iPhone Hotspot Not Working on Mac? Here’s How to Fix It

Your iPhone hotspot not showing on Mac is nearly always one of a handful of things: Personal Hotspot isn’t actually advertising, Instant Hotspot can’t see your iPhone over Bluetooth, the Mac is clinging to an old network profile, or your mobile plan doesn’t include tethering. Work through the fixes below in order. Most people are back online by step three.

1. Check Personal Hotspot is on and Allow Others to Join is enabled

On the iPhone, open Settings > Personal Hotspot and make sure Allow Others to Join is switched on. Note the Wi-Fi password shown on that screen, because you’ll need it if your Mac isn’t signed in to the same Apple Account.

Then stay on that screen. Apple’s own advice is to keep the Personal Hotspot page open until the other device connects, since the iPhone advertises itself much more reliably while it’s in the foreground. The network name your Mac sees is your iPhone’s name, which you can check or change in Settings > General > About > Name.

If there’s no Personal Hotspot entry in Settings at all, jump to the carrier section below. That’s a plan problem, not a Mac problem.

2. Get Instant Hotspot working: same Apple Account, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi

Instant Hotspot is the feature that puts your iPhone in the Mac’s Wi-Fi menu without you typing a password. It relies on Bluetooth to discover the phone, so it has a few requirements:

• Both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account. Check Settings > [your name] on the iPhone and System Settings > [your name] on the Mac.
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on on both devices. Control Centre on iPhone can leave Bluetooth in a half-on state, so toggle it from Settings instead.
• The devices are close together. Apple says within about 10 metres, but closer is better while you’re troubleshooting.
• The iPhone has mobile data working. Instant Hotspot only shares a cellular connection, never a Wi-Fi network the phone is itself joined to.

Once that’s all true, click the Wi-Fi icon in the Mac’s menu bar (or in Control Centre). Your iPhone should appear under its own Personal Hotspot heading. If it doesn’t, give it a few seconds or click Other Networks. Turning Bluetooth off and back on on both devices often shakes it loose. If other Continuity features are flaky too, my guides to fixing Handoff between iPhone and Mac and AirDrop not working between iPhone and Mac cover the same Bluetooth and Apple Account checks in more depth.

3. Turn on Maximise Compatibility

On iPhone 12 and later, Personal Hotspot defaults to the 5GHz band. Some older Macs, and some Macs that are fussy about channel selection, simply don’t see it. In Settings > Personal Hotspot, switch on Maximise Compatibility. This drops the hotspot to 2.4GHz, which is slower and, per Apple, slightly less secure, but it’s visible to far more devices. If the hotspot suddenly appears on your Mac, you’ve found the cause.

4. Check your carrier plan includes hotspot

Personal Hotspot is a carrier feature. If the menu is missing, greyed out, or you can connect but get no internet, your plan may not include tethering, or you may have used up a separate tethering allowance. Apple also offers a Set Up Personal Hotspot option under Settings > Mobile Data on some carriers. If that isn’t there either, contact your network and ask them to enable it on your account. Installing the latest carrier settings update (it pops up automatically, or appears under Settings > General > About) is worth doing at the same time.

5. Use a USB cable instead

USB tethering skips Wi-Fi and Bluetooth discovery entirely, so it’s the quickest way to get online while you work out what’s wrong:

1. Plug the iPhone into the Mac with a data cable, not a charge-only one.
2. Tap Trust on the iPhone if asked and enter your passcode. Click Allow if the Mac asks to let the accessory connect.
3. Open System Settings > Network and look for iPhone USB in the services list.
4. If it’s there but not working, select it, click Make Inactive, then Make Active. If it’s missing, add it as a new network service.

You can also check from Terminal that macOS sees the iPhone as a network interface:

networksetup -listallhardwareports | grep -A2 iPhone

6. Fix the Mac’s network service order and forget the old network

If the Mac connects but still sends traffic down a dead Ethernet adapter or a stale Wi-Fi network, check the service order. In System Settings > Network, open the … action menu at the bottom of the services list and choose Set Service Order, then drag Wi-Fi (or iPhone USB) above anything you aren’t using. To see the current order from Terminal:

networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder

A corrupted saved profile for the hotspot can also stop it joining. Go to System Settings > Wi-Fi, find your iPhone under known networks, click the … button next to it and choose Forget This Network. Then reconnect from the Wi-Fi menu. If the Mac drops Wi-Fi in general after it wakes up, that’s a separate issue covered in Mac WiFi keeps disconnecting after sleep.

7. Restart both devices and update

It’s boring, but Apple lists it as a core step for a reason. Restart the iPhone and the Mac, then install any pending iOS and macOS updates in Settings > General > Software Update and System Settings > General > Software Update. Hotspot discovery bugs do get fixed in point releases. If you use a VPN on either device, turn it off while you test.

8. Last resort: reset network settings on the iPhone

If nothing else has worked, reset the iPhone’s network settings: Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This wipes saved Wi-Fi networks and passwords, mobile data settings, and VPN and APN settings, so make sure you know your Wi-Fi passwords first. It does not erase your data. After the reset, turn Personal Hotspot back on and try connecting the Mac again.

If the hotspot still won’t appear on any device after a reset, and your carrier confirms tethering is active, book a hardware check with Apple Support.