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

Apple iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Announces iPhone 16e With A18 Chip and Apple Intelligence, Pricing Starts at $599

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued. The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
iphone 17 pro asherdipps

iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Aluminum Frame Instead of Titanium Frame

Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models. In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

Here Are the New Apple Products We're Still Expecting This Spring

Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring. There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category. M4...
iPhone 17 Roundup Feature 2

iPhone Design to Change 'Significantly' This Year

Monday February 17, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple is set to "significantly change" the iPhone's design language later this year, according to a Weibo leaker. In a new post, the user known "Digital Chat Station" said that the iPhone's design is "starting to change significantly" this year. The "iPhone 17 Air" reportedly features a "horizontal, bar-shaped" design on the rear, likely referring to an elongated camera bump. On the other...
Generic iOS 18

Here's When Apple Will Release iOS 18.4

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch. All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Next Week With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

Two of Apple's Oldest Products Are Finally Getting Updated This Year

Friday February 14, 2025 6:03 am PST by
Apple released the HomePod mini in November 2020, followed by the AirTag in May 2021, and both still remain first-generation products. Fortunately, rumors suggest that both the HomePod mini and the AirTag will finally be updated at some point this year. Below, we recap rumors about the HomePod mini 2 and AirTag 2. HomePod mini 2 In January 2025, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple is ...

Top Rated Comments

Shanghaichica Avatar
64 months ago
Been like this for years
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Quu Avatar
64 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
64 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
64 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
64 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
64 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)