I have a MacBook Pro (El Capitan 10.11.2) and an iPhone 5 (iOS 9.2), and I've setup the personal hotspot feature. When I turn my MacBook on and there's no internet connection, I always have to go to the WiFi menu and wait for my personal hotspot (the iPhone) to appear in the menu. Sometimes it doesn't, so I have to go 'sit' on the Personal Hotspot settings page on the iPhone and then my phone will appear on the MacBook WiFi menu. Sometimes even this won't work and I end up re-booting my MacBook and/or the iPhone. The MacBook never connects automatically. It's not a problem with either the MacBook or the iPhone not being logged into iCloud - all the iCloud features work reliably.
It has behaved this way ever since I got the iPhone 5 shortly after launch day (and I've had the original one replaced with a refurbished model about 18 months ago too). Prior to iCloud Personal Hotspot feature being introduced to iOS, I found I always had to put the iPhone on the personal hotspot settings page before it would appear in the MacBook's WiFi menu. Yet when I was in a public area (e.g. on the bus) I could often see other people's iPhones in my WiFi menu - surely they weren't all sitting on the personal hotspot setting page?
I've noticed that if I use my sister's iPhone 4S, it all works as expected. My MacBook will even automatically connect to her phone when it doesn't have an internet connection. So this appears to rule out the configuration of the MacBook being an issue. On the other hand, my brother-outlaw's iPhone 5 behaves the same way as mine, both with his computer and my MacBook.
This makes me suspect that there's something about the iPhone 5 hardware for WiFi/personal hotspot that makes this feature work unreliably. Can anyone comment on this?
Thanks in advance.
It has behaved this way ever since I got the iPhone 5 shortly after launch day (and I've had the original one replaced with a refurbished model about 18 months ago too). Prior to iCloud Personal Hotspot feature being introduced to iOS, I found I always had to put the iPhone on the personal hotspot settings page before it would appear in the MacBook's WiFi menu. Yet when I was in a public area (e.g. on the bus) I could often see other people's iPhones in my WiFi menu - surely they weren't all sitting on the personal hotspot setting page?
I've noticed that if I use my sister's iPhone 4S, it all works as expected. My MacBook will even automatically connect to her phone when it doesn't have an internet connection. So this appears to rule out the configuration of the MacBook being an issue. On the other hand, my brother-outlaw's iPhone 5 behaves the same way as mine, both with his computer and my MacBook.
This makes me suspect that there's something about the iPhone 5 hardware for WiFi/personal hotspot that makes this feature work unreliably. Can anyone comment on this?
Thanks in advance.