Is personal hotspot not working after upgrading your Mac to macOS Monterey? Is your Mac unable to connect to your iPhone’s personal hotspot? Not being able to connect to a hotspot on your Macbook can be a great pain, but there’s a fix for that. If your Mac is refusing to connect to your iPhone Hotspot after Monterey update, there is no need to panic. Here are the best solutions that can help fix this macOS Monterey hotspot problem, so let’s get started.
See also: How to Fix macOS Monterey Wi-Fi Problems
Here’s what to do if Macbook isn’t connecting to a hotspot after macOS Monterey update
Disconnect Other Devices
There’s a limit to the number of devices you can connect to your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot at a time. This limit isn’t fixed; according to Apple, the limit for a Personal Hotspot connection depends on the carrier and iPhone model. From our investigations, we discovered that this limit is typically between 3-5 devices.
So if you already have 3 or more devices tethered to your iPhone, disconnect one of the devices and try connecting your Mac. That should solve the problem. Otherwise, proceed to other troubleshooting recommendations below.
Move iPhone Closer to Mac
Distance plays an important role in the connection status and quality of wireless technologies. Wi-Fi hotspots have a distance beyond which the connecting device won’t detect or connect to the host device. The closer your iPhone is to your Mac, the better the chances of discoverability. Likewise, the faster the connection speed and overall quality.
For hotspot connections, make sure your iPhone and Mac are within 30 feet (10 meters) or less. Your Mac may fail to connect to your iPhone’s hotspot if both devices are not within this range. Move both devices together and try again.
Turn Off/ On Bluetooth
Several users reported that turning bluetooth off and on fixed the Monterey hotspot problem, so you might want to try that.
On your Mac, click on the Bluetooth icon in the Menu bar at the top and turn off/ on the toggle.
On your iPhone, go to Settings -> Bluetooth and turn off/ on the toggle.
See also: How to Fix macOS Monterey Bluetooth Problems
Restart both your Mac and iPhone
Are you able to connect your Mac to other Wi-Fi networks but not your Personal Hotspot? Restart your iPhone and try again. If your Mac still fails to connect to the hotspot or other Wi-Fi networks, restart the Mac and check if that fixes the problem.
Remove Device from Bluetooth List and Reconnect
If the above tricks didn’t work in solving your macOS Monterey personal hotspot issue, remove the device you are using as a personal hotspot from the list of Bluetooth devices on your Mac and reconnect to it.
Click on the Apple menu at the top left and move to System Preferences -> Bluetooth.
Select the device and click on Remove “X” button. Now, try to reconnect your Mac with the mobile device.
Reset Network Settings
If your macOS Monterey device won’t connect to your iPhone’s hotspot despite trying all the solutions above, you should consider resetting your iPhone’s network settings. That could fix issues with your cellular network and possibly resolve glitches preventing your Mac from connecting to hotspot.
Please note: Resetting your iPhone’s network settings will reset mobile/cellular data, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and VPN to default settings. Follow the steps below to reset your iPhone network settings.
- Go to Settings > General > transfer or reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
- Enter your iPhone’s passcode and tap Reset Network Settings on the prompt.
Your iPhone will restart and that should resolve any network-related errors affecting your Personal Hotspot connection.
Note: Performing a network reset will delete all previously-connected Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth devices from your device’s memory. Your Personal Hotspot will be renamed to “iPhone.”
If you wish to change the hotspot’s name, go to Settings > General > About and click Name.
Enter your preferred Personal Hotspot name and tap Done on your keyboard to save the change.
Turn on your iPhone’s hotspot and check if the Mac is able to establish a connection.
Reset Your Mac’s Wi-Fi
This is another troubleshooting solution that’s worth trying, particularly if your macOS Monterey device won’t connect to any Wi-Fi network.
- Go to System Preferences > Network and select Wi-Fi on the right sidebar.
- Click the minus (—) icon at the bottom-left corner of the Network window.
- Close the Network window and click Apply on the confirmation prompt.
- Reopen the Network settings window and click the plus ( ) icon at the bottom-left corner of the window.
- Click the Interface drop-down button.
- Select Wi-Fi from the options and click Create to continue.
- Click Apply to save the change.
Try connecting to your iPhone’s hotspot and see if it works this time.
Personal Hotspot not working after Monterey update: Problem Fixed!
Hopefully by now you have resolved any Hotspot connectivity issue you were facing on your Mac with macOS Monterey.
If you are still experiencing Hotspot problems on macOS Monterey, contact Apple Support. The following are available Apple support options:
Do you use an iPhone as a hotspot device? In that case, you may also be interested in taking a look at some of the basic troubleshooting steps you should follow if personal hotspot is not working after iOS 15 update.