Personal Hotspot - allow others to join disabled, same iCloud account, does not work

[cinetic]

iOS 14.6, 12 Pro Max. I have a MacBook Air running the latest Catalina, BT/Wifi enabled on all devices, both signed into the same account. My understanding is that if the "Allow others to join" is disabled, your personal hotspot for the same iCloud account will show up in the wifi list and join automatically if the phone is near.

This is not the case. I have to enable "Allows others to join" for my hotspot to work. I signed out of iCloud on my iPhone and signed back in, but it still won't show in the wifi list unless "Allow others to join." I am not an "other"! Any tips on rectifying this?

 

[0128672]

It sounds like your devices and Oses meet the Continuity requirements for Instant Hotspot to work. Have you restarted both devices? Have you disabled and re-enabled cellular on your phone? Turned off and back on wi-fi and BT for both devices? Reset network settings on your phone? Removed wi-fi as network connection on your Mac and re-added it?

Use Instant Hotspot, Auto-Join Hotspot, or Family Sharing to connect to your Personal Hotspot without entering a password - Apple Support

With Instant Hotspot and Auto-Join Hotspot, you can connect your Apple device to the Personal Hotspot on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) without entering its Wi-Fi password.

support.apple.com

 

[cinetic]

Yes restarted, disabled/re-enabled cell, turned off wifi and BT, and yes reset net settings and removed wifi and readded it. Handoff is working between the devices if that helps.

 

[0128672]

Yes restarted, disabled/re-enabled cell, turned off wifi and BT, and yes reset net settings and removed wifi and readded it. Handoff is working between the devices if that helps.

OK good to know. So it only works as a personal hotspot; Instant Hotspot is not working. I’ll give this more thought and maybe others will respond too with suggestions.