Why is my hotspot not working? Apple and Android
- If your hotspot is not working, make sure the internet is working and you are entering the correct password.
- You can also try turning off battery saver or low power mode or restarting your phone’s Wi-Fi.
- If your phone’s hotspot still doesn’t work, tethering or turning the phone on and off may help.
Imagine this. You’re out somewhere and you need to get some work done on your laptop, but the Wi-Fi is unbearably slow. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. your cell phone is getting good LTE service, you can simply connect your computer to your phone’s mobile hotspot. But you try to join it and it won’t work. Why?
This question has many possible answers, and most of them depend on the type of phone you have. Here’s how to fix your hotspot on iOS and Android phones.
How f?ix hotspot not working
If your mobile hotspot isn’t working, go through this troubleshooting list to find out why.
1. Make sure your phone’s internet connection is working
2. Make sure the Wi-Fi on the device you’re trying to connect to is working
3. Make sure the password is correct
4. Turn off battery saver or low power mode
5. Turn your phone’s Wi-Fi on and off
6. Pair with Bluetooth or USB
7. Try restarting your phone
8. Roll back your software
9. Turn off automatic hotspot connection
10. Skip the mobile hotspot
11. Change the frequency band to 2.4 GHz
Make sure your phone’s internet connection is working
Go to your phone’s Settings app and check to make sure your mobile data is turned on. You should also try using the internet on your phone to make sure you are not in an area with slow or poor reception.
You should also check and make sure you haven’t exceeded your mobile data limit for the month. if you’re on a capped prepaid plan, your data speed will be capped once you pass it, rendering your hotspot essentially useless. Contact your data provider to resolve this issue.
Make sure the Wi-Fi on the device you’re trying to connect to is working
If your device won’t connect to your phone, it might actually be a device problem. Try connecting to your phone’s hotspot with another device. If it works, the problem is probably not your phone.
Turn your connecting device’s Wi-Fi on and off and see if that fixes the problem. If not, try restarting your device. If you’re still having problems, you may need to take it in for repair.
Make sure the password is correct
If your hotspot is password protected, look at the password on your phone and make sure you’ve entered the password correctly on the device you’re connecting to, if it’s not protected you won’t be able to connect.
If you’re still having trouble, you can also change the password to something that’s easier to type without making mistakes.
Turn off battery saver or low power mode
Battery saver mode, or lower power mode, works by limiting some non-essential functions of your phone to save battery life. This shouldn’t include limiting your phone’s ability to connect to a hotspot, but all software messes up from time to time.
This is a known problem, especially on Android. Try turning off battery saver mode and see if that fixes the problem.
Turn your phone’s Wi-Fi on and off
Speaking of system bugs, while your phone’s Wi-Fi isn’t usually a victim of them, it’s not impossible for it to be.
If it doesn’t seem to work, try turning it off and on again and see if that fixes the problem.
Pair via Bluetooth or USB
Wi-Fi isn’t the only way to connect devices to your phone’s hotspot. You can also pair your phone and computer using Bluetooth or a USB cable.
Follow these steps to connect your iPhone to a cellular network via Bluetooth:
1:. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2:. Tap Bluetooth:.
3:. Tap for the switch Bluetooth: turn it on. when it is enabled, it will have a green background instead of gray.
4. Connect to iPhone’s Bluetooth from your other device and establish the connection on your phone.
To connect to Android via Bluetooth or USB:
1. Open the Settings app on your Android phone.
2. Tap Connections.
3. Tap Cellular hotspot and tethering.
4. Turn on the switch Bluetooth Tethering: or USB connection.
5. Connect your other device to the Android phone using Bluetooth or a USB cable.
Try restarting your phone
Sometimes if your phone is left on for too long, especially if you have multiple apps running in the background, your phone can start to process slower or even experience bugs, and this is more likely if the battery life is low.
In that case, your hotspot issues may be easily resolved by restarting your phone.
If you have an iPhone, this is all you can do to fix hotspot issues you might be having, if none of these troubleshooting options solve your problem, it might be a software update. bug, or may be needed. your phone should be viewed.
More troubleshooting options if you have an Android phone
Android devices offer more options to fix issues like hotspots not working.
Roll back your software
Unlike iPhones, Android phones allow you to roll back software updates if you don’t like them or if they don’t work on your phone.
Since it’s possible that the bug could cause hotspot issues in a software update, try rolling back to an older version of your OS and see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn’t, you can always download the update again.
Turn off automatic hotspot connection
On some newer phones, the hotspot will turn itself off if a device is connected to it for a few minutes. This can cause you problems if your device goes into sleep mode or if you leave the room and come back.
If this is your problem, you can try turning off automatic hotspot connection.
1:. Open the Settings app on your Android phone.
2:. Tap Connections.
3:. Tap Cellular hotspot and tethering.
4:. Tap Mobile hotspot.
5:00. Tap for the switch Automatic hotspot to turn it off – the switch will have a gray background when it’s off.
Skip the mobile hotspot
Although password-protected hotspots are more secure because they are encrypted, that encryption can sometimes cause problems connecting to the hotspot. Sometimes a hotspot will work better with your device if you just leave it off.
1:. Open the Settings app on your Android phone.
2:. Tap Connections.
3:. Tap Cellular hotspot and tethering.
4:. Tap Mobile hotspot.
5:00. Tap Adjust.
6:00. Tap Security.
7:00. Choose: Open in the popup that appears.
Change the frequency band to 2.4 GHz
Newer Android phones also have the ability to change the frequency of the signal being sent to create a hotspot.
Although the 5GHz band is faster, many devices may not be able to pick it up, which means you won’t see it listed under the possible connections of the device you’re trying to connect to your hotspot.
To fix this you need to go back to the standard 2.4GHz band.
1. Open the Settings app on your Android phone.
2. Tap Connections.
3. Tap Cellular hotspot and tethering.
4. Tap Mobile hotspot.
5. Tap Adjust.
6. Tap Group:.
7. Choose: 2.4 GHz from the popup that appears