Unable to connect my MacBook Air M1 to my hotspot on my iPhone 12 Pro

The only thing that worked for me, after lots of resets etc, was changing the IP and DNS settings on my Macbook WiFi:

Set IP Address manually instead of DHCP

Set 172.20.10.1 as default gateway/router address

Set my MacBook as manual IP address of 172.20.10.3

Subnet 255.255.255.0

DNS I was fine with 8.8.8.8

I just got off with apple support. There is a workaround to this issue.

In your iPhone settings, go to General --> About and change the name of your phone. Then turn on your hotspot and try connecting

I have been having this same issue over the past few weeks, but only when using my Macbook Pro on Sonoma. I've tried 14.1, 14.2 and now 14.3 and still no internet via Personal hotspot. I've tried my iMac which is not on Sonoma and that as no issues. I've tried my Sim in several other iPhones and the same problem with my Sonoma 14.2 Macbook Pro.

CREATE NEW NETWORK

I've tried the 'create a new network' approach on my Macbook Network settings and that worked for a couple of days but not since, even after trying the same method again.

DESPERATION - ANDROID

So out of desperation I purchased an Samsung Android phone to see if I could get that to work (I work on the road so Personal Hotspot usage isn't optional for me.. it is essential if I still want to earn a living).

SONOMA 14.3 & ANDROID TETHERING CONNECTION WORKED

I could not get the Samsung to connect properly to my Macbook Pro until I updated Sonoma to 14.3. Now using Sonoma 14.3 my Samsung Android (using the same Sim card from my iPhone) works perfectly 100% of the time.

The Samsung does not show as being a Personal Hotspot but rather as a Known Network.

SONOMA & iOS PERSONAL HOTSPOT ISSUES

So presumably the issue must relate to 'Personal Hotspots' communicating between Sonoma and iOS.

BYPASSING 'PERSONAL HOTSPOT' FOR INTERNET TETHERING

The Android work around bypasses the need for 'Personal Hotspot' functionality. iOS will not allow any mobile internet connection to be anything other than 'personal hotspot'.

Android operating systems appear to be more flexible and less restricting in this regard.

I'm 100% not a non-apple person... but needs must. The ONLY successful work-around at present is to NOT use an iPhone for tethering.

LOVE APPLE DEVICES BUT...

I love all my Apple devices but I need to be practical so I can work on the road. I am currently FORCED to use an Android phone to tether for internet access.

Hopefully at some point in the future (whenever that will be) this personal hotspot anomaly in Sonoma 14.3 on non-M2 Macbook devices will work.

PRE-M2-CHIP

Someone in this thread has said their M2-chip Macbook works without issue. So perhaps the issue lies in Sonoma not being backward compatible enough in older pre-June2022 devices.

Sorry if my currently working method is a bit sacrilegious... but it works for me currently as at Sat 3 Feb 2024.

I got fed up with switching to manual settings every time I wanted to hotspot (as above), so spent a few hours on the phone to technical support. They went through all the usual things, safe, recovery, re-install, then finally scrub and reinstall. I was happy when it finally started working properly again (i.e. my iPhone could provide an IP address via automatic DHCP to my Mac), but gutted when the issue re-emerged after installing a VPN service.

However, I've since discovered that if you go to the network tab in Settings, and right/secondary click on WiFi (don't let it open the wifi tab), you're given the option of deleting the Wifi Service. I then immediately re-instated it after which hotspot worked normally again, without even the need for a reboot.

If only the Mac geniuses had pointed that one out on the phone I could have saved myself 24hrs of re-installing everything.

Exact same problems. Name change and "automatic" settings did not work. Use the suggestions supplied by jimboandthejetset, I used trial and error and finally determined that simply changing the DNS from 1.1.1.1 to 8.8.8.8 worked. Whew.

As an update here, I've been given a different laptop at my work, crucially still running 14.1

The same up to date iPhone that cannot connect to my M1 14.3 hotspot, connects to my M3 14.1 hotspot no problem. This HAS to therefore be a 14.3 bug – the issue is not with iOS 17.2.1

No way am I updating the software on the new Mac to 14.3!

When I said the iOS was the "same up to date" I meant it's the same iPhone on the same iOS I was using when I first reported the issue, using hotspot on the M1 MBP. I was trying to illustrate that the same iOS does work with the M3 and so there's no change in variables on the iPhone side. This implies to me that the cause is not down to the phone since it can establish a hotspot with other Macs in the house on an older OS, be it an intel on Big Sur or the M3 on 14.1. The only variable that is unsuccessful is Sonoma 14.3

The iPhone is a 12

The M1 is a MBP 16", same for the M3.

I have tried all the workarounds in this thread, be them on the phone or the Mac and none have been successful whilst connecting with 14.3

I will update the iOS 17.3 but I think it's pretty clear where the blame lies?

I faced the same problem today. MacOS 14.3 and iOS 17.3.

Instead of connecting the MacBook through WiFi (which was not working), I plugged the lightening b/w MacBook & iPhone. And it worked.

A dude on reddit wrote this, and it worked:

On your Mac, connect to your iPhone hotspot, open settings, go to WiFi, click Details on your network, click TCP/IP, and then find IPv6 and change it to Automatically.

^ renaming the iPhone was the answer for me, MacBook Pro M1 Pro on Ventura 13.6 macOS

Thats Strange. Since I've not experienced any issues with my M2 MacBook Air on Sonoma 14.3, it's interesting to consider what might be causing this.

To help narrow down the issue, could you confirm if your MacBook connects successfully to other Wi-Fi networks, including different hotspots? Also, have you tried forgetting the hotspot network on your MacBook and then reconnecting? Sometimes, this can resolve connection issues.

From someone else's comment... strangeley there is a quick and easy solution.

**This appears to be only needed if you have a mac that is pre-M2/M3 chip.

1. Connect to your phone via Wifi hotspot (it probably gives the exclamation mark to say no internet connected)
2. Click Wifi settings
3. Click on Details (for your device wifi connection)
4. Select TCP/IP (on the left)
5. Change 'Configure IPv6' to Automatically
6. Click 'OK'
7. It should all work fine. It did for me.

I no longer need the Android for tethering. The above allowed my iPhone 13 (OS 17.3.1) and 2019 Macbook (Sonoma 14.3.1) to work with Personal Hotspot immediately without issue...

See if a work college or a friend has an Android phone and put your SIM into that and test that to see if that works, just as an experiment.

For me that is the only solution that I have personally found to work (at least for a Mac that is older than July 2022, older than M2 / M3 chips)

Same here, updated to 14.3 yesterday, hotspot not working today. Also tried unsuccessfully with wife’s phone … but both phones work as hotspots on another MBP running an older OS

Thats very strange. Seeing as multiple people are reporting this issue, it might be best to contact apple support directly