Like its predecessor iPhones, the new iPhone 11 also supports Personal Hotspot or internet sharing feature. With this feature enabled, you can use your iPhone to act as a wireless router or internet source and then share internet connection with your other devices. This feature is handy when there’s no Wi-Fi router or modem available. The process of setting up personal hotspot on an iPhone is pretty straightforward. All it needs is for you to toggle some switches on your iPhone. To connect your other device, simply select your iPhone under the available list of Wi-Fi networks, enter the correct network password and then get connected. But then again, there are many factors that can make this simple process complicated and so many have encountered problems using personal hotspot on their respective iOS devices. In case you’d bump into the same scenario wherein personal hotspot is not working on your new iphone 11 smartphone, I’ve mapped out some handy tweaks for you to try on. Read on to find out how to deal with personal hotspot problems on your new iPhone.
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Troubleshooting an iPhone 11 Personal Hotspot that’s not working
Make sure both personal hotspot and cellular data features are enabled on your iPhone. Wi-Fi feature must also be enabled on your other devices. If all these basic requirements are met but personal hotspot connection still doesn’t work, try these subsequent methods to eliminate common software-related factors.
If you’re trying to connect to your iPhone 11’s personal hotspot via Bluetooth, make sure Bluetooth is enabled and your other device close to your iPhone. They have to be within range in order to connect via Bluetooth.
First solution: Restart your iPhone and the device you want to share your internet via personal hotspot with.
When random software glitches occur, some features may also stop working or fail to work as intended. Often times, the transpiring symptoms are just minor and therefore can easily be remedied by a soft reset or device restart. That said, consider this as the first solution to try first. On your iPhone 11, perform a soft reset with these steps:
- Press and hold both the Side and Volume Up buttons for a few seconds.
- Release both buttons when the Slide to Power off bar appears.
- Swipe or drag the bar to turn your device off.
- After about 30 seconds, press and hold the Side button and then release when the Apple logo appears.
On your other device, just follow the usual reboot or restart procedure. After restarting your devices, go back to iPhone Settings and make sure Personal Hotspot is enabled. Just follow these steps:
- Tap Settings from your Home screen.
- Scroll down and tap Personal Hotspot.
- Make sure that the switch next to Allow Others to Join is turned on. If it’s not, then simply toggle the switch to turn it ON.
You will then see the default password for the personal hotspot created. You can change this password as you desire.
You can also access and manage personal hotspot setting by heading to your phone Settings-> Cellular menu and then tap on Personal Hotspot to turn on the option to Allow Others to Join.
Personal Hotspot is now activated and so you can now share your phone’s internet connection to your other devices. Just select which type of personal hotspot connection you would prefer to use. Among the available options are To Connect using Wi-Fi, To Connect using Bluetooth and To Connect using USB.
Second solution: Turn Wi-Fi off and on.
Minor flaws affecting the phone’s wireless feature can also be the underlying cause and therefore must be ruled out as well. The easiest way to clear out random Wi-Fi connection errors on an iPhone is by turning the Wi-Fi switch off for a few seconds and then back on again.
- Tap Settings from your Home screen.
- Select Wi-Fi.
- Tap the Wi-Fi switch to the OFF position.
- After about 30 seconds, tap the switch again to turn Wi-Fi back ON.
If the other device is a smartphone, then you should do the same thing to refresh its wireless function.
Third solution: Change the name of your iPhone.
It is also possible that you’ve accidentally selected a different Wi-Fi network, thus your other device isn’t actually connected to your iPhone 11. To rule out network naming conflicts, try to change the name of your iPhone. Doing so will also help you easily identify the personal hotspot network to connect to on your other device. Just follow these steps to edit or change the name of your iPhone:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Tap General.
- Tap About.
- Next, tap the first line that shows the name of your device.
- Change the name of your device to your desired name then tap Done when finished.
The recent changes and the new name of your iPhone will then be saved.
Fourth solution: Reset network settings to fix Personal Hotspot that’s not working on your iPhone 11.
Network-related issues, particularly those attributed to incorrect or invalid network configurations can also affect wireless features, including personal hotspot. To clear these out, performing a network reset on your iPhone can help. This will erase all your current network configurations along with any associated network errors that caused personal hotspot problems on your iPhone 11. This doesn’t affect the internal data on your iPhone storage so there’s no need to back up files beforehand. Just follow these steps whenever you’re all set to reset network settings on your iPhone 11:
- From the Home screen, tap on Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll down and tap on Reset.
- Tap Reset Network Settings from the given options.
- Enter your passcode if prompted to continue.
- Confirm action by tapping on Reset Network Settings again.
When the reset is finished, your phone restarts automatically and then loads up the default network configurations. This denotes the need for you to set up and enable your Wi-Fi networks and other relevant features including cellular data and personal hotspot.
Fifth solution: Update your iPhone software to the latest version available.
System bugs and malwares can also affect your phone’s wireless connectivity features and may be the main reason why personal hotspot isn’t working on your device. To address bug-inflicted issues, updating the device software is usually needed. That said, follow these steps to check for available iOS update to download and install on your iPhone:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select General.
- Tap Software Update.
You will see an iOS update notification if a new version is available. Be sure to review the information to determine what the update is for and what new features it brings. Then follow the onscreen prompts to proceed with the iOS update downloading and installation process.
Last resort: Erase your iPhone and set it up as new.
A factory reset will be necessary if complex system errors are the underlying cause of the problem. By doing so, all data will be wiped out from your iPhone system along with stubborn malwares and system bugs that ruined the phone’s wireless internet sharing feature. Just be sure to back up all critical data from your iPhone storage beforehand so you’d still be able to recover them afterwards. Once you’re all set, follow these steps to factory reset your iPhone 11:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll down and tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Erase all content and settings. This will erase everything from your iPhone system including all saved data on the internal memory.
- Enter your device passcode if prompted to continue.
- Then tap the option to confirm that you want to erase your device.
Software-related issues, particularly major system errors are usually addressed by a factory reset. To find out if that fixes your iPhone’s personal hotspot problem, retry sharing internet from your iPhone 11 to your other device using personal hotspot. Be sure to enable personal hotspot and cellular features on your iPhone and Wi-Fi feature on your other device.
Is Personal Hotspot still not working on your iPhone 11?
You may escalate the problem to your carrier or internet service provider if none of the given solutions is able to resolve the issue. There might be some temporary network system problems that are halting personal hotspot services at the moment. Some carriers also don’t support personal hotspot, so you have to figure that out as well.
Data charges may also apply for using personal hotspot on your device. To avoid incurring unexpected data charges, talk to your carrier about the terms.
For more advanced troubleshooting procedures and recommendations, you can also contact Apple Support.
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