iPhone Hotspot keeps disconnecting

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!

I think I have found a real solution to the hotspot dropping everything. Don’t tell anyone that works for Apple or they will find a way to patch this and it won’t work anymore. Go to your setting->display&brightness->autolock->never. The. Go to settings->personal hotspot->allow others to join toggle on. Set your phone down and leave it alone. Plug it up if you can be because this will drain the battery kind of fast. I tried everything else, reset network setting and that was more of a headache than it was worth.

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.

For any iphone less than 15, the only stable hotspot is by using the cable. For iphone 15 it’s finally stable connection through cable or wifi&Bluetooth.

I just unselected the “maximise compatibility” option and that worked for me

Hi, goto iPhone personal hotspot setting, “disable” for maximum compatibility. Please check and update status if works properly.