Instant Hotspot Feature No Show in Wifi Menu

[tklein]

One thing Iʻm curious about, and Iʻve posted this recently on the 10.10 forum, is how do these Wifi dependent features work at your local coffee shops, libraries, and schools? I know the Instant Hotspot feature isnʻt working for you, but are the others?

Call handoffs and non-imessage text messages?

thanks!

Actually, they all work fine. Since your network accounts all sync (through iCloud, I assume), all 3 devices automatically log into the same network. Since it's a small shop I assume they only have one router and everything seems to be on the same subnet so I haven't had any issues at all with anything else not handing off correctly. It's actually a little bit of a PITA at times... I switch between desktops and apps on the MacBook using Command-Tab so if I pick up my phone to do something there, I now have the extra icon for the Handoff application on the Command-Tab popup when I switch back to my MacBook... It's not really a problem, but it keeps throwing me offtrack just a bit seeing the extra icon. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Mail seems to be the biggest issue because messages are pushed to my iPhone so I get those first (Mail on OS X pulls email on a schedule... or at least that must be how I have it set... At any rate, mail always hits my phone first). So, I pick up the phone, look at the message, put the phone back down and switch back to the mac and now I have the handoff icon there. Again, not a problem really, it'll just take some getting used to.

I'd imagine that someplace larger might experience some issues if they have multiple overlapping routers/networks or something. We used to have issues at the company I used to work for because of overlapping wireless signals. Things that needed to be on the same network would end up on different subnets sometimes in places where we had overlapping signals and we'd then lose communication between the devices (handheld terminals and portable thermal printers that were mounted on forklifts ran into the issues quite often. They'd end up logged into different access points and be invisible to each other causing errors).

---
Tim

 

[r-m]

Frustrating.
On iOS 8.0.2 I saw my iPhone 6 (named "i6R") as an option on my iPad whether hotspot was turned on or not. It was hit and miss whether it worked or not.

Now my iPhone 6 is updated to 8.1. My iPad is also on 8.1.
My Mid-2012 non-retina MacBook Pro is on Yosemite, and is handoff/continuity/instant hotspot capable.

After updating my iPhone, my MBP shown the iPhone as a hotspot, and selecting it did switch on the hotspot for my MBP to connect. It also shown the iPhone info (battery, signal, connection).
I then tried connecting my iPad, no joy.

I just switched iPad off, iPhone off. Then both back on.

Went into WiFi settings on the iPad, selected my i6R, and it switched on hotspot on my iPhone. I then tried connecting my MBP to the iPhone, and it came up with the error about it being unable to enable personal hotspot.
Is that the issue? It's trying to switch Hotspot on, which it can't do, because it's already switched on?? Surely that's not the simple thing falling down?

Anyway. I gave it a minute, and now my MBP has connected to the iPhone. It didn't show up like it did before (in it's own little section). It shows up mixed with all the wifi networks (my iPad is still hotspotted to my iPhone). Connected fine, but doesn't show the iPhone info (battery, signal, connection).

I've disconnected both, then reconnected iPad and it worked. I disconnected again, and now my MBP is showing the iPhone info again (battery, signal, connection). I've tapped it, and MBP connects. iPad now also connects.

Disconnected all. Turned Personal Hotspot off, then tried connecting my MBP again. Worked first time, iPad also connects.
Disconnected them all again, personal hotspot stays on.
Turned hotspot off, tapped on my iPad to connect to i6R, it connects. MBP also connects.

Disconnected. Hotspot itself off.

I've turned hotspot on, connected i6R to wifi. Tapped i6R on my iPad, i6R disconnected from WiFi, iPad connects to i6R. MBP also connects when selecting i6R.
Disconncted them all. Left Hotspot on. Connected i6R to WiFi. Selected i6R on my MBP, i6R disconnected from WiFi, MBP connects to i6R. iPad also connects.

So, TL;DR, it didn't work, then it did, and works in all combinations I could think to try. I didn't do anything magical. I did remove a duplicate i6R entry in bluetooth settings on my iPad before doing all this. Maybe check there to see if you have any duplicate device entries that are confusing things.
I'll try again tomorrow to see if I get the same success.

 

[Toltepeceno]

Personal hotspot works fine here just by turning it on, but I also have pay as you go service.

Ah, instant hotspot. Sorry, I missed that part at first.

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

Actually, they all work fine. Since your network accounts all sync (through iCloud, I assume), all 3 devices automatically log into the same network. Since it's a small shop I assume they only have one router and everything seems to be on the same subnet so I haven't had any issues at all with anything else not handing off correctly. It's actually a little bit of a PITA at times... I switch between desktops and apps on the MacBook using Command-Tab so if I pick up my phone to do something there, I now have the extra icon for the Handoff application on the Command-Tab popup when I switch back to my MacBook... It's not really a problem, but it keeps throwing me offtrack just a bit seeing the extra icon. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Mail seems to be the biggest issue because messages are pushed to my iPhone so I get those first (Mail on OS X pulls email on a schedule... or at least that must be how I have it set... At any rate, mail always hits my phone first). So, I pick up the phone, look at the message, put the phone back down and switch back to the mac and now I have the handoff icon there. Again, not a problem really, it'll just take some getting used to.

I'd imagine that someplace larger might experience some issues if they have multiple overlapping routers/networks or something. We used to have issues at the company I used to work for because of overlapping wireless signals. Things that needed to be on the same network would end up on different subnets sometimes in places where we had overlapping signals and we'd then lose communication between the devices (handheld terminals and portable thermal printers that were mounted on forklifts ran into the issues quite often. They'd end up logged into different access points and be invisible to each other causing errors).

---
Tim

Got it. Thanks for the input! Yes, Iʻd imagine it to be a little more complicated as well on larger Wifi implementations. Guess, Iʻll just have to hit the road this week and give it a go to really find out.

As for your email hitting your iPhone before your Mac, yes, I can see how that would be an issue with Handoff. I have mine set to "Check for new messages: Automatically." And emails seem to hit both devices at, for the most part, the same time.

 

[r-m]

Personal hotspot works fine here just by turning it on, but I also have pay as you go service.

Ah, instant hotspot. Sorry, I missed that part at first.

Yep. Allows Mac or iPad to remotely switch on hotspot, when it's not switched on.
If hotspot is on, you can connect devices via wifi. Once they disconnect, the WiFi part of hotspot turns off (but bluetooth is still connectable).
Instant hotspot allows your iCloud-linked devices to remotely enable hotspot, so they can connect via WiFi again.

 

[tklein]

Frustrating.

It's definitely frustrating... and Buggy...

I seem to have come to some sort of equilibrium where it all works but the personal hotspot on my iPad is labeled as "Tim's iPhone" but the one on my MacBook is just "iPhone". At one point my iPad showed two different hotspots (one labeled iPhone, one Tim's iPhone) and for a minute I was starting to think I was actually connecting to someone else's phone in the coffee shop I'm working from today. After a couple times, the labels on my iPad changed to Tim's iPhone for both connections (though there were still two separate connections listed). I could actually switch from one to the other and watch the session disconnect on my phone then reconnect with the other account. Finally after a while, they seemed to either combine or one fell off because now there's only one.

The MacBook is another story... I can now connect and have it turn the Personal Hotspot on as it's supposed to do, but both devices now have a 10 to 15 minute delay before the hotspot shuts off. I assume this is a timeout that's occurring on the phone rather than what was happening prior to 8.1 and Yosemite where it certainly appeared that my iPad would turn Personal Hotspot off when it disconnected.

The other thing on the MacBook is that, even though I renamed the phone back to Tim's iPhone, it still just shows iPhone. I can connect and disconnect at will but the name isn't changing. It appears that the name is pulled when the connection was first established but it was saved on the MacBook somewhere and has no intention of pulling the name again.

It's better than it was but clearly still not right. In addition, I definitely get occasional failures though it's usually just a matter of trying again and it'll usually connect the second time... Definitely by the third.

I'll stick with the buggy description for now but they're kicking me out of my shop for today so I'll check again tomorrow and see if it's any more stable when everything is refreshed and un-cached.

---
Tim

 

[Toltepeceno]

Yep. Allows Mac or iPad to remotely switch on hotspot, when it's not switched on.
If hotspot is on, you can connect devices via wifi. Once they disconnect, the WiFi part of hotspot turns off (but bluetooth is still connectable).
Instant hotspot allows your iCloud-linked devices to remotely enable hotspot, so they can connect via WiFi again.

Ah, thanks.

 

[hfg]

Does anyone know if it is required to Bluetooth "pair" the devices in order to get the Instant Hotspot to work?

 

[erio]

Facetime

Got it working after logging in with same Apple ID in FaceTime.
Also, check FaceTime setting for "iPhone Cellular Calls"

 

[avanpelt]

I'm still getting nowhere with this.

rMBP late 2013 - OS X Yosemite 10.10
iPhone 6 - iOS 8.1 - contract permits tethering/personal hotspot (I use it all the time)

bluetooth and WifI turned on on both devices

Personal Hotspot off on the iPhone

Lots of switching on and off of devices, wifi, bluetooth, rebooting.

Nothing happens.
BTW, Mac to iOS AirDrop (which I suspect is a related feature) works just fine.

nobodyjustwalks - do you think there is something else you did to get this to work that you didn't mention?

Whatever, this is hardly Apple 'it just works' territory.

FWIW, I had to sign out of iCloud on my 2014 rMBP and then sign back into iCloud on the laptop before Instant Hotspot showed up for me. Prior to that, I tried everything you've already done and I'm running OS X 10.10 and iOS 8.1.

Now, within about a second and a half of turning both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on on both my MBP and my iPhone, my iPhone shows up in the wireless networks on my Mac along with showing the signal strength, type of cellular connection (LTE/3G), and the battery level of my iPhone. I've turned the Wi-Fi and bluetooth radios off and on several times now and the instant hotspot connection time is now nearly instantaneous.

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

Does anyone know if it is required to Bluetooth "pair" the devices in order to get the Instant Hotspot to work?

No, bluetooth pairing is not required. However, Bluetooth must be ON, along with Wifi, for Instant Hotspot to function. At least thatʻs what Iʻve noticed.

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

It's definitely frustrating... and Buggy...

I seem to have come to some sort of equilibrium where it all works but the personal hotspot on my iPad is labeled as "Tim's iPhone" but the one on my MacBook is just "iPhone". At one point my iPad showed two different hotspots (one labeled iPhone, one Tim's iPhone) and for a minute I was starting to think I was actually connecting to someone else's phone in the coffee shop I'm working from today. After a couple times, the labels on my iPad changed to Tim's iPhone for both connections (though there were still two separate connections listed). I could actually switch from one to the other and watch the session disconnect on my phone then reconnect with the other account. Finally after a while, they seemed to either combine or one fell off because now there's only one.

Darn it. Just when I thought I had everything figured out.

So, if I understand your and R-Mʻs post, weʻre supposed to be able to switch on Instant Hotspot with our iPads as well? Guess that would make sense, since one could be working on their iPad with their iPhone in their bag or pocket.

OR...is this feature for iPads with cellular connectivity (which mine doesnʻt have)? Which, then, a Mac could connect to if there wasnʻt another Wifi signal.

Too bad itʻs not working for me as the only way my iPad Mini is able to see my iPhone is when I turn on Personal Hotspot on my iPhone. Otherwise, my iPhone doesnʻt show up in my iPadʻs Wifi drop-down.

 

[r-m]

Darn it. Just when I thought I had everything figured out.

So, if I understand your and R-Mʻs post, weʻre supposed to be able to switch on Instant Hotspot with our iPads as well? Guess that would make sense, since one could be working on their iPad with their iPhone in their bag or pocket.

OR...is this feature for iPads with cellular connectivity (which mine doesnʻt have)? Which, then, a Mac could connect to if there wasnʻt another Wifi signal.

Too bad itʻs not working for me as the only way my iPad Mini is able to see my iPhone is when I turn on Personal Hotspot on my iPhone. Otherwise, my iPhone doesnʻt show up in my iPadʻs Wifi drop-down.

My iPad is WiFi only, able to switch on hotspot on my iPhone from that iPad.

Have you checked your Bluetooth settings to see if there's duplicate entries?
Also, worth asking just in case... you have updated all iOS devices to iOS 8.1? Not just the iPhone..

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

My iPad is WiFi only, able to switch on hotspot on my iPhone from that iPad.

Have you checked your Bluetooth settings to see if there's duplicate entries?
Also, worth asking just in case... you have updated all iOS devices to iOS 8.1? Not just the iPhone..

Thanks for the info!

Darn, now youʻve just confirmed that it isnʻt working. hahah...Yes my bluetooth is ON and Iʻm running 8.1 on both devices.

So youʻre saying you see your iPhone in your iPadʻs Wifi drop-down without having turned on Personal Hotspot on your iPhone?

 

[r-m]

Thanks for the info!

Darn, now youʻve just confirmed that it isnʻt working. hahah...Yes my bluetooth is ON and Iʻm running 8.1 on both devices.

So youʻre saying you see your iPhone in your iPadʻs Wifi drop-down without having turned on Personal Hotspot on your iPhone?

Yep. iPhone Hotspot switched off.
In the wifi section on my iPad settings, I see my iPhone with signal, connection, battery.
And of course, I go check to confirm and it was there.. I just put my iPad into airplane mode and out again, and my iPhone has vanished from the settings lol. FFS!

Yep. It's buggy. I'm starting to think my "perfect" trial earlier was just a fluke.


Edit:
I give up. Couldn't get my iPhone to show in settings at all now. Not on wifi or Bluetooth, hotspot on or not. So I airplane mode'ed my iPhone. And back off. Now my iPhone shows in the wifi settings of my iPad, with "LTE" and 1 dot, but my iPhone is actually showing "No service"! And I've never had LTE. It's always been 4G

Edit:
Tapping i6R on my iPad under wifi settings, no longer flashes the Bluetooth icon on my iPad or iPhone which it did every time earlier. It's like they've both forgotten one another. iPhone still showing no service. Oh dear.

Edit edit edit:
Switched my iPhone off and on. Now it works again. Until I switch off personal hotspot again. iPhone disappears from iPad wifi settings.

Edit again:
My iPhone wasn't showing in Bluetooth settings on the iPad under "my devices". It did show in other devices but wouldn't connect. I removed the iPad from "my devices" on the iPhone then tapped to pair again. Switched hotspot off, then tapped the iPhone on my iPad wifi settings and it switched hotspot on and connected.
Now I had my iPad and iPhone showing twice in Bluetooth settkngs.

There's definitely bugs still. Bluetooth pairing is supposed to be automatic across devices using the same iCloud account. That's falling down at some point.

 

[fightx2112]

Try this!! on you Mac

i have tried everything mentions in this post, but nothing worked for me. And earlier tried:

on Mac (10.10):
go to System preference > iCloud - i signed out, there were a few pop up asked you if you're sure that your iCloud's contents will be deleted from the mac.(i wasn't sure, but deleted anyway. it will come back when you lock back in)

i logged back in to iCloud, it asked me for several authentications through your other iDevices. After im done signing in, Boom!!, i saw "Personal Hotspot" section from the wifi drop-down with my iPhone's name on the section.

Hope this help you!

 

[avanpelt]

i have tried everything mentions in this post, but nothing worked for me. And earlier tried:

on Mac (10.10):
go to System preference > iCloud - i signed out, there were a few pop up asked you if you're sure that your iCloud's contents will be deleted from the mac.(i wasn't sure, but deleted anyway. it will come back when you lock back in)

i logged back in to iCloud, it asked me for several authentications through your other iDevices. After im done signing in, Boom!!, i saw "Personal Hotspot" section from the wifi drop-down with my iPhone's name on the section.

Hope this help you!

I had the same experience. I had to sign out of iCloud in System Preferences in Yosemite and then sign back into iCloud in the same place and then all of a sudden Personal Hotspot worked for me for the first time.

 

[solodogg]

I was having the same issue, and got it resolved somehow...

iPad is on T-Mobile 200mb free data (hotspot enabled)
iPhone 6 is on AT&T Mobile Share 10GB (hotspot enabled)
iPhone 5s is on T-Mobile 200mb free data (no hotspot, card pulled from wife's iPad)

Before:
Macbook Retina works fine, shows both my iPhone 6 and iPad.
iPhone 6 doesn't list any devices available
iPad 4 cellular doesn't list any devices available
iPhone 5s displays both my iPhone 6 and my iPad

After:
Macbook Retina still works fine
iPhone 6 lists iPad
iPad 4 lists iPhone 6
iPhone 5s lists both iPad 4 and iPhone 6 as connections


Now here's the weird part...all I did was log out of iCloud on the iPad, and log back in. Did absolutely nothing on the iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, or Macbook. Doesn't make any sense at all, but hey, it's working!

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

Yep. iPhone Hotspot switched off.
In the wifi section on my iPad settings, I see my iPhone with signal, connection, battery.
And of course, I go check to confirm and it was there.. I just put my iPad into airplane mode and out again, and my iPhone has vanished from the settings lol. FFS!

Yep. It's buggy. I'm starting to think my "perfect" trial earlier was just a fluke.

**Thanks for the confirmation!

I was finally able to make it work. Seems like power-cycling is the fix of the day. Tried turning my iPhone ON and OFF for the fourth or fifth time. And when I turned Bluetooth and Wifi back on, I saw my iPhone listed on my iPad under Personal Hotspot. Seems to be working okay.

....for now. Hope it stays that way.

----------

i have tried everything mentions in this post, but nothing worked for me. And earlier tried:

on Mac (10.10):
go to System preference > iCloud - i signed out, there were a few pop up asked you if you're sure that your iCloud's contents will be deleted from the mac.(i wasn't sure, but deleted anyway. it will come back when you lock back in)

i logged back in to iCloud, it asked me for several authentications through your other iDevices. After im done signing in, Boom!!, i saw "Personal Hotspot" section from the wifi drop-down with my iPhone's name on the section.

Hope this help you!

Was just about to try that on the iPad before power-cycling my iPhone. Turns out that fixed it. loll. Heck, who here hasnʻt tried almost everything to get these simple features working? Ah....Apple.

 

[Antgb84]

No problems here phone was in my pocket and what do you know I had my Plus' hotspot displayed as wi-fi network.

 

[nafizur]

okay so i figured it out.


for those who can't get it t work.

Make sure hotspot under settings is turned "off" make sure you are on the same iCloud account on mac and iPhone

if you don't see your hotspot under the wifi, just turn off and on the bluetooth device on both mac and iPhone and watch it show up. you don't need to restart the phone or anything.

 

[tklein]

Several hours have gone by and everything is still working... except...

My MacBook still shows my phone labeled simply "iPhone" even though it is definitely named "Tim's iPhone". It displays correctly on my iPad but the MacBook just will not re-initialize with the correct name.

Argh!

---
Tim

 

[nobodyjustwalks]

Several hours have gone by and everything is still working... except...

My MacBook still shows my phone labeled simply "iPhone" even though it is definitely named "Tim's iPhone". It displays correctly on my iPad but the MacBook just will not re-initialize with the correct name.

Argh!

---
Tim

Keep at it Tim! loll...Iʻve finally got everything working. For now....

 

[tklein]

Success... Finally! (he says in a quiet whisper like voice)

Keep at it Tim! loll...Iʻve finally got everything working. For now....

Ok... Reset everything again and it now appears that I have everything right.

For people struggling to get this working, my advice is as follows:

1. Make sure your hardware is supported... After all this other mess I decided to switch over to my 27" iMac and see what it was doing. No Personal Hotspot section on my Wifi drop down menu... Argh! I played around with it for 10 or 15 minutes before I realized that, being a mid-2010 machine, it probably wasn't supported. Sure enough, that was my problem.

2. Make sure you're on the same network, logged into the same iCloud account, and have Bluetooth enabled - I don't think Bluetooth is really necessary once you're connected, but it definitely is necessary to get your iPhone to show up on the Wifi list in the separate Personal Hotspot section. The second I turn it off, my phone drops off the list. It doesn't appear to need to be paired, just make sure Bluetooth is enabled. (One other note... when I turn Bluetooth back on, the phone doesn't reappear as quickly as it disappears. In fact, sometimes it won't reappear until I cycle wifi off and back on. I typically keep Bluetooth enabled since I have several devices I regularly pair with. If you're one of those people who leave Bluetooth off most of the time, you may need to turn it on on your phone, then cycle wifi on your other device... Of course, at that point, it would probably be quicker to just turn on your hotspot from the phone).

3. If things still aren't working, all of my successful changes came from 1st - Signing out of the iCloud account on both devices. 2nd - Reset Network Settings on the iPhone (General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings). 3rd - If necessary, Rename the phone to what you want it called (General -> About -> Name. Resetting network settings consistently renamed my phone to just "iPhone"). 4th - Power down both devices. 5th - Restart iPhone and log back in to iCloud. 6th - Restart other device and log back into iCloud.

All of those might not be necessary but I can tell you that switching the order of several of these steps can definitely cause problems when it comes back up (bad names, no Personal Hotspot menu, inability to connect, etc.).

It's late... I'm going to bed. Good luck.

---
Tim

 

[Agent001]

I have a question regarding instant hotspot between one iphone to another:

It is buggy to say the least, with the phone sometimes showing up in the wifi screen, sometimes not.

Does instant hotspot give the ability to reconnect automatically after disconnecting? Say I don't use the iPhone for half and hour, and then when I turn it on, it does not automatically reconnect to the other iphone hotspot. My understanding is that the usage of bluetooth should enable this function. What I now have to do all the time is go to the wifi screen and select the hotspot again.

Any advice or experience on this matter from anyone is greatly appreciated.