With my home wifi and router, I can keep my network name private as well as use a password, for an extra layer of security. If I use my phone as a wifi hotspot, can I keep its name private too?
For the moment, I envision nothing but my devices using the hotspot.
Mac OS 26.2, iPhone iOS 26.2 and iPad running 18.7.4
iPhone 12 mini, iOS 26
Hotspot is provided by your carrier. You would have to check with them about any options regarding renaming or hiding the Wi-Fi network.
If your carrier is AT&T, we can answer a few more questions regarding their Hotspot feature.
In general, most carriers do not provide options to name or hide the Wi-Fi network, but do allow you to set up a password of your choice.
Donot_Haveone wrote:
With my home wifi and router, I can keep my network name private as well as use a password, for an extra layer of security. If I use my phone as a wifi hotspot, can I keep its name private too?
For the moment, I envision nothing but my devices using the hotspot.
Check with your carrier. I’d assume not, though.
Setting a Wi-Fi network hidden most definitely does not hide it too, though it does make the Wi-Fi network more interesting when scanning, and also makes all clients with knowledge of that hidden Wi-Fi call out to it (beaconing) everywhere they go, making client identification much easier.
Setting s network hidden also makes it more difficult for folks to identify the cause of interference, though common tools will show the hidden network these days.
Disabling ICMP is another similarly problematic idea that gets repeated for some reason. Hosts have to route to communicate, and ICMP traffic helps make that. Ore efficient. But the routing traffic can be detected.
As for security, setting up WPA2 AES, or WPA2-WPA3 transitional, or WPA3, and with a pre-shared key would be typical of most home and small office Wi-Fi networks. Sightly higher security would involve RADIUS authentication or certificate authentication, which makes the all-too-common sharing of the Wi-Fi passcode rather less of an issue. What is available here depends on the gear in use.
Related: Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points - Apple Support
The name of your hotspot is the name of your iphone. That is it.
Very helpful, thank you.
It certainly does seem like having request to join pop up on my phone is pretty decent security, if I turn it on and off as needed.
It makes sense that they might not want to allow the option of a private name, because that may mean a higher likelihood of support calls to them when people forget it.
Can I make my Personal Hotspot network name private?
