When will I be able to turn off personal hotspot on my ipad?

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Level 1

19 points

When will I be able to turn off personal hotspot on my ipad?

My ipad, which is not on any sort of cellular plan, is creating a personal hotspot which is causing problems on my work computer. The ipad is using OS 15.3.1 and gets its internet service from my router which is hard wired to the internet service I get through a cable provider.

The problem I am having is that my computer, which should also be getting its internet via wifi from my router, is automatically switching to the ipad's personal hotspot ... which causes all of the internet services I am using at that time to shut down. It affects downloads and uploads and is hurting my productivity and work flow.

I have never once asked my computer to connect to a hotspot. I have never turned on a hotspot on my ipad. This appears to be a "feature" that apple has provided that gives me zero control to turn off either the ipad's production of the hotspot service or my computer's connection to this service ... because I have already tried to disable it using every button I can find! But it just keeps automatically switching from the strong, stable internet connection I want from my router, to the weak useless internet connection from the ipad hotspot.

So I guess I have two questions. Who in their right minds thought this was a good idea? And when will it no longer be an automatic default setting over which I have no control?

Posted on Mar 9, 2022 3:13 PM

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Answer 1

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

238,549 points

Mar 9, 2022 3:30 PM in response to carolpdesign

Your iPad, if not cellular, should not have any kind of setting for a personal Hotspot. Without cellular, it does not have the ability to create one. Are you sure this is a Personal Hotspot? Do you have an iPhone signed into the same Apple ID as the iPad? You are seeing the name of your iPad on your computer as a network available? Do you have an Apple computer that you are having an issue with disabling that network, or is it a Windows computer?

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Answer 2

LotusPilot

Level 10

326,354 points

Mar 9, 2022 4:49 PM in response to carolpdesign

Assuming that you have both an iPad and an iPhone, on each of these devices check the assigned device name from Settings:

Settings > General > About > Name

Whilst both can be set to be the same, having no direct impact upon functionality - for clarity of identification your iPad and iPhone will ideally have different names. If you edit the device names in settings, you will need to shut down and restart the device for the change to occur.

With different names configured, you should be able to easily identify which of your devices is providing a hotspot connection - if any.

Assuming that you are using a Windows 7/8/10/11 PC, your computer will only automatically connect to those WiFi networks (including WiFi hotspot connections) for which the PC has been configured to make an automatic connection. Any such connections that have been set to automatically connect can be reconfigured.

If your iPhone or iPad are tethered via USB, your computer may be prioritising the USB for its network connection. If so, further investigation of PC and device settings will be required.

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Answer 3

LotusPilot

Level 10

326,354 points

Mar 10, 2022 7:50 AM in response to carolpdesign

Aggression towards those that are trying to offer objective help is not overly constructive - either for you - or others that may have similar difficulties that may encounter this thread while looking for guidance.

The clarification that I was attempting offer was that you can fully inhibit access, to your hotspot, by non-Apple devices. Your initial post makes clear reference to your “computer” - potentially a non-Apple device - switching to your hotspot connection.

As for Apple devices that are signed-in to iCloud with the same AppleID, when running recent versions of the OS, such devices can auto-discover and automatically connect to an available hotspot connection. This connection will only be attempted when:

a) a hotspot connection is available, and

b) when network connectivity via WiFi or Ethernet is unstable or low bandwidth.

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Answer 4

LotusPilot

Level 10

326,354 points

Mar 10, 2022 1:30 AM in response to carolpdesign

To disable the iPhone hotspot for non-Apple devices:

Settings > Mobile Data > Personal Hotspot > Allow Others to Join - set to OFF

Automatic naming of devices can sometimes appear awry where an iPhone is used to initially set-up an iPad - or vice versa. The manually set device name can be anything you like; this is just a free-text identifier.

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Answer 5

carolpdesign Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 9, 2022 3:57 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Oh, so you're saying that my phone must be generating the hotspot, but that it is automatically naming itself after my iPad. That is a level of incompetence that I had not considered.

I guess my first question still holds. And my new second question is when they will stop making personal hotspots a default setting that turn themselves on and wreak havoc on my work?

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Answer 6

carolpdesign Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 9, 2022 8:57 PM in response to LotusPilot

Yes, my iphone is misconfigured as "iPad" and this is absolutely insane. I know that I absolutely did NOT name my iphone anything at all, which means that the only way this could have happened is through some automated process of apple's making. The fact that this could even happen is dumbfounding. The functionality that would be behind this is not new and should not be getting worse over time.

Hotspots should NEVER be turning on automatically without the user's knowledge or permission. Devices should NEVER be automatically linking to hotspots without the user's knowledge or permission. I don't have unlimited data and my devices, all apple, did not notify me that they are connecting to a hotspot. The only way I even knew it was happening was because the hotspot was failing and my internet connection was breaking, thankfully, or I'd be paying out the wazoo for going over my data limits.

This is all sorts of wrong!

But here is the thing. I have my phone reconfigured to no longer be called iPad. My iphone is currently set to have personal hotspot turned off. But my computer is linked to a personal hotspot called "Myname's iPhone"!

So I'm right back at the beginning with the same problem I had originally, a hotspot that I didn't turn on and can't turn off, or at least is turning itself back on against my wishes. It appears as if turning off the personal hotspot on my phone has zero effect on whether or not it is generating a hotspot, though at least now it is named iPhone instead of iPad.

And yes, this is a major problem. I even have my computer set not to automatically join the network and it is still automatically joining the network. The ridiculousness of this situation is astounding.

And even if there are settings somewhere to fix this, the fact that I am dealing with this situation in the first place is not okay. Developers really need to do better at not screwing over the customer with removing user's control.

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Answer 7

carolpdesign Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 10, 2022 7:37 AM in response to LotusPilot

I understand that human beings have a desire to be "right", but you may want to actually read the questions before you respond. I have never once said anything about non-apple devices, but I have said that all of the devices WERE apple devices.

And I already said that I had managed to rename my device after apple's automatic functions named them incorrectly.

And I have already said that I have turned off every setting I can find to disable the hotspot and they are turning themselves back on automatically!

No upvotes for you!

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Answer 8

carolpdesign Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 10, 2022 7:55 AM in response to LotusPilot

Yes, I am fully aware that this is what is happening. But it doesn't help to restate the problem.

Again, my question is: when will apple allow me to have control back, so that I can actually turn off an unwanted "feature" that has the potential to cause me to incur additional charges from my cellular carrier.

And please stop responding by answering questions I didn't ask. Just let me vent so that other people who discover the thread and are also frustrated can feel that they are not alone.

And for those people, at this time, the only solution I can find to stop this from happening is to turn off cellular data on your phone completely.

[Edited by Moderator]

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When will I be able to turn off personal hotspot on my ipad?

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