Create a Hotspot to Tether Any Device With Wi-Fi
If you have a Mac, scroll down — you can do this more easily. But you
can connect any type of device to the Internet through your iPhone.
This means Windows laptops, Chromebooks, Android tablets, iPads,
portable gaming consoles, and more — anything at all that can connect to
Wi-Fi.
To get started, open your iPhone’s Settings screen and tap the
Personal Hotspot option between Cellular and Carrier near the top of the
screen. If you don’t see the option, contact your carrier — it’s
possible you have to pay them extra before you can see and use it.
Enable the Personal Hotspot feature and your iPhone’s top bar will
turn blue, indicating that the personal hotspot is running in the
background and draining your battery.
Your
iPhone will now appear as a nearby wireless network. On any device with
a Wi-Fi connection, open the list of networks and choose your device in
the list — it’ll be named something like “[Name]’s iPhone.” Select it
in the list and you’ll be asked for a passphrase. Enter the passphrase
displayed on the Personal Hotspot screen on your iPhone. Your device
will connect.
When you’re done, pick up your iPhone and disable the Personal
Hotspot feature to save battery life. This is easy — your iPhone’s top
bar will be blue as long as the Personal Hotspot feature is enabled. Tap
it and you’ll be taken directly to the Personal Hotspot screen, where
you can disable it.
Easy Wi-Fi Tethering on a Mac
Mac OS X Yosemite makes these things work well together. Click the
Wi-Fi icon on the menu bar, and you’ll see your nearby iPhone appear
under “Personal Hotspot.” Click it, and your Mac will automatically
connect to the iPhone, enabling the Wi-Fi hotspot feature and allowing
you to connect directly to the Internet.
This is convenient because it allows you to quickly connect to your
iPhone from your Mac without leaving the personal hotspot feature
enabled all the time. You can do this entirely from your Mac without
picking up your iPhone and tapping anything. It’s only enabled when you
connect to it. This saves battery life.
USB Tethering on a Mac
You can also connect your iPhone to your computer via a USB cable —
not a bad idea, as the iPhone can draw power from your Mac and its
battery won’t be run down by the tethering.
Go into your iPhone’s Setting screen, tap Hotspot, and Personal
Hotspot near the top of the list, and enable Personal Hotspot. You can
then click the WI-Fi icon on the menu bar and select Open Network
Preferences. You’ll see that your Mac is tethered to the iPhone using
the “iPhone USB” connection. If you don’t see it in the list, click
the “+” button and add the iPhone USB network interface.
USB Tethering on Windows
USB tethering can al;so function with a Windows PC. You’ll need the
latest version of iTunes installed on your Windows PC to do this, as it
includes the appropriate drivers. Enable Personal Hotspot on your iPhone
and then connect it ot the Windows PC using a USB cable. Your Windows
PC will be able to use the iPhone as a network connection, just as a
Mac could.
This should automatically configure itself if you plug your iPhone in
with Personal Hotspot enabled. You’ll see the network connection appear
as an “Apple Mobile Device Ethernet” connection.
iPhones also support Bluetooth
tethering. Pair your iPhone with a computer or other device over
Bluetooth to share the Internet connection using Bluetooth. Wi-Fi
tethering will be easier to set up and faster. However, Bluetooth
tethering could potentially drain your iPhone’s battery more slowly,
saving some battery life.