The iPhone Personal Hotspot feature transforms your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot that can share its internet connection with other nearby devices. However, that can’t happen if Personal Hotspot is missing.
The information in this article applies to iPhones running iOS 12 and up. The basic ideas work for earlier versions of iOS, as well. Some steps may be slightly different for older versions.
Normally, using Personal Hotspot is as simple as turning on the feature. However, some users find that their Personal Hotspot disappears. This often happens after upgrading the OS or after jailbreaking an iPhone.
First thing to try:
Reset the network settings. A missing Personal Hotspot can be caused by problems with the settings that control the phone’s access to cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Resetting those settings and starting fresh may help solve the problem.Select
Settings > General > Reset > Reset > Network Settings.
After the reset is finished, you may have to enter Wi-Fi network passwords.
Another workarounds
- Turn cellular data on and off. Personal Hotspot requires a connection to a cellular data network, such as 4G. Resetting the cellular data connection may bring back a missing Hotspot.
- Check the Personal Hotspot settings. Sometimes when Personal Hotspot is missing from the Settings app, it’s still present in another place. If so, you can get it back through a different path.
- Open the Settings app and select Cellular > Personal Hotspot.
- Move the Personal Hotspot toggle to On (green).
- Next, go back to the main Settings screen. If you see Personal Hotspot listed under Cellular, the problem is solved.
- Restart your iPhone. Restarting an iPhone is a simple troubleshooting tip that, while not guaranteed to work, is easy to perform. To restart an iPhone, hold down the home and sleep/wake buttons at the same time until the Apple logo appears on the screen and then release the buttons.
- Update the carrier settings. While it doesn’t happen as frequently as Apple releasing new versions of iOS, every so often, your phone company (also called your carrier) releases new versions of the settings that help your iPhone work on its network. Updating to the latest settings could be the cause of the missing Personal Hotspot.
- Update to the latest version of iOS. The Personal Hotspot feature not showing could be caused by a bug in iOS, the operating system installed on the iPhone. If that’s the case, there may be an iOS update available that fixes the issue. iOS updates are free and easy to install.
- Remove APN certificates. This option only affects a small number of users, but it could be the culprit. If you installed any Access Point Name (APN) certificates to make your phone work with certain phone companies, especially ones outside of the U.S., it could cause a Personal Hotspot not to show up.In that case, delete the APN certificate. Select Settings > General > Profiles, and tap the profile you want to delete. Then, tap Delete Profile and, in the confirmation pop-up, tap Delete.If you don’t see Profile listed under the General settings, it means there is nothing to delete. The APN certificates are not the problem.