iPhone Using iPhone as hotspot in car

[chrisgunton]

I've just upgraded to a significantly newer car (VW T-ROC) with quite a bit of tech. One of the things it can do is connect via wifi to a phone hotspot to pull down calendar events, parking and traffic information.

I've found that once configured, it only connects to the phone if I briefly open the Personal Hotspot settings on my iPhone 11 (iOS13).

If I don't do that it can't see the hotspot at all.

From what I have read it sounds like this is because the iPhone stops transmitting the SSID after a period of inactivity - so the car can't see it.

Is there a workaround for this, or a setting I'm missing?

 

[mrochester]

I've just upgraded to a significantly newer car (VW T-ROC) with quite a bit of tech. One of the things it can do is connect via wifi to a phone hotspot to pull down calendar events, parking and traffic information.

I've found that once configured, it only connects to the phone if I briefly open the Personal Hotspot settings on my iPhone 11 (iOS13).

If I don't do that it can't see the hotspot at all.

From what I have read it sounds like this is because the iPhone stops transmitting the SSID after a period of inactivity - so the car can't see it.

Is there a workaround for this, or a setting I'm missing?

I don’t think there’s a workaround or a setting you are missing, this is just how it works. I believe the only devices that can keep an iPhone hotspot alive are other iOS or Mac devices (via the persistent hotspot feature).