My iPad automatically connects to my Androids hotspot when I turn it on. I thought it always did this though as it sees it as a regular wifi network. Does iOS see iOS’s hotspot differently?
There are actually two ways to use personal hotspot on iOS:
1. This is the "regular" hotspot, and works even if the connecting device is not an iDevice. You just set up your personal hotspot on your iPhone, but without logging into your (same) iCloud account on both the iPhone and iPad or turning bluetooth on on both devices (or using and Android device instead of an iPad, for that matter). This way, the iPhone's personal hotspot will show up as a regular wifi network on the iPad (or any other device, including those of passers by nearby). In this case, yes, iPad behaves the way you describe - it simply automatically connects to the iPhone hotspot when iPhone is waken up from sleep (which action turns on hotspot on the iPhone).
2. This is one of iOS's Continuity features and works only when you have an iPhone and another iDevice. You set up you personal hotspot on your iPhone, and log into your (same) iCloud account and turn bluetooth on on both devices. This way, the iPhone's personal hotspot gets listed separately from the other regular wifi network. The benefit of doing this is that you can connect to the iPhone hotspot from the iPad WITHOUT waking up your iPhone, simply by selecting your personal hotspot from the iPad (cf. 1. above, where you have to wake your iPhone from sleep in order for your iPad/Android to connect to the hotspot. Under this method 2., you do not need to wake your iPhone from sleep in order to connect to the hotspot - you can turn on the iPhone hotspot FROM your iPad).
You’d still have it password protected no? So the device would just save the password like any other wifi network and automatically connect. Or again maybe iOS hotspot works a lot differently than Androids.
Yes, most definitely. Regardless of whether you use method 1. or 2., the hotspot is password protected (assuming that you did protect it with password when you set the hotspot up). So no, it's not like any random person on the street will be able to connect to your hotspot.
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The link is password protected and iOS does maintain the link p/w between phone and iPad.
I am not sure if you get the thrust of my OP.
Like I was describing under method 2 above, when I want to connect my iPad to my iPhone personal hotspot, I actually need to open the Settings app on the iPad, go to Wi-Fi section, and select my personal hotspot from the list on the right side of the screen.
Are you saying your iPhone - iPad pair does not work like this? i.e. Does your set up work in such a way that when you wake up your iPad, it automatically connects to the personal hotspot, without the need to go into the Settings app and selecting the hotspot from there, as it would connect automatically to a regular, non-personal hotspot wifi network? If so, this is either new in iOS 11 (and I'd exclaim "hooray!") or there's been something I have been doing wrong all along, despite this being available on earlier versions of the iOS.
