iOS 13 Personal Hotspot confirmed to be rubbish!!

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surfisup1000

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#268531 24-Mar-2020 10:11

I've had so many problems with the personal hotspot on my iPhone xs max.

It really annoys me that this seems to be a known problem, and has persisted for a long time without a fix.

Sometimes I have to repower the iPhone, reset network settings, toggle airplane mode, change the device name, just to get the hotspot working. It seems entirely random too, as to which action fixes the problem.

https://www.engadget.com/2020/03/22/apple-ios-13-personal-hotspot-issue/

surfisup1000

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#2445327 24-Mar-2020 10:51

lNomNoml: Don't worry mate, they will fix it in the next iPhone then you can buy that one.

It is software, not hardware.

RunningMan

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#2445338 24-Mar-2020 11:03

How are you connecting?

I've found it dreadful via bluetooth, but think this is hardware. Iphone 5s was flawless, but same iOS on an SE or newer keeps disconnecting. USB seems reliable, as does connecting via WiFi to a hotspot associated with the same apple ID.

dfnt

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#2445390 24-Mar-2020 12:21

I've had no issues, I use instant hotspot on both MacBook Pro's and it's never failed to connect

Dunnersfella

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#2445460 24-Mar-2020 13:47

My phone is incredibly fluky when hot spotting to my Windows machine.

Prior to iOS 13 it was fine...

Coincidence, judging by my other iOS 13 experiences thus far, nope.

surfisup1000

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#2445470 24-Mar-2020 13:53

RunningMan:

How are you connecting?

I've found it dreadful via bluetooth, but think this is hardware. Iphone 5s was flawless, but same iOS on an SE or newer keeps disconnecting. USB seems reliable, as does connecting via WiFi to a hotspot associated with the same apple ID.

Tethered connection works OK for my laptop. I'm talking about the wifi hotspot in particular.

After switching it on, the hotspot often does not appear. Sometimes toggling hotspot on/off works. I used to have a custom name on my iPhone -- but, I found using this seems to make hotspot unreliable. It sometimes takes a bit of stuffing around to get the hotspot to actually broadcast a wifi signal.

Even after I have got it working, sometimes the hotspot will disconnect attached devices.

And, every so often, it will work perfectly. There is a randomness behind this crazy functionality.

RunningMan

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#2445500 24-Mar-2020 14:26

If it's a MacOS laptop, just sign in to the same Apple ID as the phone, and it automatically shows up under the wifi menu on the laptop as a hotspot. This seems solid and reliable. It will show even if hotspot is turned off on the phone.

If you just set it up as a hotspot over wifi and have to put in the SSID and password then it seems to be less reliable, and shuts the hotspot down periodically.

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

SpartanVXL

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#2445559 24-Mar-2020 16:18

The disconnect on idle is intentional and a long standing complaint with the wifi hotspot.

As for it showing up, it’s often better to manually connect via punching in the SSID/password rather than trying to search for it in the detection list.