iPhone 14 Pro Max personal hotspot frequently takes 2+ minutes to become visible

Question

iPhone 14 Pro Max personal hotspot frequently takes 2+ minutes to become visible

I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and 2021 MacBook 16-inch. Both are up to date.

I only recently switched to an iPhone from Samsung - having originally bought it for my wife but who honestly hated the iPhone (needed to get her another Samsung phone/watch)

On my old Samsung S10+, wifi from the personal hotspot appeared instantaneously on my mac

On my new iPhone 14 Pro Max (supposedly a much better phone) it frequently takes 2+ minutes to appear. I sometimes even need to try switching the personal hotspot off/on to force it to appear. It's very frustrating given that I need to use the iPhone + Mac combo a lot when working from different locations.

I'm assuming that the problem is the $2000+ dollar iPhone (and, frankly I expect better if so) rather than my $6000+ MacBook (which is the best laptop I've ever used BTW). As mentioned, the Mac picked up my Samsung's hotspot near instantaneously.

Does anyone have a similar experience ... and maybe a fix? I saw a post from a few years back where someone a parallel issue with an iPhone 12. However the only advice posted back from Apple was a generic post (ensure all software is up to date and don't run other software in parallel ... which sort of defeats the purpose of having a high-spec device ... although in practice I usually only have my browser, messages, and Spotify open on my phone anyway).

Any advice short of switching back to Samsung would be appreciated. I suspect that maybe I need to take the iPhone back as I've seen that some Apple factories assemble them with different internal chipsets for the wifi and other features ... and maybe I got the bad one. Recent iOS updates haven't helped any.

Cheers

iPhone 14 Pro Max

Posted on Feb 28, 2023 2:42 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 2, 2023 12:45 PM in response to bald_white_guy

Hello bald_white_guy,

If Personal Hotspot isn't working on your iPhone as expected, please check out the suggestions in the following link, which may help correct some issues: If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular)

Use these steps first

Try connecting again after each step.

1. Check that Personal Hotspot is turned on in Settings > Personal Hotspot. If you can't find or turn on Personal Hotspot, check that your wireless carrier enabled it and that your wireless plan supports it.

2. Restart the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot and the other device that needs to connect to Personal Hotspot.

3. Make sure that you have the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.

4. On the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset [Device] > Reset, then tap Reset Network Settings.

Use the steps below for more help with Personal Hotspot over Wi-Fi, USB, or Bluetooth.

Personal Hotspot with Wi-Fi

Personal Hotspot with USB

Personal Hotspot with Bluetooth

If you continue to experience an issue, please contact Apple Support for assistance. You may be able to reach them here: Contact Apple Support

Thanks!

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Answer 2

Mar 2, 2023 4:23 PM in response to bald_white_guy

bald_white_guy,

Then the next best thing to do is reach out to Apple directly. They would be more equipped to look into the issue further with you. Here's the link again to get started with contact: Get Started

Take care.

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Answer 3

Mar 2, 2023 4:17 PM in response to Brittany1416

Thanks Brittany

That's the same answer posted to the other question I read. Maybe it's generic helpful advice (and is what I've done anyway) but unhelpful in this instance. Still frequently taking 2+ minutes before my iPhone's wifi personal hotspot is visible. It doesn't happen always but is a lot.

Hence - am I the only one that's getting this? i.e. does anyone else have the same experience and is there is a fix?

I've seen some YouTubers show that iPhone 14s are coming out of different factories, and that there's some mixing and matching of different components (i.e. chipsets other than the CPU coming from different manufacturers ... and that those other chipsets aren't always identical).

I honestly think there's something wrong with the phone - as that two minute wait for the hotspot to become available on my Mac never happened with my succession of Samsung phones. It's only ever happening since I moved back to iPhone.

I'm perplexed what to do about it other than maybe to take the iPhone back.

I'm unsure if its just my iPhone, or
if its a flaw in some just some iPhones, or
if its a fault affecting all of them.

I'm curious to hear experience of others regularly using their iPhone 14 Pro Max as a wifi Personal Hotspot for use with a recent model MacBook Pro. Are they frequently also needing to wait 2+ minutes for the hotspot to appear?

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iPhone 14 Pro Max personal hotspot frequently takes 2+ minutes to become visible

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