iPhone Hotspot keeps disconnecting

Totally agree. It's clear... As soon as I unlock my iPhone, go to my Settings and explicitly view the "Personal Hotspot" info, and "tickle" my iPhone every now and then to keep it awake, everything works as expected.

@Apple - I would at LEAST expect some kind of slider/setting that allows all my justifiably connected devices to STAY connected, until *I* say otherwise (not until Apple says otherwise).

I really think you're trespassing...

I have the same issue ever since I got the iPhone 14. Tried all the steps that literally all pages recommend : reset network settings, change iPhone name, change password, update iOS, reboot - everything.

It is like Kristaps mentions. Hotspot is being turned off on the iPhone itself. Has nothing to do with windows.

Any real help would be appreciated.

I can confirm that this issue has been going on for YEARS with iphones personal hotspot. Why can't it work as reliably as hotspot on android phone? If I turn on the hotspot feature on an Android phone it stays on and works for hours, perfectly, if I need it. In my experience, connecting a second apple product to the iPhone's hotspot works more reliably than connecting an Android device or a Windows PC, but it is still not flawless. I remember reading somewhere that apple designed the hotspot to turn off automatically if no data traffic is detected over the hotspot for a certain period of time. That is fine but there should be an option to disable this feature, because having to go fiddling with the wifi setting on my second client device and the personal hotspot on the host iphone, every time I want to share my cellular data is a huge pain. Let me leave the hotspot on and discoverable and let me worry about my battery. My guess for the reason apple has persistently refused to fix this issue is a mix of micromanaging "their iPhone" (you only pay for the device, you don't own it) and more apple ecosystem, walled-garden, BS.

Finally found the solution after so many trials. Switching to android. Thanks Mango

(More than two years ago, the company I joined forced me to use an iPhone 11. The hotspot timing out has plagued me until today).

For those Windows 10 users (and maybe Windows 11), try enabling "Connect even if the network is not broadcasting its name (SSID)"

I didn't pay attention to this although I did noticed that the iPhone SSID would become hidden about the same time my Windows 10 disconnected. If I were to jump to conclusions, I believe that the Apple Engineers came up with this "feature" to accomplish power saving and a modicum of Wi-Fi "security."

(I also suspect that the Apple computer Wi-Fi drivers have the "Connect to Hidden SSID" feature on by default.)

For more than eight years, there's been a lot of discussion about whether a hidden SSID is worth the annoyance. My conclusion is that hiding an SSID misses the point: Any environment so very concerned about Wi-Fi security should go back to copper connections.

If I was cynical, I'd just assume that Apple keeps a list of bugs/features that irritate Windows users (only) and fix them only if the European Union brings financial heat.

Hello, I'm sorry for my bad english, I'm from spain.

To keep on hotspot while you are working with your computer Windows or Linux do this:

Open a cmd (windows) or terminal (Linux)

Make a ipconfig command to know the gateway of your iphone (Puerta de enlace, in spanish). That's the local ip of your iphone.

in my computer it is like this:

c:\users|tirso\ipconfig

Adaptador de LAN inalámbrica Wi-Fi:

Sufijo DNS específico para la conexión. . :

Dirección IPv4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : x.x.x.x ->not this

Máscara de subred . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.240

Puerta de enlace predeterminada . . . . . : xxx.xx.xx.xx -> THIS IS THE IP that you need (gateway)

In windows write ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xx -t

In linux just ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xx

minimize the cmd or terminal.

This will maintain constant communication with your iPhone and prevent it from disconnecting.

As it is a local communication (between iPhone and computer), it does not use megabytes of internet.

It works perfect for me.

Your welcome.

Tirso

Dear Apple,

Please please fix this issue. Provide option to user to keep their hotspot connection active for certain time period.

I have the absolute same experience. And it's not even related to Windows, Android, or iOS 17 (it also happened to me under iOS 16). iPhone 14 Pro Max just decides on its own to disconnect iPads, a second iPhone, and an AppleTV. Most of the time, the 2 green chains on the iPhone stay on, even though no data is transmitted anymore.

Usually this can be resolved by opening the Settings App on the iPhone, navigating to the personal hotspot settings which will make the hotspot immediately reappear on the list of available networks.

Sometimes the hotspot disconnects every 20 minutes or so (fun during an online meeting)... Often it takes longer. What I'm trying to say here is that it doesn't look like there's some background timer or some setting that - for whatever reason - shuts down the hotspot for - say - security reasons.

It's baffling, irritating, and - frankly - discredits Apple's slogan "It just works"... I also had an Android phone which had absolutely no issues maintaining a hotspot active for at least 24 hours.

Tried all the methods several times. Only windows does not connect to iPhone hotspot. Either this is a bug that they are refusing to fix or this is on purpose to keep people inside the Apple systems. Very disappointing.

Looks like my previous response was censored/deleted, so I'll try again.

The company I work for asked me (okay, forced me) to use an iPhone more than two years ago. Right away, I also noticed that after about 15 minutes or so, the iPhone stopped broadcasting its SSID. I really didn't connect the dots until a few days ago. "Connect even if the network is not broadcasting its name (SSID)" seemed like a logical next step. Well, it is working.

For more than 12 years, there's been a lot of discussion about whether hiding the SSID "helps" with Wi-Fi security. I think the Apple engineers probably thought so and got a two-for-one with potential power savings. The old iPhone batteries are an Achilles heel in the phone design.

In addition, I suspect that in the MAC OS, that "Connection to hidden SSID networks" is turned on by default.

Apple is notorious for not fixing Windows bugs unless the European Union brings financial heat. USB-C anybody? I suspect that this bug isn't ever going to be fixed.

I never had this issue with Android phones, and it's been really frustrating. During internet outages I was able to always rely on hotspots but despite having strong 5G signal the hotspot keeps dropping from other devices if I'm not actively using the phone. It's ridiculous

Use these steps first

Restart the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot and the other device that needs to connect to Personal Hotspot. Make sure that you have the latest version of iOS. On the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot, go to Settings > General > Reset, then tap Reset Network Settings.

If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi

The Hotspot is a carrier-specific feature. Contact your carrier, if it is not appearing on your device.

Also, check the following

1. Network coverage and stability
2. Data Balance
3. On your windows (See if WiFi Auto Joins is enabled)
4. Also, check if you have any stronger WiFi signal around your computer.

I have the same issue with a Lenovo laptop running Fedora Linux. This laptop ran like a champ on my Pixel 4a. Now I am connecting to an iPhone 14 Pro.

This is a dealbreaker for me, and it's telling that one user had success if he connected with a Mac. This smells like too much system integration going on, and too little simple following of standards.

I don't think it's solved by the customer doing a bunch of backflips to get it to work. This sounds like a bug.