Iphone as modem with lightning to ethernet adapter

Thanks for following up, scsmith631.

The iPhone does not support any direct connection, or indirect connection using USB or Lightning adaptor for wired ethernet connectivity with other devices. The only option to share cellular data from the iPhone for use with other devices is through Personal Hotspot.

If you want to provide Apple some feedback about this, you can use this link: Product Feedback.

Take care.

scsmith631 wrote:

I saw the Belkin adapter on your website. It seems like a capability that would be very similar to your USB support but I understand that demand for that may be minimal. I work with ethernet devices that need an instant connection to the internet as there is no network in place yet.

I have ordered a WIFi to Ethernet Adapter and plan on using that instead. The WIFI side of the adapter will connect to the hotspot.

I'm not an Apple employee, although anyone labelled as a "Community Specialist" is. You can certainly get an instant connection to the internet with one of these connected to a network connected to the internet.

I'd think a Wi-Fi to ethernet adapter would probably work. But Apple specifically seems to lock out any way of accessing the internet from an iPhone except as a Wi-Fi hotspot using the cellular connection.

scsmith631 wrote:

To ensure we have the same understanding...

Ethernet device is connected to iPhone 13 Pro Max via ethernet to lightning adapter. I want to use the hotspot capability to allow the ethernet device to reach the internet.

This is the same idea as connecting to Hotspot with USB...I want to use ethernet instead.

Apple doesn't make a Lightning to ethernet adapter. The ones I've looked over (like from Belkin) seem to be designed for an ethernet connection only to provide networking access TO an iPhone or iPad as well as provide power (but not connectivity) using a Lightning cable. I don't believe it would work where the iPhone could be used as the internet source to other devices on a wired ethernet LAN.

Belkin Ethernet + Power Adapter with Lightning Connector - Apple

Belkin says that it was primarily designed for use with iPads as point of sale or primary work devices to hook up to a wired LAN.

https://www.belkin.com/us/support-article?articleNum=306787

The Belkin Ethernet + Power Adapter with Lightning® Connector, F8J227 and B2B165 can charge your iPhone® or iPad® while allowing wired ethernet access to your home or business network. It can be used by all iOS users with Lightning compatible devices, but is focused on point of sale (POS) devices and on helping those that use their iPads as their primary work machine.

It might be possible to do what you're asking if you can use your iPhone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, then connect that to a Wi-Fi router where it's serving as a repeater. Then the router should be able to both transmit via Wi-Fi as well as through any wired ports. There might be other ways to do this too, but as far as I can tell the only way to share the internet connection from an iPhone is via Wi-Fi.

Thanks for reaching out, scsmith631.

It sounds like you want to use your iPhone as a modem and use ethernet to connect to other devices. We can help.

While a wired connection is not available to connect other devices to the internet, you can use the Personal Hotspot feature to wirelessly connect devices instead. This does require a plan from your cellular carrier, but you can check out the details of how it works here: How to set up a Personal Hotspot on your iPhone or iPad.

Hope that helps!

Take care.