How to Use Your iPhone as a Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot

By Leanne Hays on Thu, 01/04/2018

* This post is part of iPhone Life's Tip of the Day newsletter. . *

We’ve talked before about how Apple devices can share downloads as long as they’re registered to the same Apple ID, but did you know that cellular data can also be shared between devices? Oh yes, friends, it’s true. Say you’re stuck somewhere with no Wi-Fi (the horror) or just an overloaded Wi-Fi network. There’s work to be done, and you need a connection; the time has come to use your iPhone to set up your own personal Wi-Fi hotspot.

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How to Use Your iPhone as a Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot

Go to Settings and tap Personal Hotspot.
Toggle Personal Hotspot on.

Now it’s time to connect your Hotspot; most people will use Wi-Fi, so we’ll cover how to connect to a Hotspot using Wi-Fi below.

How to Connect to a Personal Hotspot with Wi-Fi

Since your iPhone is already a Hotspot thanks to the steps above, you are ready to link your other device.

Go to Settings and find Wi-Fi.
Look for your iPhone Hotspot network on the list and tap to join.

If you’ve set up a password, enter it now.

You're now connected to your Personal Hotspot. Keep in mind that creating a Personal Hotspot uses your cellular data. Depending on your phone plan you may end up paying for overages, or experiencing a slow-down once you've reached a monthly cap; just something to be aware of before setting up and using your Wi-Fi Hotspot.

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Leanne Hays

Leanne Hays is an SEO Content Strategist and Feature Writer at iPhone Life, and has written hundreds of in-depth how-to and troubleshooting articles. She's a former Associate Editor for iPhone Life magazine, and has written for the Iowa Source, as well as web content for education marketing. Leanne has an associate's degree in education, with a focus on curriculum development, as well as a bachelor's degree in science. She has over nine years of experience with SEO, social media management, and web development and writing. Despite years of web work, Leanne is by no means an early adapter; she's only owned a smartphone for five years, which makes her highly sympathetic to the learning curve of new iPhone owners. She enjoys making reader's lives easier and putting her education experience to work by walking them through the most practical ways to use Apple devices, step-by-step.

In off-work hours, Leanne is a mother of two, homesteader, audiobook fanatic, musician, and learning enthusiast.