8 tips to keep your Mac connected to your iPhone’s hotspot

The iPhone’s personal hotspot feature is probably the least reliable feature you can use to browse the Internet. Devices disconnect frequently, suspending workflows or even causing data loss.

This is a frustrating problem, mainly due to Apple’s way of saving energy and data on the iPhone. However, it can also be caused by other factors such as improper network settings or software bugs. However, there are some tips that can help you solve this problem. One of them should help.

1. Turn off Low Data Mode

Low Data Mode is a macOS feature that helps reduce data consumption by reducing the amount of network-based tasks your device performs. This is a nice feature, but it might be the reason why the iPhone keeps dropping network connection with his Mac.

Turn it off on your Mac by following these steps:

1. click apple Click the menu bar logo to open the Apple menu.
2. select System setting and choose Wifi It’s in the left pane.
3. Click to connect to your iPhone’s hotspot (indicated by a chain link). connection When you hover over your iPhone’s name.
4. After connecting to the hotspot detail When you hover the pointer over the name of your iPhone.
5. In the submenu that appears, toggle off low data mode.
6. click all right and go home.

Apple devices may turn off hotspot connections to save energy and data if no activity is detected after 90 seconds. Low data mode turns off background activities that keep your device connected.

2. Forget Mac Hotspot and Reconnect

A small reset can help fix minor issues like this. And here’s how to do it:

1. click Wifi The icon in the upper right corner of the screen in the menu bar.
2. click now Wi-Fi settings from the drop-down menu.
3. When the system settings open, you will see the Wi-Fi menu.
4. Find your iPhone name in known network Click a category more Icon — Indicated by three dots.
5. select forget this network.
6. Choose delete when the confirmation prompt is displayed.

After forgetting the network, you can easily reconnect by clicking . connection to your phone name of personal hotspot The category of Wi-Fi settings. If you’re signed in to your iPhone and Mac with your Apple ID, you don’t need to enter a password.

3. Restart your iPhone and Mac

While a general troubleshooting tip, restarting your device may also help with this hotspot issue. Rebooting the device will stop and restart scripts that have been running for a long time and may be misbehaving.

Click to easily restart your Mac. Reboot in the apple menu. For iPhones, depending on which model you have, we’ve covered a dedicated guide to restarting your iPhone even if the button is broken.

4. Disable Low Power Mode

Both iPhone and Mac come with Low Power Modes to save power and extend battery life. What Low Power Mode does on your iPhone is turning off certain background processes, stopping iCloud photo syncing, turning off the screen after 30 seconds, and more.

However, this power throttling can interfere with your iPhone’s hotspot by turning it off to save power. Here’s how to make sure your iPhone isn’t in low power mode:

1. Tap setting Scroll down on your home screen battery.
2. open battery options and toggle off low power mode.

If the battery icon is not yellow, you know your phone is not in low power mode.

5. Keep iPhone Screen On and Disable Auto-Lock

Sometimes you need to make sure your screen is on to keep your iPhone’s hotspot enabled. This will definitely drain your battery. So we recommend doing this only with your iPhone connected.

Here’s how to keep your screen on.

1. Open setting Go to display and brightness.
2. scroll down auto lock, Open the submenu and tap . I never have.

If you notice that the auto-lock section is greyed out and stuck at 30 seconds, it means you still have Low Power Mode turned on.

Finally, when you’re done using your hotspot, don’t forget to turn it back on to minimize battery drain on your iPhone. In fact, disabling auto-lock on iOS is one way to save battery life on your iPhone.

6. Connect your iPhone directly to your Mac

Connecting your iPhone to a hotspot, also known as tethering, allows you to tether your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable. Hotspot connections this way are much more reliable and rarely get closed for no apparent reason.

Method is as follows.

1. Use a Lightning to USB cable to connect your iPhone to your Mac.
2. then tap trust On your iPhone, if prompted. If your iPhone asks you to enter your device passcode, do that too.
3. go to Settings > Internet Sharing turn on toggle on iphone Allow others to join.
4. In session System setting Click on Mac. Communication network It’s in the left pane.
5. Click to turn off Wi-Fi Wifi Toggle the switch off.
6. return to Communication network menu, and colors underneath iPhone USB It will turn green and say connected.
7. You can now use your iPhone’s hotspot with USB tethering.

An added bonus of using this method is that your iPhone will continue to charge while you are using the hotspot.

7. Reset network settings on both devices

If all other options fail, reset network settings on both devices. There’s no easy way to do this, but we’ve covered various ways to reset your Mac’s network settings in our dedicated guide.

However, it’s very easy on the iPhone.The options are located at Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network SettingsEnter your passcode when prompted to continue.

8. Update iOS

Frequent hotspot disconnects on your iPhone can also be caused by a software bug in older versions of iOS. Apple may have addressed this issue in newer versions of the OS. Therefore, we recommend updating your phone’s software to the latest to see if there are any improvements.

You have the option to update your phone Settings > General > Software UpdateMake sure you’re connected to a stable Wi-Fi and enter your password when prompted. After the installation process is complete, try connecting your Mac to your iPhone’s hotspot again.

Make iPhone Hotspot Reliable

Now you can use the Internet on your iPhone without worrying about losing your connection. However, if your hotspot issue persists, you may need to contact your carrier to see if it’s a problem with your carrier.

Please note that some network providers charge extra for hotspot functionality. Also, don’t forget that you can always use your iPhone’s internet connection via a USB cable instead of Wi-Fi.