How to Change Your Personal Hotspot Password on iPhone

To change your hotspot password on iPhone, open Settings, tap Personal Hotspot, tap Wi-Fi Password, type a new password of at least 8 characters, and tap Done. Devices that join your hotspot over Wi-Fi will need the new password from then on.

These steps are for iOS 27 and match recent versions such as iOS 26. They follow Apple’s support article Connect to the Personal Hotspot of an iPhone or iPad, Apple’s iPhone User Guide page Share your internet connection from your iPhone, and If Personal Hotspot is not working. Apple notes that Personal Hotspot isn’t available with all carriers and that extra fees may apply.

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Before You Start

Cellular Data must be on. Check Settings > Cellular. If Personal Hotspot is grayed out or missing, this is the first thing to look at.
Your plan must include hotspot. If Cellular Data is on but you don’t see Personal Hotspot or Set Up Personal Hotspot, contact your carrier about adding it to your plan.
Know who is connected. Anyone using your hotspot over Wi-Fi will have to rejoin with the new password, so tell them before you change it.

How to Change the Hotspot Password

Open the Settings app.
Tap Personal Hotspot. If you don’t see it near the top, tap Cellular, then Personal Hotspot. Both paths open the same screen.
Tap Wi-Fi Password. The current password appears with a keyboard.
Delete the old password and type a new one. Apple requires at least 8 ASCII characters, which means standard letters, numbers, and common punctuation.

Personal Hotspot Wi-Fi Password editor with a fictional password and the blue Done checkmark highlighted — Enter a new password of at least 8 characters, then tap the blue Done checkmark. The password shown here is a fictional example.

Tap Done. The Personal Hotspot screen now shows the new password under Wi-Fi Password.

The change takes effect right away. Devices already using the hotspot may drop off and will need the new password to rejoin. To confirm it worked, open Settings > Personal Hotspot again and check the password shown there.

If a Windows laptop keeps trying the old hotspot password, forget the Wi-Fi network in Windows 11 and join again with the new one.

How to Choose a Strong Hotspot Password

Your hotspot password is the only thing stopping strangers nearby from using your data. A short or obvious one is easy to guess.

Use 12 or more characters. Longer is harder to guess, and 8 is only the minimum.
Mix words, numbers, and a symbol, for example three unrelated words with a number between them.
Skip your name, phone number, birthday, or patterns like 12345678.
Avoid emoji, accented letters, and other characters outside basic ASCII. iPhone won’t accept them.
Change the password again after you share it with a group, such as at an event or on a work trip, so old devices can’t keep reconnecting.

Pick something you can read aloud or type on a laptop without mistakes, since other people will usually enter it by hand.

How to Find Your Current Hotspot Password

Open Settings > Personal Hotspot. The password is shown in plain text under Wi-Fi Password, and the network name appears in the instructions on the same screen. There’s no separate “show password” button.

How to Set Up Personal Hotspot the First Time

Open the Settings app.
Tap Cellular, then tap Set Up Personal Hotspot.
Follow the onscreen instructions. You’ll create the hotspot password as part of setup.

How to Turn On Personal Hotspot and Connect a Device

Open the Settings app and tap Personal Hotspot.
Turn on Allow Others to Join.
Note the Wi-Fi network name and password shown on this screen, and stay on this screen until the other device connects.
On the other device, open its Wi-Fi settings, choose your iPhone, and enter the password.

Personal Hotspot settings with Allow Others to Join on and the Wi-Fi Password row — Turn on Allow Others to Join. Use the network name and Wi-Fi password shown here; this example uses a fictional password.

When the other device connects, its Wi-Fi icon changes to the Personal Hotspot icon. The device uses your iPhone’s cellular data. Devices disconnect automatically when you’re not using the hotspot, to save battery. Laptop instructions are in this walkthrough to connect a phone to a Windows 11 laptop.

How to Change the Hotspot Name

There’s no separate hotspot name setting. Your Personal Hotspot uses your iPhone’s name, so go to Settings > General > About, tap Name, and type a new one. Renaming the phone is covered in how to change your iPhone name. The new name also shows up in AirDrop and Bluetooth, so keep personal details like your full name or phone number out of it.

Who Can Connect Without the Password

Changing the password only affects devices that join over Wi-Fi with that password. Two groups can still connect:

Your own devices. Apple’s Instant Hotspot lets a Mac, iPad, or other iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account join with no password. Allow Others to Join doesn’t even need to be on.
Family Sharing members. Go to Settings > Personal Hotspot > Family Sharing, turn it on, and tap each family member’s name. Choose Automatic to let them join without asking, or Ask for Approval to get a prompt on your iPhone each time.

To keep someone out, set their Family Sharing option to Ask for Approval or turn Family Sharing off on that screen.

Other Ways to Connect to Your Hotspot

USB cable: connect the iPhone to a Mac or Windows PC and tap Trust if asked. A Windows PC needs the latest Apple Devices app or iTunes for Windows. A computer may reconnect each time you charge the iPhone from it, which can use data.
Bluetooth: keep Settings > Bluetooth open on the iPhone, choose the iPhone in the computer’s Bluetooth settings, confirm the code matches, and tap Pair.

Personal Hotspot can only share your cellular connection. You can’t join a Wi-Fi network on your iPhone and then share that network. To share with an iPad, follow the steps to share internet from your iPhone to your iPad.

Android phones use different menus. For one example, here is how to turn on the hotspot on a Google Pixel 4a.

If the New Password Doesn’t Work

The usual cause is that the other device saved the old password. Make it forget the network, then join again:

iPhone or iPad: go to Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the info button next to your hotspot, and tap Forget This Network.
Mac: open System Settings > Wi-Fi, find your hotspot under known networks, click the More button, and choose Forget This Network.
Windows 11: go to Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks, select your hotspot, and click Forget.

Then check the password on your iPhone under Settings > Personal Hotspot and type it carefully, watching capital letters. More fixes are in how to fix a wrong Wi-Fi password on iPhone.

If Your Hotspot Isn’t Working

Try these steps, connecting again after each one:

Make sure Allow Others to Join is on in Settings > Personal Hotspot.
Restart both the iPhone and the other device, and update iOS.
On iPhone 12 or later, turn on Maximize Compatibility in Personal Hotspot settings. This may reduce internet performance and Wi-Fi security for connected devices, so turn it off again if you don’t need it.
On the other device, turn Wi-Fi off and back on, and check you’re joining the network with your iPhone’s name.
As a last resort, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This erases saved Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN and APN settings.

Turn Personal Hotspot Off

To stop sharing, open Settings > Personal Hotspot and turn off Allow Others to Join. Your own Apple devices and Family Sharing members you’ve allowed may still connect through Instant Hotspot, as described above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my hotspot password the same as my iPhone passcode?

No. The passcode unlocks your iPhone. The hotspot password only lets other devices join your Personal Hotspot, and changing one doesn’t change the other.

Does changing the password kick off connected devices?

Devices that joined with the old password may disconnect and must rejoin with the new one. Your own devices on Instant Hotspot and approved Family Sharing members don’t use the password.

Does Personal Hotspot use my data plan?

Yes. Check your usage in Settings > Cellular, and turn the hotspot off when you don’t need it. There are more ways to reduce cellular data usage on iPhone.

How many devices can connect at once?

It depends on your carrier and iPhone model, so contact your carrier for the limit on your plan.

More iPhone Guides

Matthew Burleigh

Matthew Burleigh is the founder, head writer, and editor of Solve Your Tech, which he launched in 2012. He has written technology tutorials since 2008 and worked in IT since 2003, including small-business support, IT management, and consulting. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Arizona State University.

Matthew writes practical guides for Windows, iPhone and iPad, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Google apps, and Android. Solve Your Tech’s guides are checked step by step against the device or app maker’s own documentation and tested on his own devices whenever he has the hardware or software, with clear steps, sources, and update dates.

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