iPad mini Cellular mini vs hotspot

[Andy_2341]

Hey everybody.
I was looking at a new wireless plan and noticed that it has unlimited hotspot. I currently use a mini 6 with a cellular connection, but after using it for 6 months I’ve found I don’t really push the cellular aspect that much. I mostly take notes with my Apple Pencil and occasionally edit documents on the go. My question is the potential effect on my phone’s battery of being a hotspot for 8 hours a day. Is it better to use a cellular iPad and pay the extra for another line or to take a hit on my iPhone’s battery life? If the impact isn’t big on the phone, then I could upgrade to base model mini 7 and save some money. Just looking for anyone’s experience or opinion. Thank you in advance!

 

[rui no onna]

I use an iPhone SE which has a tiny battery to begin with so definitely cellular for me.

Mind, we had super crappy wifi at one of the Airbnbs we stayed at and used my brother's iPhone 15 PM as hotspot. I forgot what the battery drain was like on that phone but I remember we pretty much had to keep it plugged in most of the time.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Hotspot usage for "8 hours a day" will definitely burn through battery quickly. If you can only use it in short bursts, that's one thing, but if you want all day, dual connectivity, you'll probably do better to stick with both being cellular. The Tmobile option is only $10 for 5GB or 5 months. A sometimes overlooked bonus with the cellular option even if you don't use 5G service is that you also have GPS.

In the interests of saving money though, consider doing what I do: make cellular mini double as your phone. VOIP app plus buds turn Mini into a mobile phone with cellular service that will cost far less than iPhone service (I spend only about $25 per YEAR for 5G service). Telephony is not a form factor but only an app... just like a flashlight (app), camcorder (app), iPod (app), tape measure (app), map (app), etc. A Mac or PC can easily be a phone too in the very same way.

Doubts? Since you already have both devices, download a VOIP app to your iPad. They usually give you a free number. Then call yourself and call yourself back from each device. Text yourself and text yourself back from each device. You'll quickly realize that basic telephony works just fine on cellular Mini. If you decide to go for it, you can port your existing number to become your Mini phone number.

Bonus: the curious "long in tooth" effect that drives iPhone replacements every few years seems to take hold much slower on iPad Mini. I got 8 years out of Mini 2 this way and expect to get about the same out of Mini 6. For many, 16 years is about 5-6 iPhone purchases, all at prices higher-to-much-higher than iPad Mini. And again, then comes ongoing service costs, much higher than iPad Mini too.

 

[russell_314]

a hotspot for 8 hours a day

If you’re going to need data for eight hours a day on an iPad, just get the cellular version. A hotspot is good for when you occasionally need data, but most of your usage is on Wi-Fi or offline.

An alternative to this could be a cheap mobile hotspot. I’d say this is good if you have more than one device that needs data but if it’s just the iPad, this is probably overcomplicating things.

If you’re using an iPhone for a hotspot for eight hours it’s going to be plugged in, it’s going to be hot, and it’ll have a shorter life. It’s not meant to be a wireless router.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

My 16 Pro gets hot enough outdoors without using hotspot. Better to have cell in the tablet IMO

 

[Andy_2341]

I use an iPhone SE which has a tiny battery to begin with so definitely cellular for me.

Mind, we had super crappy wifi at one of the Airbnbs we stayed at and used my brother's iPhone 15 PM as hotspot. I forgot what the battery drain was like on that phone but I remember we pretty much had to keep it plugged in most of the time.

I've never tried the hotspot for more than 25 minutes on my 15P, but I did once use my SE3 as a hotspot for a good 2 hours while on a road trip. It surprising didn't drain too fast considering the size of the battery, but I do remember hitting 40% after about 90 minutes and needing to plug it in.

 

[Andy_2341]

If you’re going to need data for eight hours a day on an iPad, just get the cellular version. A hotspot is good for when you occasionally need data, but most of your usage is on Wi-Fi or offline.

An alternative to this could be a cheap mobile hotspot. I’d say this is good if you have more than one device that needs data but if it’s just the iPad, this is probably overcomplicating things.

If you’re using an iPhone for a hotspot for eight hours it’s going to be plugged in, it’s going to be hot, and it’ll have a shorter life. It’s not meant to be a wireless router.

It isn't a solid 8 hours, just at any given point in those 8 hours I could possibly need a connection for up to 1 hour at a time. Otherwise, there would be no question that a cellular iPad would be better. As for the cheap mobile hotspot, it is complicating, like you said, and that is what I usually use the iPad for when I'm not actively using it.

 

[svish]

I have always had a cellular iPad. Not happy with using hotspot and reducing battery life/health of my iPhone. I would recommend the cellular model.

 

[ofarlig]

I use hotspot, don’t see a point in a cellular now that it can more or less automatically tether. Used it for 1.5-2 hours the other day and it drained around 6% battery on my 16 PM.

 

[ThailandToo]

I used to always buy the cellular iPads but it’s dead simple and instant one-click join from the iPad Home Screen. There just no reason for it if you’re carrying your iPhone anyways. iPad Pro M4 11” is my main device now. The iPhone stays in my pocket most of the time. Use a sling to carry the iPad and etc. Wouldn’t go back to any other way.

 

[Andy_2341]

I used to always buy the cellular iPads but it’s dead simple and instant one-click join from the iPad Home Screen. There just no reason for it if you’re carrying your iPhone anyways. iPad Pro M4 11” is my main device now. The iPhone stays in my pocket most of the time. Use a sling to carry the iPad and etc. Wouldn’t go back to any other way.

What iPhone do you have and how is the battery drain?

 

[joeblow7777]

I've personally never owned a cellular iPad and I doubt I ever will because it is extremely rare for me to use my iPad anywhere that I don't have reliable wifi, so the occasional use of a hotspot from my phone is no problem. But if this is something that you need on a daily basis for as much as 8 hours on a given day, you should absolutely just get a cellular iPad.

 

[ThailandToo]

What iPhone do you have and how is the battery drain?

15PM. Barely affects the battery. It isn’t using the display so not too bad of hit. I never charge my battery more than once per day overnight. But again, I use my iPad Pro for most things.

 

[Andy_2341]

15PM. Barely affects the battery. It isn’t using the display so not too bad of hit. I never charge my battery more than once per day overnight. But again, I use my iPad Pro for most things.

Nice. Thanks for the info.

 

[muzzy996]

OP - how frequently do you have the longer duration needs for cellular data on your iPad Mini? I ask because if the upgrade to a Mini 7 isn't an immediate need (which i can't imagine it is given that I recently did an upgrade from a Mini 6 to 7 myself) then perhaps just do a test of your own and suspend cellular service to your Mini 6 and see how things go for a month (or however long it takes).

These things are so subjective given everyone's varying usage patterns, signal strengths and opinions on value or convenience etc.

 

[klasma]

Tethering certainly drains the iPhone battery faster, and thus ages it more. Personally I also appreciate the peace of mind that using the iPad won’t have the iPhone run out of its much smaller battery. But I’m using a prepaid plan that I only have to pay for in periods where I’m using it, which isn’t every week. Another potential benefit (that I make use of) is that if the iPad and iPhone are on different mobile networks, you have a fallback when one network has poor reception. In particular, you can also use your cellular iPad as a mobile hotspot for your iPhone.

 

[Andy_2341]

OP - how frequently do you have the longer duration needs for cellular data on your iPad Mini? I ask because if the upgrade to a Mini 7 isn't an immediate need (which i can't imagine it is given that I recently did an upgrade from a Mini 6 to 7 myself) then perhaps just do a test of your own and suspend cellular service to your Mini 6 and see how things go for a month (or however long it takes).

These things are so subjective given everyone's varying usage patterns, signal strengths and opinions on value or convenience etc.

This was the conclusion I was slowly reaching, so thank you. I’m gonna give it a try and see which way it goes.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I have my iPad set to immediately swap to my 15PM’s hotspot if it ever loses Wi-Fi.
I used the hotspot every weekday for several months.
Yes it definitely had a battery hit to my phone, but not as much as you would imagine. Maybe it drained an extra 5% or so an hour? I don’t really know, but given that I had a bag with me, I just slipped a battery pack in there if I ever needed one for either my phone or iPad. Battery packs are stupid easy to acquired these days, a good one costs about the same as Apple’s silicone iPhone cases yet they’ll last for years.

 

[muzzy996]

This was the conclusion I was slowly reaching, so thank you. I’m gonna give it a try and see which way it goes.

Yeah, having recently changed over from a Mini 6 cellular to Mini 7 cellular I can tell you that were it not for me having another purpose for my Mini 6 cellular I wouldn't have done the upgrade. Don't get me wrong, I use my Mini multiple hours a day for general browsing and content consumption and even for that I can notice some improvement in responsiveness and UI smoothness with the Mini 7 but nothing earth shatteringly different from the Mini 6.

At the end of the day, evaluating dropping down to a Mini 7 Wifi is totally relatable given the poor trade-in values that are given to cellular models making it harder to justify sticking with the cellular model unless one sells their Mini 6 instead. I went through this exercise and just gave up and went with the cellular model LOL.

 

[geta]

Hotspot is fine only if you use it occasionally for a short period. More than that, get a cellular version.

 

[doolar]

I use the cellular on my iPad all the time, I have a lot of hotel stays and even though hotel wifi is usually really good these days, the connection always is more stable with 4g/5g. I never connect to any public wifi any more. And it is so good to just not even think about it.

The iPad also functions as a hot spot to use for other devices. The bigger battery and better thermals than my iPhone makes it a great option, and the battery lasts really long. My Macbook can instantly connect to it even if it is stowed away in my bag.

I have had an iPad with cellular since the first iPad came out apart from once when I bought without because I thought I'd just tether of my iPhone instead, but I regretted that quickly.

But that's just my use case. YMMV etc.

 

[1rottenapple]

I disagree. I tether exclusively on my iPhone 13 mini on my iPod mini. I have unlimited data on visible and for 25 a month why pay another data plan. Never an issue. I have charging in the car and a beefy power bank so battery it’s never an issue.

Hell I tether off the 13 mini when I’m working over time or when I’m working my main job.

 

[radow]

Tethering on an iPhone is not a very good experience, as iPhone can get very aggressive on saving power, so iPad would disconnect quite often. Especially if your iPhone and iPad are not on the same Apple Account (Yeah I know this is a pretty rare use case).

Other devices, such as my Nintendo Switch and laptop, would also see my iPhone hotspot as some sort of "temporary" network, and the connection was never very stable. Not sure about technical details going on.

Now I have settled on using a cheap Android phone just for making calls and hotspot, and an iPad mini for everything else. My Android phone has a bigger battery, could last nearly a day with hotspot on (Almost no screen on time), the connection is far more stable, and I can even do VPN/Tailscale passthrough if I really want.

With that being said, I do think a cellular iPad mini would work better for OP.

 

[Andy_2341]

I disagree. I tether exclusively on my iPhone 13 mini on my iPod mini. I have unlimited data on visible and for 25 a month why pay another data plan. Never an issue. I have charging in the car and a beefy power bank so battery it’s never an issue.

Hell I tether off the 13 mini when I’m working over time or when I’m working my main job.

This was the exact plan I was looking at switching to and those were my exact thoughts about data plans. How is the battery health on the mini?

 

[1rottenapple]

my phone? original battery at 87%