Apple Acknowledges Personal Hotspot Issues Affecting Some iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 Users

In an internal document distributed to Apple Authorized Service Providers this week, obtained by MacRumors, Apple has acknowledged that some iOS 13 or iPadOS 13 users may experience issues with Personal Hotspot.

personal hotspot 1
Apple has told Authorized Service Providers to expect customers who are unable to connect to a Personal Hotspot or experience frequent disconnection from one. Customers may also experience general issues with data performance.

Some users have been reporting problems with Personal Hotspot as far back as iOS 13.1.2.

As a temporary workaround, service providers have been instructed to toggle Personal Hotspot off, and then back on. This suggests that there is likely to be a fix in a future software update, but it is unclear if the issue has been resolved in iOS 13.4, and the latest GM release notes do not mention any Personal Hotspot fixes.

Apple recommends that customers keep their software up to date and said that this is not a hardware issue.

Tag: iOS 13
Related Forum: iOS 13

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE 4 With Apple's Own 5G Modem 'Confirmed' to Launch in March

Tuesday November 19, 2024 12:12 pm PST by
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

Apple Releases iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 With Security Fixes

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
at t turbo indicator iphone 16 pro max v0 8hrh7w5f3w1e1

AT&T Turbo Indicator Showing Up in iPhone Status Bar for Subscribers

Wednesday November 20, 2024 3:42 am PST by
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence. Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476 The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Rumored to Surpass iPhone 6 as Thinnest iPhone Ever

Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick. "We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote. If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
bug security vulnerability issue fix larry

Make Sure to Update: iOS 18.1.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 Fix Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:52 am PST by
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices. With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...

Top Rated Comments

Shanghaichica Avatar
61 months ago
Been like this for years
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Quu Avatar
61 months ago
I've had to use this a lot recently and it is quite buggy. I've had to turn it off and on many times to get it to show up in my Windows computers list of available WiFi networks and often you can stay connected for a few hours then it just stops working. You're still connected to the phone but no data is moving requiring you to turn the hotspot off and on again.

Quite annoying when you're in the middle of a conference call on your computer or something like that and you disconnect for 30 seconds.

I mean I know this is a mild inconvenience but when you label a phone as Pro and charge over a thousand dollars for it I expect it to just work properly for those of us trying to get work done.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
insomniac86 Avatar
61 months ago
Last week I sat with 160 odd staff and showed them how to hotspot to their work supplied iPhone to test VPN and remote access for working from home due to the pandemic.

iPhone 8 Plus and 11’s are the models we provide to staff.

The personal hotspot failed to function reliably on about 1/3 of the iPhone.

Not good enough Apple.
Improve your QA team. ?

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mi7chy Avatar
61 months ago
That's how Apple achieves better battery life at the expense of throttling everything from turning off hotspot, display dimming under use, lower GPS update frequency causing inaccuracies, etc.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chucker23n1 Avatar
61 months ago
Personally, I'd say it's mostly fine. It does disconnect now and then.

But… the feature is inherently complex (you need two devices, one of them needs to create a Wi-Fi hotspot, etc.). And you know they could have reduced the need for this? By making cellular an option on the new MacBook Air this week.

Instead, they made an ad for the iPad Pro that pokes fun at Mac and Windows laptops typically not having cellular. Ouch?


Ever since Craig Federighi was put in charge of iOS & MacOSX the stability & quality of both have plummeted. There's always a .1 release near immediate after a .0 release that tries to fix bugs in .0 but always adds more. There's persistent crashes, security issues. The list goes on. Scott Forstall needs to be brought back to fix them both.
I don't understand this deification of Scott Forstall. I see little evidence that his org shipped inherently higher-quality code than Craig's.

Now, if we go further back to Bertrand Serlet, maybe? But at the time, Apple had a lot less code in total, so it was also easier to manage.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
61 months ago
I've got an old iPhone on iOS 9 and will never "upgrade" it because it's a flawless personal hotspot device. Works perfectly. So much for progress.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)