The world of the Internet has been changing throughout the years. Gone are the days of hearing the dial tone and getting onto the Internet via “dial-up” via the phone line.

With this Internet-on-the-go mindset, however, mobile phone companies had to allow their devices to become a hotspot to allow their users to use their mobile Internet on any device!

Apple has made this feature particularly powerful and easy on their iPhone line. Read on to discover how to use your iPhone’s mobile hotspot capabilities easily.

Enable Mobile Hotspot

A mobile hotspot is not enabled on iOS by default, so you will have to turn it on. 

To do this, follow these steps:

  • Go to your Settings app either on the home screen or in the App Library. Tap on the sub-menu labeled “Cellular.” This sub-menu contains all the functionality that Apple allows you to control on the actual cell chip of the phone.On the third entry from the top, tap on “Personal Hotspot.”  A slider button will be next to the words “Allow Others to Join.” Tapping on this will enable the mobile hotspot.

The “Personal Hotspot” menu is also on the main page of the settings app, right below the “Cellular” submenu.

Set the Password

All iPhones will have a default SSID that is not changeable and a default WiFi password that is changeable.  

Depending on the level of password security you might need, the default password might be a good idea. 

It is a randomly generated password of letters and numbers with no “hidden words” in them.

To change the password, tap on the default WiFi password and type in your new password. 

The password can be anything, but it must be a minimum of 8 characters.  

For digital security reasons, it is highly recommended that the password is not an easily guessable one. 

While you can use the password “12345678,” it is not advisable.

Connect Your Device

From this point, it’s now time to actually connect devices to the hotspot.

Devices can be connected to your iPhone’s hotspot using WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB.

Each method has its own way to go about doing so.

WiFi

Connecting to your iPhone hotspot via WiFi is perhaps the most common usage. 

This allows for any of the numerous amounts of WiFi devices to connect to your hotspot.

To connect to your hotspot, simply set up your personal hotspot on the phone and search for the SSID on your computer. 

Enter the password that you defined as the WiFi password, and that’s it.

Keep in mind, however, that if you ever change your hotspot password on the iPhone, you will have to reconnect your device to the WiFi hotspot.

Bluetooth

Apple also allows you to connect to a personal hotspot via Bluetooth on Mac devices and some other third-party devices.

To do this, you must do something a little extra on your hotspot.  You must go to the Bluetooth setting, make sure it is on and stay on that screen so that the hotspot is discoverable.

From here, you can go to the device you need to connect to, find the iPhone, and pair it to the device. 

Follow any instructions on the secondary device from there.

USB

You can also connect to the hotspot via a USB cable (also called tethering). 

This can only be done with a Mac running at least OS X 10.9 or later or a PC running at least Windows 7 or later. 

Also, make sure you have the latest iTunes downloaded.

The first time you connect to a new device via USB, you will have to confirm to Trust the Computer on the iPhone. 

Once you have confirmed this on the iPhone, you should be able to use the hotspot. 

Invite the Whole Family

The iPhone mobile hotspot setting has a neat feature that takes advantage of Apple’s Family Sharing.

If you set up family-sharing accounts in your Apple accounts, you will be able to let your family members join without any password needed. 

Simply go to the Personal Hotspot setting (from above), and tap “Family Sharing.” From here, you can enable or disable this feature. 

You can also see each member of your Family Sharing account and choose to either approve them automatically or prompt you for approval.

If you do not see this feature, check your Family Sharing settings to make sure they are set up and enabled.

Conclusion

Apple has made the iPhone mobile hotspot both extremely convenient and easy to set up. 

This can be done by enabling the hotspot, setting a password, and connecting the devices.

Though there are some steps that need to be taken to set up this useful tool, hotspots have come a long way.

Originally when tethering was introduced, it was extraordinarily complicated and did not operate smoothly. 

Mobile hotspots these days have become part of our constantly mobile world.