why dose hotspot only works when wifi is on??

Question

Level 1

5 points

why dose hotspot only works when wifi is on??

On my iphone 12, personal hotspot ONLY functions if I have wifi on. What?! Isn't the purpose of hotspot to connect other devices to the internet THRU the phone's cellular data? (This is what I want to do anyway, as my wifi is satellite internet and far worse - and limited - than this phone's cellular 5g connection.)

I start with wifi turned OFF; settings > cellular > personal hotspot. Then I turn on "Allow Other to Join" and a pop up box says "Wi-Fi is OFF: Personal hotspot will only be available over Bluetooth and USB. Do you also want to enable it over WiFi?"

At first I assumed this meant that I could enable or disable whether the phone would BROADCAST its own little wifi network so other devices could find the iphone and connect to (using wifi), and that if I turned this wifi broadcast off, then the hotspot would ONLY be available by bluetooth and usb. Well, the part of that is true actually... when I click 'enable wifi' the iphone is discoverable and the other devices can connect to the hotspot.

HOWEVER, the iphone also simultaneously connects to my local wifi connection... so I'm no longer on cellular data! So both the iphone and it's connected device are now connecting to the internet thru my local wifi rather than using mobile data. And if I turn off my iphone's wifi data connection (after hotspot is working and connected) the hotspot also turns off and iphone is not discoverable.

So there is no way to use the hotspot on mobile data, which seems to completely defeat the purpose of hotspot. I mean, if wifi is available, not just connect the other devices directly to it rather than go thru the phone? Hotspot is operating redundantly, making it basically pointless. And my hotspot remains undiscoverable unless I have some wifi connection. This can't be right.

Help!

What am I missing? How do I get hotspot working over cellular data and turn off wifi?

iPhone 7, iOS 15

Posted on Sep 28, 2022 11:25 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

SravanKrA

Community+ 2024

Level 10

411,692 points

Sep 28, 2022 11:26 PM in response to Alageeb

Connect to Personal Hotspot with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB

You can connect to a Personal Hotspot using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB. And with iOS 13 or later, devices that are connected to a Personal Hotspot will stay connected, even if the screen is locked, so those devices will still get notifications and messages.

When you connect a device to your Personal Hotspot, the status bar turns blue and shows how many devices have joined. The number of devices that can join your Personal Hotspot at one time depends on your carrier and iPhone model. If other devices have joined your Personal Hotspot using Wi-Fi, you can use only cellular data to connect to the internet from the host device.

Use these steps to connect:

Wi-Fi

On the device that you want to connect to, go to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot or Settings > Personal Hotspot and make sure that it's on. Then verify the Wi-Fi password and name of the phone. Stay on this screen until you’ve connected your other device to the Wi-Fi network.

On the device that you want to connect, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and look for your iPhone or iPad in the list. Then tap the Wi-Fi network to join. If asked, enter the password for your Personal Hotspot.

Bluetooth

To make sure that your iPhone or iPad is discoverable, go to Settings > Bluetooth and stay on that screen. Then on your Mac, follow the manufacturer directions to set up a Bluetooth connection. Learn more about using Personal Hotspot with Bluetooth.

Personal Hotspot supports Bluetooth connections with Mac and other third-party devices. To connect another iOS device, use Bluetooth.

USB

Make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes and the Finder on your Mac. Then connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer with the USB cable that came with your device. If you see an alert that says tap "Trust This Computer?" tap Trust.

Learn more about connecting a device to your iPhone or iPad's Personal Hotspot.

Reply

why dose hotspot only works when wifi is on??

Similar questions