Cannot turn off personal hotspot

GREAT TIP!!!!

I can’t believe it... I’ve been fighting this on an iPhone which was recently reinstalled from scratch by Apple with no iCloud backup restore because of iOS upgrade issues from 10 to 11 which corrupted settings and these were backed up. So essentially it was factory fresh and I did not believe that this could have any effect.

Well, I was wrong... it worked.

Settings - Reset - Reset Network Settings

after restart, set up all of your WiFi and hot spot again and the off/on button for the hot spot works properly with Bluetooth on or off, and there is no way for other iOS devices to override it, with or without Bluetooth.

It can be difficult to know what is good advice here, as virtually all of the explanations on this thread are incorrect and trying to rationalize or explain away clear security issues and obvious bugs. While working with Apple recently on other strange battery issues with a perfect battery, I learned that iOS updates can corrupt configuration, and the corruption will go into an iPhone backup. This network reset simply clears the related settings to a clean state and upon reconfiguration all of the features work absolutely perfectly in line with the setting choices. When it is off, it is off. All works as expected.

This issue is still bothering me. And I gave my feedback to Apple. To make it work for everyone that wants to use it and that does not want to use it, or that only occasionally wants to use it, Instant Hotspot should be manageable.

i have this problem as well. I'm not sure I trust that it's not visible to others or usable by others. More, I wonder if it crowds wifi connection, because it seems to be present whenever the wifi connection to my desktop (iMac) gets dodgy. I'll admit none of this hotspot business makes sense to me. I don't understand it and don't understand the need for need for all these connections all the time. And generally it's of no use when I need/want access to my iTunes library.

Although I can understand the desire to be helpful by providing this service, and I understand the idea that this is a closed cloud-identity thing, I would like to know who to send the mobile data charges to.

I want the ability to turn this off, even for myself, to avoid adding unnecessary charges to my data plan. ESPECIALLY if I am roaming. Out of habit, I might use it when in my local area, but those roaming charges could be sigificant, and I want to ensure I don't accidentally tap into them.

How does one request a feature enhancement?

hans_123 wrote:

Although I can understand the desire to be helpful by providing this service, and I understand the idea that this is a closed cloud-identity thing, I would like to know who to send the mobile data charges to.

You send them to yourself. You should be the only person using your iCloud ID, so you are the only person who can use the hotspot.

I want the ability to turn this off, even for myself, to avoid adding unnecessary charges to my data plan. ESPECIALLY if I am roaming. Out of habit, I might use it when in my local area, but those roaming charges could be sigificant, and I want to ensure I don't accidentally tap into them.

You can't accidentally use hotspot data, as you must connect to the hotspot each time you want to use it. If it goes idle it disconnects, and you must reconnect again.

My understanding from Apple is that it's a new feature (not a bug) called Instant Hotspot. The hot spot connection shows on the iPad and only shows for other devices in iCloud on your account. The connection really isn't hot. But if you select it, it automatically turns on the other device and creates a hotspot. It was pretty confusing to me, but if you just ignore it I think there is no consequence. In the past you had to go to device 1 and create a hotspot and then go to device 2 and connect to the hotspot. Now from device 2 you can just select it and it enables the hotspot on device 1.

Criticalimpulse wrote:

I was having the same issue after updating iOS in both devices, iPad Air and iPhone 5s my iPad could see my iphone hotspot even tho it was shut off. After reading everyone's reply all I'd did was sign out of iCloud on the iPad and no more issues.

The problem with this solution is you lose all of the benefits of being in the iCloud connection space, which are many and getting to be even more.

The reported problem is that you see a hotspot connection available on your iCloud devices. No one else sees it and it really isn't live until you connect to it. In the old days (before this release) only advanced users could take advantage of a Hotspot. Now they have done away with the concept and your devices can see each other and if you need a wifi connection for one through another's LTE you can do it automatically by just selecting it from the receiving device.

Bottomline, now the fact that you can see a potential hotspot connection with one your devices (and no one else can see it) doesn't seem to be a problem to me. Once I got used to see it in the bottom part of the list (the not yet active part), I like it. It's easier to start up a hotspot and is only confusing to those of us who used to go through all of he steps previously. New users to iOS don't even have to know what a hotspot is and they can connect their devices. That's why they switched.

I have this same issue after updating to iOS 8.1.3 on my iPhone 6. The personal hotspot is turned off on my phone but the SSID is broadcast to anybody near by. What is very disturbing is that anybody can connect and start using my data with out my consent. I tested this with a couple of friends one with an iPad, two with iPhones and one with an Android device. All of the devices forced the connection and was able to use my data without ever being asked for the personal hotspot password.

I went to my local Apple store here in Boston and I got the same response I get every time I go in there. I am told that "restoring my phone" and setting it up as new will fix it. Well sure enough two and a half hours later after I finally have my phone all setup again the same problem persists. The genius bar never seems to help!!

I am one of the 3.5 Billion people on Earth that live in a city. Walking around with a personal hotspot that is unprotected is a huge issue. I don't want people using my cellular data and wasting my money. Apple you need to fix this now!!!!!!!!

I'm having the same problem, sort of. I have a MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone 5s—all of them up to the latest operating systems. My MacBook Pro consistently reports that my iPhone hotspot is on—when it's not. The iPad doesn't see it. (Odd.) The problem: For the past month or so my iPhone battery has been draining excessively fast. It will eat through the battery in less than a day, even when I don't use the phone. And the phone (at odd times) is excessively warm, though not hot enough to trigger the built-in "too hot/shut down" routine.

Something is draining my iPhone battery. I think it's that the hotspot is always on (even though Settings says it isn't).

I took the phone to the Geniuses three times. On the third visit, three days before my warranty expired, they replaced my phone. Guess what? The hotspot still shows up on my MacBook Pro, the phone still runs hot, and the battery still drains too fast.

Ideas?

Yes, we realize your hotspot is off, but if you come into range of any of your other devices that do not have cell capability but are logged into the same iCloud account the Personal Hotspot will be turned on. It is secure.

If you want Apple to change this stop ranting here and go here instead: https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

blazzzinred wrote:

PS: If I turn off bluetooth on my iPhone 6 the problem goes away. So it is using my phone's bluetooth connectivity...

Yes, the Instant Hotspot feature uses BT to discover the other devices active on the same Apple ID.

Connect your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac using Continuity - Apple Support

By the way, Airdrop, even though it transfers files over WiFi, uses BT in the same way.

nicastm wrote:

FYI, I found out this issue by mistake when I received a notification from Verizon Wireless that I consumed 50% of my data plan just 7 days into the contract month. I looked into it further and found out that the Personal Hotspot was on for 2 hours one night what my wife was using her iPad to read at night. Apparently there was a power interruption for a while at night and the iPad connected with her iPhone Personal Hotspot and used 2.1GB of data during the night. I think this is a terrible design flaw from Apple and they should give us the ability to turn the Personal Hotspot completely instead of disabling your iCloud account.

This would not have been a problem if you and your wife had different iCloud accounts. iCloud is a PERSONAL space, not intended to be a shared space. Apple strongly recommends not sharing iCloud accounts, except between one person's devices. You can still share content, calendars, photos and other items you want to share using family sharing: Family Sharing - Apple Support

Virtually all of what you said is untrue. You can transfer pre-family sharing apps (I do it with my wife), game progress is not by iCloud ID for most games; it is either on the phone's database or the game provider's server. As my wife and I do. Apple created family sharing specifically so each family member could have private and shared information. There is no such thing as private information on a shared account. Personal hotspot is just one; there's also notes, calendars, reminders, messages, contacts, email, backups, photos and more.

Apple IDs are not meant to be shared. Apple is very clear about that. If you want to share Apple IDs no one will stop you, but you must live with all of the consequences of your choice. Family Sharing - Apple Support

There's also partial sharing; you can have different iCloud IDs, different Facetime IDs, but share iTunes & App Store IDs as a compromise. This also solves the Personal hotspot issue.

transmogrification wrote:

Apple recommends using your AppleID across your personal devices, iPhone, iPad, MacOS, since this how Continuity and Handoff works.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204681

Correct. And it's good advice. The operative word here is "Your" which mean YOU, not other family members, children, friends, etc. If you are the only user of the devices sharing an Apple ID then you have complete control over use of the personal hotspot.

I can't on my hots