Level 1

23 points

iOS 26 update breaks personal hotspot on iPhone 16 Pro Max

Hello,

After updating my iPhone 16 Pro Max to iOS 26, I can no longer use Personal Hotspot. In Settings, the option shows as “Personal Hotspot – Off” and it is grayed out.

I already tried:

Restarting the iPhone
Turning Airplane Mode on/off
Resetting Cellular and Wi-Fi connections
Updating Carrier Settings (no update available)
Changing Hotspot password and device name

But the issue is still there. My carrier plan includes hotspot, and it was working normally before updating to iOS 26.

Is anyone else facing the same issue? Any fix or workaround until Apple releases a patch?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Personal hotspot

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 23, 2025 12:33 PM

Top-ranking reply

Horourskes

Level 1

18 points

Posted on Oct 8, 2025 9:25 PM

Yeah, you’re not alone — the iOS 26 update breaks Personal Hotspot for a bunch of people. My iPhone 16 Pro Max started doing the same thing right after the update — the toggle’s just gray and stuck on “Off.”

What helped me (temporarily) was going to Settings → Cellular → Personal Hotspot, turning Maximize Compatibility off and on again, then rebooting. Weirdly, it came back for a while. Another trick: remove your carrier profile (Settings → General → About → Carrier → tap “Remove”) and let it reinstall after a restart.

But honestly, this looks like a carrier-profile bug inside iOS 26, not your plan. For now, the only real fix is waiting for Apple’s patch — tons of users reporting that iOS 26 update breaks Personal Hotspot completely.

View in context

47 replies

Oct 8, 2025 9:32 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

I did this. Worked for a week. Back to my connection in and out every second. Laptop dropping while trying to work.

Oct 9, 2025 8:04 AM in response to MmFf05

Same thing here.

funny enough, my work PC can access « some » limited services, but my Mac Studio running Sequoia is connected but totally unable to connect even a basic website.

Lishhh31

Level 1

8 points

Oct 15, 2025 3:12 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Same happened to me but nothing fixes :(

Nov 2, 2025 7:18 AM in response to MatrixPC

Same issue I am facing

Hotspot getting grey out ios 26.0.1

Biakam

Level 1

8 points

Nov 5, 2025 8:03 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Am facing the same issue.my personal hotspot button is greyed since i updated my phone.how to fix it? I tried all the methods suggested on the internet but nothing worked

Biakam

Level 1

8 points

Nov 5, 2025 8:05 PM in response to NateMekonnen

There is no such option in 15 pro max

Nov 12, 2025 12:12 AM in response to MmFf05

Same problem I nearly punched a hole in my air Mac. Basically they want you to buy the 17. Oh well ordering one soon rather than later.. INREALLY NEED ON THE ROAD HOTPOST ON THE Mac laptop

Nov 12, 2025 7:59 AM in response to Biakam

Biakam wrote:

There is no such option in 15 pro max

Whether or not you have access to the APN depends on your provider, not the model phone.

Alhues

Level 1

14 points

Nov 13, 2025 3:34 AM in response to NateMekonnen

This worked. Thank you

Nov 14, 2025 3:05 AM in response to NateMekonnen

Thank you! This happened also to me, iPhone 15 Pro Max with iOS26.1. Before the update I never, never, had to setup these things by hand...

Sep 23, 2025 1:49 PM in response to MmFf05

Restart your iPhone
Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN, then restart your device. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN, but probably shouldn't.

MatrixPC

Level 1

8 points

Oct 4, 2025 7:41 AM in response to MmFf05

Installed IOS 26.0.1 on October 4th and also noted that the Personal Hotspot is greyed out and inaccessable on Iphone 16 Pro Max. Worked before on IOS 18.x.x

Not a VPN issue, carrier issue, or configuration issue. IOS 26.0.1 broke this feature. Hopefully Apple will pay attention to this thread and fix the issue for the Iphone 16 with eSim's.

Oct 5, 2025 11:35 AM in response to MmFf05

I had the same issue and after trying a lot of things the following worked for me i hope it helps.

1- Go to settings > cellular > cellular data network

2 - Caution here i don’t know what it might cause but I turned off “Use carrier settings”

3 - I filled out APN on cellular data section and scrolled down and on Personal Hotspot section the APN field was empty too and i filled out my carriers APN.

Thats it when i went back the personal hotspot is not grayed out anymore and i can use it like before.

Nov 12, 2025 7:05 AM in response to Onetwo3thedude

What nonsense! I’m sorry you have a problem, but probably 100 million iPhone16 users do NOT have a problem. I don’t. So you need to troubleshoot the problem with YOUR PHONE. Apple can’t help unless you arrange for Apple to test and evaluate it.

As a start, Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN, then restart your device. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN, but probably shouldn't.

ChrisN40

Level 1

32 points

Sep 30, 2025 8:24 AM in response to ChrisN40

Update: The issue was actually with my carrier. They replaced my SIM with a new one, and now Personal Hotspot works perfectly.

iOS 26 update breaks personal hotspot on iPhone 16 Pro Max