My iPhone Hotspot not connecting to MacBook

when I’m trying to connect my MacBook to my iPhone’s hotspot, it’s showing we could not join the network.

MacBook Air, macOS 15.1

Posted on Jan 6, 2025 3:49 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 6, 2025 6:26 AM

Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on the iPhone and then check on the Mac if you can pair both devices via  > System Preferences > Bluetooth. If it still doesn't work, make sure both devices forget each other and reconnect.


It's not always clear why Macs have problems with Hotspots, but changing passwords on your Hotspot can be the cause in some cases. It's rare that this issue can't be resolved by resetting the memory of your HotSpot on your Mac.

From herosupport-co-uk: “To reset this, just follow the links below.

  1. Turn off iPhone Hotspot
  2. Open up the WiFi settings on your Mac
  3. click the WiFi logo at the top right, then click open network settings
  4. Open advanced WiFi settings at the bottom right window
  5. Find your iPhone in the Preferred Networks list, click it to highlight it, then press the – under the list window to delete it.
  6. If you can’t find one that is your iPhone, try looking for a network called just ‘iPhone’.
  7. Close all network windows on your Mac.
  8. Turn on WiFi Hotspot on your iPhone
  9. Re-click WiFi logo at the top right of your Mac screen. Ignore any options on this drop down that look like your iPhone and select ‘Join Other Network…’ then click Show Networks at the bottom left of the new window.
  10. Select iPhone from Networks list. You may or may not need to enter your HotSpot password.
  11. If this does not work first time, you may need to follow through the steps from the beginning a couple of times until it does. At some point your Mac may ask you to run diagnostics. This is up to you, it may take a few minutes but diagnostics from problems like this greatly help improve products in the future.
  12. as a last port of call, go into your phones Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings – Enter Passcode then Click Reset Network Settings. After this, follow step 1 through 7 to try again.”


1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 6, 2025 6:26 AM in response to Ritesh_97

Make sure Bluetooth is enabled on the iPhone and then check on the Mac if you can pair both devices via  > System Preferences > Bluetooth. If it still doesn't work, make sure both devices forget each other and reconnect.


It's not always clear why Macs have problems with Hotspots, but changing passwords on your Hotspot can be the cause in some cases. It's rare that this issue can't be resolved by resetting the memory of your HotSpot on your Mac.

From herosupport-co-uk: “To reset this, just follow the links below.

  1. Turn off iPhone Hotspot
  2. Open up the WiFi settings on your Mac
  3. click the WiFi logo at the top right, then click open network settings
  4. Open advanced WiFi settings at the bottom right window
  5. Find your iPhone in the Preferred Networks list, click it to highlight it, then press the – under the list window to delete it.
  6. If you can’t find one that is your iPhone, try looking for a network called just ‘iPhone’.
  7. Close all network windows on your Mac.
  8. Turn on WiFi Hotspot on your iPhone
  9. Re-click WiFi logo at the top right of your Mac screen. Ignore any options on this drop down that look like your iPhone and select ‘Join Other Network…’ then click Show Networks at the bottom left of the new window.
  10. Select iPhone from Networks list. You may or may not need to enter your HotSpot password.
  11. If this does not work first time, you may need to follow through the steps from the beginning a couple of times until it does. At some point your Mac may ask you to run diagnostics. This is up to you, it may take a few minutes but diagnostics from problems like this greatly help improve products in the future.
  12. as a last port of call, go into your phones Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings – Enter Passcode then Click Reset Network Settings. After this, follow step 1 through 7 to try again.”


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My iPhone Hotspot not connecting to MacBook

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