Mac unable to connect to iPhone Personal Hotspot: Is this a bug or expected behavior?

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Unable to connect Mac to iPhone Personal Hotspot

Hi! I’m experiencing an issue when trying to connect my Mac to my iPhone’s Personal Hotspot. Here’s the situation:

On my Mac, I can see the iPhone network in the list of available networks.
When I try to connect, I get the error: “Could not join. Make sure the personal hotspot is turned on.”
I noticed that if the LTE icon and battery level appear next to the hotspot name, the connection always fails (like in screenshot).

However, I found a workaround:

Restart the Mac.
On the iPhone, completely turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Turn on the Personal Hotspot on the iPhone. The iPhone will prompt to enable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
After this, the Mac can successfully connect to the hotspot.

I'd like to know: is this expected behavior or a bug in macOS/iOS? Is there an official solution to avoid doing these steps every time?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Mac unable to connect

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.7

Posted on Nov 11, 2025 11:34 PM

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Answer 1

firdavs192 wrote:

Unable to connect Mac to iPhone Personal Hotspot•

Hi! I’m experiencing an issue when trying to connect my Mac to my iPhone’s Personal Hotspot.

I'd like to know: is this expected behavior or a bug in macOS/iOS? Is there an official solution to avoid doing these steps every time?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Mac unable to connect

the battery icon seems irrelevant, I pay no attention to it, and do not see how it is related to anything...

I use Hotspot for 100% of my Internet for the last 6 years...

What I can say it is finicky and seems to get altered with each and every Upgrade and subsequent point-update.

yes it can be frustrating....

My best advise Jump all the hoops including—> Toggle on and off —Allow Others to Join

ref:

The current stable release of Tahoe including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 26.1

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

The current stable release of iOS including bug fixes, security updates is iOS 26.1

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

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