Cannot turn off personal hotspot

How does one request a feature enhancement?

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

That worked perfect. I can't believe how simple that was. Now none of my devices see the wireless hotspot unless I turn it ON on my iPhone. Much obliged Sir. Great Fix.

Yep they are. No I have not. I don't see why this is so hard for people to understand. MY HOTSPOT IS TURNED OFF! Therefore it should not be broadcasting its hotspot SSID, much less allowing other devices to connect to it and turn the hotspot switch on no matter what the status is for iCloud. This would be the equivalent of me removing my keys from my car, and then having the car start up and unlock the door just because someone tapped on the windows.

Using the same iCloud ID on every device is not giving any one of them permission to broadcast their wireless SSID as a personal hotspot connection. That is done by turning ON the personal hotspot feature. Let me say again. Mine is turned off on every device.

At no time should a wireless hotspot connection be allowed without at a minimum of two requirements being met. Note that these features are built into the system to supposedly prevent any old Joe from accessing and using your personal hotspot.

1. Personal hotspot is physically turned on (I emphasize again, mine is not)
2. The required password found in Settings > Personal Hotspot > Wi-Fi password being entered

The only excerption to a password would be if you entered the password and told your device to remember the password. If that still is not clear enough, ley time try one more method. Turn all security off on the WiFi in your house and lets go post your address in a hacker bulletin board. I cannot emphasize enough this must be the WIRELESS PERSONAL HOTSPOT PASSWORD, not the password of a different app / feature.

I understand the what Apple wants to do. I think it is a good idea for those that want to use it. However, a end user should always be required to turn a feature on if they want to use it. It should be a Opt-In issue, not Opt-out. At the very least there should be a note somewhere in the updates that says "Hey ! All of you security conscious paranoid IT techs, please note this new access feature we have that we have so kindly turned on for you without asking and made it impossible to turn off."

By the way, this is being typed on my brothers iMac, which is connected to my wife's iPhone 6 hotspot, without having to enter a password. My Wifes Hotspot was found by browsing the built in WiFi connection utility. Icloud isn not intentionally turned on for this iMac. You may claim it cannot happen all you wish, I am doing it at this moment.

All of my devices use the same iCloud id for several reasons.

1. I can use Find My Iphone to locates users and devices,. More importantlyI can use it ping my devices when I set them down in la la land, which I do often. 🙂 . I am not in favor of having 9 separate iCloud accounts to turn this feature off and then having to remember what the account and passwords are for all of them.
2. Make sit much easier to share music and app purchase.
3. I can easily control purchases. At this time, purchases can only be made by redeeming gift cards. No credit cards on file.
4. Yes I understand you can use family sharing to fix point number 2, but family sharing FORCES me to associate a credit card with the top level account. For those of that think this is a great idea you probably do not have kids and never had or heard of anyone that has opened a credit card bill and seen a thousand dollars worth of charges from iTunes that you have not authorized your children to buy. Most of these kids do not do it in purpose. All the think of is it will tell me no when I run out of money, not realizing that once you run out of gift card money, it automatically charges the credit card.

Nad if anyone wants to pull the There they're , Their grammar nazi stuff, please come by my house and let me keep you up for 28 hours taking care of sick kids,

I'm having the exact same issue as described above even though I am up to date on both devices.

I can say that I also have another iPad (3rd gen) and an iMac here, but they do not see the personal hotspot. Only the iPad Air is seeing the personal hotspot and turns it "on" on the iPhone 5s when you attempt to connect. Very strange that the iPhone would be broadcasting, but only the iPad Air would be picking up on it.

Yep, same issue here. I just upgraded the software on both my iPhone 5 and iPad (gen3). Now even though I have personal hotspots turned off on my iPad I can still see it on my phone and if I click on it, it actually turns on hotspots on the iPad and simply connects without password or anything. Have yet to see if this is just on my phone or others as well. If it is just because both devices are on the same account and logged in as me that is one thing....although I still don't like the change. It certainly was not like this before the update.

The only way to disable this personal hotspot issue is to reset the network settings.

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. You will the have to re-enter any wifi network connections you originally had.

We're having a similar issue - with a twist. We have a home network (supported by a Dlink router) that has been pretty good since we moved in this location 2 plus years ago. We have the occasional issue with weather interference (on a hill) but that's typically it. About a week ago, my son came home from school with his new iPhone (hotspot capable) and all of a sudden our internet was constantly dropping. We could reset the router and connect, but it would drop within 3-7 minutes. Turns out my son's iPhone hotspot reset all our router settings. Finally got it rectified, told him to NOT use his hotspot while home (and to make sure it was turned off prior to coming home), and the internet was fantastic for 3 days. Then all of a sudden we're back to the same problem. He used his hotspot while out, but turned it off before coming to home; yet it's still showing up on all of our iPods and another iPhone in the home. He has tried turning the phone off, resetting network settings, and disabling wi-fi. It will shut off and disappear from everyone else's devices, but after ten minutes or so, it's right back on. Help??

Thank you very much for the quick response! We have disconnected everything, and we have tried both shutting the phone off, resetting all network settings, and resetting the phone itself. All to no avail. This is SO frustrating!

If you have reset the Network Settings on the iphone as per above, try changing the password on your son's iphone and then resetting the iphone Network Connections. If that fails you will have togo to the dashboard for your Dlink to reset the network connections on that device - Good Luck

another thought is to Reset Network Connections on the iPods and and other iPhone in the home so they forget your son's Personal Hotspot. if that is successfull then change the password on your son's iPhone, or take it way from Him!!

nothing works, it still there. Something to do with the cloud. I tried the following.

1 Turned off the hotspot on iphone6

2. signed out of the cloud on both.

3 Reset the network on both

4. Changed the password of the hotspot on the phone, made sure it was off.

5. CheckEd iPad and no hotspot

6. Signed into the cloud on both devices

7 it's back ...... Hotspot reappears on iPad on logs right in without asking for the new password.

8. I did notice it toggles on and off in the Bluetooth connection, follows the on/off hotspot setting But not the wifi.

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.

As of iOS 8.1.3 on iPhone 5c, 5s and 6, when the 5c had a hotspot setup, but off, and having previously been used successfully, other devices COULD continue to see the hotspot's SSID broadcasting, and for those who had already connected, could reconnect without any prompt to the Host except the blue bar would appear - surprise! Others COULD see the SSID but we're not able to connect without the password.

I see this as a significant flaw! If it's turend OFF on the host, nobody should be able to see or access it. Or at least give me the flexibility of hiding the SSID and allowing a connection with a warning message to only those pre-approved.

The only way I was able to prevent it once the initial connection was setup and permitted, was for the host to reset their Network settings, and as noted above, which means try lost all saved WIFI passwords.

If this is indeed a "feature" it's poorly thought out and poorly executed.

Only if there is a blue band across the top of your iPhone will it actually be making a hotspot connection to the Internet. if that connection is made the device connected to the hotspot will drain battery and use data allowance. Constant attempts to connect might cause the heat problems so suggest you try resetting the network settings on any device that is trying to use the hotspot on your iPhone.

Apple gnus bar say this 'instant hotspot' is a feature whilst it is really a 'security flaw'!

If ANY device can access data via a hotspot on your device without your permission it has to be a security flaw. The same would apply if anybody could access your bank account without your permission - seemple!