How to turn on your iPhone's Personal Hotspot feature, and use it as a portable internet hub for your other devices
- Your iPhone can turn on a "Personal Hotspot," or an internet access point, anywhere you have decent cellular service, enabling other devices to get online through your phone.
- The iPhone's personal hotspot can give online access to other devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or even a hard lined connection via USB cable.
- Using an iPhone's hotspot to grant other devices internet access can rapidly burn through data, so use the function sparingly if you want to save data.
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The most amazing thing about a smartphone is how easily it connects to the internet. From anywhere on the planet with a cell signal, you can connect to the world via email, apps, YouTube, and more, and you can enjoy millions of different websites, videos, music, and every other kind of media out there.
When you have an iPhone, another amazing aspect is its ability to allow other devices to connect to the internet as well. The Personal Hotspot feature allows you to connect other internet-ready devices to the web via your phone's cellular connection.
How to turn on Personal Hotspot on an iPhone
1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to and tap on "Personal Hotspot."
Steven John/Business InsiderTap the "Personal Hotspot" tab in your Settings.
3. Tap the switch at the top to toggle your hotspot on.
Steven John/Business InsiderIf the switch at the top of the Personal Hotspot page is white, your hotspot is off; if it's green, your hotspot is on.
Your phone is now broadcasting a a Wi-Fi signal that other devices can connect to. An auto-generated password will be displayed beside "Wi-Fi Password." You can tap that password to change it if you'd like.
How to access and use your iPhone's Personal Hotspot with another device
Now, on the device that you want to give internet access to, navigate to your respective Wi-Fi menu. On another iPhone or iPad, this will be in the Settings menu. On a Mac computer, it will be in the right side of the menu bar at the top of your screen. On Windows, it will be in the right side of your taskbar at the bottom of the screen.
You should see the name of your iPhone beside two interlocking rings, or a regular Wi-Fi symbol. Click there, and enter the password from your phone when prompted. In a few moments, your device will connect, and you'll be online.
Steven John/Business InsiderYou'll have to enter your hotspot's password the first time you connect another device to it.
To connect to the web via your iPhone using Bluetooth, pair the device in question with your phone.
You can also plug your phone directly into a computer (or another device with a USB port) to provide internet through a wired connection. Select the name of your iPhone from the list of networks offering internet access.
And a quick pro tip: if you want to bump anyone off your hotspot without turning off the hotspot altogether, change the password. It will kick anyone using the connection off and you'll just have to enter the new password.
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