iPhone Hotspot keeps disconnecting

My situation is slightly different from most of you but i found this post because I was having the exact same problem. Hotspot disconnects at random. Maybe on for 5 mins, maybe 15 mins next time. Maybe 2 mins after that. Who knows? I sure don’t.

Im running iPhone XS Max, iPad wifi+cellular, and MacBook Pro running Windows 10 on bootcamp. I do vehicle diagnostics and reprogramming for a living. When i flash update a cars computer, i need a steady internet connection for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. If the update is interrupted for any reason, i will be buying my customer a new computer out of my own pocket AND trying the process again. Being an Apple loyalist, you can imagine my frustration. I have been very blessed so far and have not had the disconnection during a programming event. Here’s how I managed to work around this problem.

I noticed years ago the hotspot issue with iPhone. I also noticed that when i use my iPad as the provider of hotspot, i got much longer connection times, but still not indefinite. After finding this post, it gave me some ideas and i found something that worked for me. I always restart my iPad first. I go into settings and set auto screen lock to “Never”. Then i go to the hotspot page and turn hotspot on and I LEAVE THAT HOTSPOT PAGE OPEN WITH SCREEN LIT UP AND IPAD PLUGGED IN TO CHARGE AND I DO NOT TOUCH IT FOR ANY REASON!!! When i do this, my MacBook stays connected on hotspot for a very long time. I have never had the connection drop at all since I’ve used this method and i have tested 12 hours of continuous connection time. I know someone’s gonna say “it won’t disconnect if you connected to a MacBook” but i promise you that’s more a MacOS thing because im running windows on my MacBook Pro and without this method, depending on apple’s hotspot is like playing russian roulette with 5 bullets.

As i said in the beginning, i know my situation is slightly different as im working with an iPad with cellular. I have not tested this method using the iPhone as the provider of hotspot because it’s nearly impossible for me to set my phone down and not touch it for any amount of time. I imagine it “should” work the same. Maybe I will test it sometime soon.

It’s not a fix, but it worked perfectly for me. And it’s better than buying an android (YUCK!)

(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.

I have been running into this as well. I seem to have found a solution that works for me: use the Command Center to make the hotspot discoverable:

1. Pull down from the top-right corner
2. Long press on the wifi icon
3. Press the button for "Personal Hotspot"

At this point, the Wifi icon will disable and the hotspot icon will turn green. Since enabling the hotspot in this way, my connection has been consistently stable while watching One Piece from my office tv. I could barely even start the video before this. I do have "Maximize Compatibility" turned off. Not sure if it makes a difference or not. I think simply using the Command Center to manage the hotspot made all the difference.

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.

Hello everyone,

you don’t need to try anything, nothing wrong with your devices..

i’ve been using iphone since iphone 5 and this issue since then till now still there..

simply if you open hotspot on your iphone and try to connect any other device, it will connect for a while and randomly it will get disconnected.. not matter what the device you trying to connect is iphone or android or even windows.. same behavior. The only stable connection you can have through hotspot is only by USB Cable!

the issue with hotspot over wifi & bluetooth never been fixed for generations on apple devices. Also when you connect iphone to iphone through hot spot, you cannot install IOS updates as it dont recognise it as a wifi for some unknown reasons..

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

(Which is a selector box in the classic Wireless Network Properties).

For me, this has resolved the iPhone hotspot disconnect problem in most cases.

Easiest and cheapest solution I’ve found so far was to buy a android phone to take my sim out of my iPhone XR and put into my samsung to use as a hotspot never have disconnect issues if I really want to leave the hotspot on for a week straight all I have to do is plug it into to a charger and let it be

Well for me it help to connect my iPhone to pc via Bluetooth and the hotspot is stable.

This seems to have done the trick for me. After multiple disconnections per hour earlier, I found that switch and have not been disconnected for 5 hours and counting.

It makes sense to me as a power-saving feature for the iPhone, and matched the behaviour I've seen where my phone has to be on the Personal Hotspot setting page to allow a new connection.

On my Windows 11 machine, the setting was at: Network & internet > WiFi > Manage known networks > [my phone name], then hit Edit next to Advanced WiFi network properties.

I may just have found a solution!

I added a ‚dummy device‘ to the network, which I set up for my work laptop, specifically a Umidigi F2 from 2019 with no further internet connection due to an expired contract, just connected to a power plug. After adding the phone to the iPhone hotspot it works like a charm for already 2 hours on a train ride in the middle of nowhere without a single interruption on the laptop! Before that, the WiFi kept disconnecting within 90 seconds…

I really hope this works for others too and is not a singular event or glitch I stumbled upon.

I was having this problem, but changing my device name in Settings>General>About>Name and changing my wifi password seems (for now) to have fixed it for me. I’m also enabling”Connect even if the network is not broadcasting its name (SSID)” in the advanced network settings on my PC, as well as “Maximize Compatibility” on my hotspot settings, just to be safe. Hope it holds up!

Whilst I appreciate it's potentially a bit more cumbersome, i'm trying the "wired" approach. Annoyingly you need to have iTunes installed to make the wired approach work. So far i'm having success with it, but would be good to understand if people are still having issues with wired, or is it only "wireless" hotspot.

That said - adding in the incredible frustration at how poor the wireless hotspot has been though. It's another tick in the "Quality of iPhone/Watch noticeably degrading over the past 5 years" box.

I also tried every single thing that I found on the web - the hotspot on the iPhone 14 pro max is super unreliable. The only way I managed to get is stable was with a cable. But that basically kills the whole convenience factor. I'm not sure if it's due the hardware or the software, but it's been a lot more unreliable with iOS 16.

Hope they can figure out how to resolve it with software.

Try a different USB cable!

My tether connection will not work or will keep disconnecting every 30 seconds if I use the wrong USB cable. The USB cable that came with my gopro 11 works perfectly, no disconnecting

The only way I found to reliably reconnect all previously disconnected devices (1 Windows Laptop, 1 Mac Studio, 1 iPad, 1 AppleTV, and a second iPhone) is to

• wake up my Hotspot iPhone
• go to settings, open the Personal Hotspot section (the one saying "allow others to join"),
• go to the various devices, find the hotspot and connect to it,
• the hotspot will not appear in the list of available networks / hotspots UNLESS I have the iPhone awake AND the Personal Hotspot Settings open.

For some reason, my iPhone thinks it needs to disconnect everything after a while, and make the hotspot name invisible.

I agree with other comments here that say that they resolved the problems by switching to Android. I used to also have an Android device. There was a specific hotspot setting that enabled uninterrupted connectivity / automatic reconnection, which Apple doesn't have. They're really making an iPhone unsuitable for Personal Hotspots, and therefore less attractive. I've intentionally invested in a better 5G mobile data plan to move from landline to mobile only, having voice AND data in parallel, but the iPhone is definitely not the right choice for that setup.

I have yet to make up my mind whether I will once again invest in landline AND a cheaper mobile plan, or switch to Android altogether.

What REALLY irritates me is that Apple once again plays possum, and is just not acknowledging at all that their Personal Hotspot does not meet our expectations.