How to use Apple’s Instant Hotspot feature

Apple’s Instant Hotspot feature can turn nearly any iOS device with a cellular connection into a personal hotspot for all Apple devices. Using an iOS device as a hotspot is useful when traveling or when you don’t want to use the WiFi network at a certain coffee shop.

There is practically no setup required to use this feature (as long as the devices meet the requirements) and the process of connecting to a hotspot device is extremely easy. Here’s what you need to know.

Request

To use Instant Hotspot, you will need an iOS device with an activated mobile data plan that includes hotspot service. The device will need to be running iOS 8.1 or later. According to Apple, the devices that will provide hotspots for other Apple devices are:

• iPhone 5 and up
• iPad Pro
• iPad (fourth generation) or later
• iPad Air and above
• iPad Mini and above

Of course, the iPad models on the list will need to be models that use both WiFi and a cellular data plan.

Here are the models that can connect to mobile devices and use the Instant Hotspot feature:

Establish

As long as you have a device that meets the above requirements, and you’re signed in to the same iCloud account on all of them, the setup is done by Apple in the background. You don’t have to connect or pair anything.

If you run into problems, here are a few things to check:

• Turn on Bluetooth on both devices.
• Enable WiFi on both devices.
• Double check that you are using the same Apple ID/iCloud account on both devices.
• Make sure that the wireless plan allows hotspot use.

Use Instant Hotspot

To establish a connection on your Mac, click the WiFi icon in the menu bar. Let the list of available networks show, which contains iPhone or iPad as an option Personal Hotspot (Personal hotspot). Click on the device to start using the hotspot feature.

Using another iOS device, you can access the Instant Hotspot feature by opening Settings > Wi-Fi and search for the iOS device you want to connect in the options list.

When Instant Hotspot is in use, you’ll see a blue bar on your iOS device that acts as a hotspot, letting you know a device (or multiple devices) is connected to it. Tap the blue bar and slide Personal Hotspot to position Off to disconnect any connected devices.

Hope you are succesful.