iPhone Personal Hotspot No Longer Working on MacBook or iPad

[Rawshi]

Hello EE Community,

As of yesterday, I’ve been unable to connect my iPhone’s personal hotspot to either my MacBook or iPad. The hotspot shows up in the Wi-Fi search on both devices, but fails to connect, showing one of these messages:

• Remote Hotspot Failure: “Unable to start personal hotspot”

• Failed to enable Personal Hotspot: “Check to see if the device is turned on and in range of your computer.”

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1. Restarted all three devices (iPhone, MacBook, and iPad).

2. Turned Airplane Mode on and off on my iPhone, and toggled Personal Hotspot and Mobile Data off and back on.

3. Verified that my iPhone software is fully up-to-date.

Device Details:
• iPhone Model and iOS Version: [iPhone 13 pro on iOS 18.1]

• Issue Timing: This started yesterday with no known changes on my end, and I rely heavily on the hotspot feature for work.

Additional Steps I’ve Tried:
• Checked for Carrier Settings Update in Settings > General > About (none available).

I’ve never had an issue with the hotspot before, so I’d appreciate any suggestions on further troubleshooting or if this might be a known issue with EE or iOS.

Thanks so much for any help!

[Chris_B]

@Rawshi  have you tried forgetting the connection on your MacBook and  iPad and re-establishing the connection from scratch. 

[Linzi_H · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rawshi 

Welcome to the community!

Just on the back of @Chris_B's advice, you may want to try and reset the network settings on your iPhone too. (Settings> General> Transfer or Reset iPhone> Reset> Reset Network Settings). You won't lose any data from your phone, but you'll need to provide your password next time you connect to WiFi.

Let us know how this goes.

Linzi 😊 

[Rawshi]

This worked!! Thank you 🙏🏾

I avoided doing this yesterday because I was afraid I’d lose stuff. 

[Linzi_H]

Ahh, excellent news @Rawshi 

Have a fab weekend 😊

Linzi 

[Chris_B]

@Rawshi  The only thing you’ll loose is all the WiFi passwords you might have used and saved on your device,  so you’ll need to reconnect with these.