) managed to connect to the iPhone v2.

If I run into the same problem, I will do another frame capture to figure out if there are any differences and update this question.

Thanks for the inputs.

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Answer 6

Chris_D13

Community Specialist

Nov 16, 2021 3:16 PM in response to MJFML

We appreciate you taking the time to respond with those details. In this case, we recommend reaching out to Apple Support to investigate this further: Get Support

Take care.

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Answer 7

MJFML Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 12, 2021 12:29 PM in response to MichelleT18

Hello MichelleT18 .

From the three different kind of clients, none is able to connect (Win10, iPhone SE v1 iOS 15.1 and Debian 11) to the iPhone SE v2 iOS 15.1 as personal hotspot.

I don't use the VPN client on the iPhone for a quite a while.

Thanks.

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