Several users have reported that they are unable to connect a device to their iPhone 13 hotspot or experience frequent disconnection while trying to use the feature. Some users are experiencing issues with overall data performance when using their iPhone 13 as a hotspot. Fortunately, there is a quick fix for those who are having the issue. In this article, i’ll explain why iPhone 13 personal hotspot is not working and show you how to fix the problem for good!
The Personal Hotspot on your iPhone 13 can be a useful or even critical feature to have at the ready if you need to connect your Mac to the internet and don’t have a WiFi connection handy. As convenient as it might be, it can sometimes come with headaches from not working as expected. In this guide, we’ll discuss some common troubleshooting steps for problems related to Personal Hotspot on your iPhone 13.
To begin, iPhone 13 Personal Hotspot can be used in one of these three ways:
- Over Wi-Fi
- Over Bluetooth
- Over USB connection
All three of these ways can run into their fair share of problems, but it’s typically the wireless options that see the most of them.
Tips to fix Personal Hotspot not working on iPhone 13 problem
If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone 13, follow the steps below to fix the issue.
Note: information in this article applies to iPhone13, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Make sure you can use Personal Hotspot
When Hotspot is not working on your iPhone 13, the first thing you need to do is to ensure that Personal Hotspot capability is enabled through your carrier. There is a high chance that your carrier is blocking you from using Personal Hotspot on your current data plan, and if that’s the case, you might need to change data plans or switch carriers to use the feature.
So before moving on to the other troubleshooting steps below, ensure your plan supports Personal Hotspot. If it does, and it’s still not working, then you should keep reading…
Make sure Personal Hotspot is turned on
If Personal Hotspot is not enabled on your iPhone 13, then this explains why your data bridge isn’t working. Make sure it’s turned on by navigating to Settings → Personal Hotspot.
Check your signal
If you have too low of an iPhone signal, then your iPhone will just relay that same poor signal to your other devices. If you only have one bar, or none at all, try moving to another location where you can get a better signal. This should help you load the web easier on your other devices.
See also: Cellular Data Not Working On iPhone 13? Here’s The Real Fix!
Restart the Personal Hotspot
Another simple yet reliable solution that you should try to solve the personal hotspot not working problem on your iPhone 13 is to simply restart the Personal Hotspot. In some scenarios, your iPhone might have bugged out and you need to restart the feature to get it working again.
You can do this by going to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot and toggle the switch off and on again.
Restart your cellular data connection
If the above solutions have not worked in fixing the problem for you, Don’t worry, as we still have several nifty tips to fix the ill-functioning iPhone 13 personal hotspot. Simply swipe down from the top right corner of the screen to launch the control center and tap the airplane mode icon to turn it on. Now, wait for a few seconds and turn off airplane mode. This will allow your iPhone 13 to reconnect to your cellular network, potentially jump-starting your Personal Hotspot connection.
Restart your iPhone
Another simple yet reliable solution that you should try to solve the personal hotspot not working on iPhone 13 issue is to restart your device. Your iPhone might be experiencing a software glitch and can’t successfully exchange information with the device you’re trying to connect with. You can restart your iPhone by going to Settings → General → Shut Down. Now power up your iPhone and try connecting again.
Restart your other devices
Now, if your iPhone 13 personal hotspot doesn’t work even after you have restarted your phone, try restarting the device you’re trying to connect with. Commonly with other devices, Wi-Fi bugs can inhibit the success of connecting to your iPhone’s wireless network, or it may time out. A reboot may help solve this issue; just remember to rejoin the network afterwards.
Make sure your devices are up to date
If the personal hotspot of your iPhone 13 is still not working, try updating the software. Since Apple sometimes releases software updates to fix bugs, there is a possibility the software update could help resolve the issue. You can check if your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS by navigating to Settings → General → Software Update. It doesn’t hurt to make sure the devices you’re trying to connect with are up to date too, but depending on the operating system, the steps vary for doing that.
Try switching Personal Hotspot modes
There are three Personal Hotspot modes, as we already pointed out, so maybe another mode will work better. If you’re using Personal Hotspot for your Mac, try a USB connection instead of Wi-Fi, for example. Not only is this more secure and more reliable, but changing things up a bit may get things working in a pinch.
Reset your network settings
If your personal hotspot is still not working on your iPhone 13 after trying the above solutions, try resetting your network settings, which may have become corrupt. You can do this by navigating to Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset Network Settings. Once the reset completes, check if Personal Hotspot is working again.
Make sure you’re connecting to the right hotspot
If you and your friend both have iPhones with the Personal Hotspot feature enabled, then there is a high chance that you’re connecting to the wrong one with your device. Double and triple check that you’re connecting to your iPhone and not your friend’s.
This is especially the case if you both coincidentally have the same name; I have another friend named Peter, so when both of our iPhones are next to each other, both iPhones will signal “Peter’s iPhone” as the network name. Just double check; it can’t hurt.
Make sure you are entering the correct password
To use Personal Hotspot, you have to use a password to connect to your PAN (personal area network). If you are getting an incorrect password error while trying to join your iPhone 13 personal hotspot, ensure that the Wi-Fi password you are entering is correct.
You can double-check the password by navigating to Settings → Personal Hotspot and the password will be displayed for you so you can type it out properly on the device you want to connect to.
Ensure you don’t have too many devices connected
Some carriers limit the number of devices you can connect to your Personal Hotspot  simultaneously. The general rule of thumb is you should try not to go over five devices at once. In my opinion, more than two at once is probably even pushing it.
If you have too many devices connecting at once, you might have interfering signals or carrier blocking interfering with your internet connections. Try reducing the number of devices you have connected to your Personal Hotspot at once and see if your internet connection improves.
Move away from interference
Places that have a lot of wireless activity can prove to have a lot of interference that can disrupt wireless signals. Such places may include hospitals or metal buildings. If you’re anywhere near these, move away so your iPhone gets a better signal and so that your devices have a cleaner environment to communicate wirelessly with your iPhone.
Make sure the device is recognized
If you’re trying to use a USB connection for your Personal Hotspot, and things aren’t working right, you can easily fix the issue. If your device’s wired connection is borked, then any chance of data transfer will be borked too. This can happen when your Lightning cable becomes worn and the contacts on the end of the plug tip no longer provide a good conductive surface for the iPhone to transfer data through.
You can test for a device with a poor connection by opening iTunes and checking to see if the computer recognizes that the iPhone is plugged in. If it does, then you have a good connection; if not, then you should unplug and plug the iPhone back in to see if it becomes recognized. If it doesn’t, it may be time for a new cable.
Check network settings
If on a Mac, you can go to → System Preferences → Network and check to see if “iPhone USB” appears in the list while the iPhone is connected to your computer with Personal Hotspot turned on. If it doesn’t appear, click on the button and add “iPhone USB” as a network option.
After adding it, click on the Settings cog button and make sure to set the service as Active to turn it on.
Ensure Bluetooth is turned on
If the Bluetooth Personal Hotspot mode isn’t working too well for you either, you can easily fix the issue. Bluetooth won’t work if the service is turned off on your iPhone 13 or the device you’re trying to connect to your iPhone, so make sure Bluetooth is turned on from all of your devices.
Turn Bluetooth off and on again
It’s about as simple as the header states. Open Control Center, then toggle Bluetooth off and on again. You may also want to do this on the device you’re trying to connect with too. This may help the pairing conditions.
Make sure the devices are paired
Bluetooth devices can only talk to one another after they’ve been paired together. It’s possible that you forgot to pair your devices or some glitch unpaired them for you.
You can make sure your iPhone 13 and the device you want to share internet with are paired by going to Settings → Bluetooth on the iPhone and checking for connected devices. You can also follow similar steps in the Bluetooth settings on the other device you’re connecting to your iPhone 13 to make sure it’s paired on its end as well.
Forget and re-pair the device
Remember how I said Apple Bluetooth is kind of finicky? Well I was just being nice. Most developers describe it to me as a “nightmare.” Even when your devices both say they’re paired, you might want to try “forgetting” the device from the Bluetooth settings and then re-pairing again.
Check your network settings
If you’re using a Mac, you can check your network settings by going to → System Preferences → Network and checking to see if “Bluetooth PAN” is available and turned on. If it is, open the Bluetooth menu from the Menu Bar and select your device and connect to its network.
If you’re using a Windows machine, you can open he Bluetooth menu from the notification area in the task bar and click on the Join a Personal Area Network option. Here, you can choose your iPhone and connect to it via Bluetooth.
Check for Carrier Settings update
Carrier providers often release updates in order to improve the overall performance and fix miscellaneous issues. Si if your iPhone 13 personal hotspot is not working, go ahead and check for the carrier setting update. You can do this by going to Settings → General → About. Now, if there is any carrier update available, you will get a prompt for the update.
iPhone 13 Personal Hotspot still not working? Contact Apple
We’ve explained just about everything there is to basic troubleshooting iPhone 13 Hotspot problems, so if you still haven’t been able to get things to work, then it’s time to contact Apple Support. No, seriously.
Most iPhone 13 Personal Hotspot issues can be fixed with the steps above, but if you couldn’t get it to work still, then something far more advanced is afoot. Be prepared to restore your iPhone, as Apple tends to recommend going that a lot before moving on to more advanced forms of troubleshooting or unit replacements.
Personal Hotspot not working on iPhone 13: fixed!
There you have it. These are all the possible tips and tricks you can try out to resolve the personal hotspot not working problem on iPhone 13. Were you able to get your iPhone 13 Personal Hotspot to work? What did you do to fix it? Drop a comment and let us know!
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