This article explains how to use your iPhone’s internet on your iPad, which normally can only use Wi-Fi.

What to Know

  • Turn on your iPhone’s hotspot: Open Settings, tap Personal Hotspot, and toggle it on. Tap Wi-Fi password to customize the password.Next, on your iPad, tap Wi-Fi, and find the name of your iPhone under Personal Hotspots. Enter the password to join your network.Pricing will depend on your provider. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon have packages that include using your smartphone as a hotspot.

How to Turn On Your iPhone’s Hotspot

Here’s how to set up a hotspot from your iPhone’s Settings. Add a password to make your hotspot more secure.

  • Launch your iPhone’s Settings app, tap Personal Hotspot.
  • On the hotspot page, flip the top switch from Off to On.
  • You may need to call a number or visit a website to set your hotspot up on your cellular account.
  • Your hotspot has a default password, but to customize it, tap Wi-Fi Password and enter an alphanumeric password that has at least eight characters.
  • Your password will remain even if you turn the hotspot feature off. You don’t need to create a new one every time you use the feature.
  • Using your iPhone’s data connection is more secure than using a Guest Wi-Fi service, which puts you on the same Wi-Fi network as other ‘guests’ using the service.

How to Connect to a Hotspot on Your iPad

Connecting your iPad to the hotspot is almost identical to connecting it to any other Wi-Fi network.

Launch your iPhone’s Settings app, tap Personal Hotspot.

On the hotspot page, flip the top switch from Off to On.

You may need to call a number or visit a website to set your hotspot up on your cellular account.

Your hotspot has a default password, but to customize it, tap Wi-Fi Password and enter an alphanumeric password that has at least eight characters.

Your password will remain even if you turn the hotspot feature off. You don’t need to create a new one every time you use the feature.

Using your iPhone’s data connection is more secure than using a Guest Wi-Fi service, which puts you on the same Wi-Fi network as other ‘guests’ using the service.

  • Go into your iPad’s settings.
  • Tap Wi-Fi, and find the name of your iPhone under Personal Hotspots.
  • Enter the password to join your network.

Pricing and Other Considerations

Pricing will depend on your service provider. AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon all have packages that include using your smartphone as a hotspot. Most give you an allowance of hotspot bandwidth before either slowing the speed or stopping it altogether.

Go into your iPad’s settings.

Tap Wi-Fi, and find the name of your iPhone under Personal Hotspots.

Enter the password to join your network.

If your hotspot doesn’t show up, turn Wi-Fi off and then on again on your iPad. Sometimes it needs to refresh the list of available connections.

The amount is usually enough unless you are doing a lot of video streaming, which will eat into it fairly quickly. Check with your service provider to get more details on hotspot fees and services.

Using a hotspot is still using your cellular data. If you have a maximum data cap, streaming movies over the hotspot may not be a good idea. The average HD movie can take over 1 GB to stream, which can quickly burn through your data limit.

Even unlimited plans usually cap the hotspot data, but this cap is usually higher. Check your wireless plan for all the details.

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