Mobile devices, such as laptop computers or tablets, don’t often have the ability to connect to the Internet without a Wi-Fi network. Fortunately the iPhone has a feature called Personal Hotspot, and you can share the password for your Personal Hotspot network with other device that you permit to use your data. The Personal Hotspot effectively turns your iPhone into a basic router that can share its cellular Internet connection with other devices.
A Personal Hotspot on an iPhone has a password that is required to access its services. You can change this password if you think it is too easy, or if someone had the old password, and you don’t want them using it anymore. You can follow the steps below to set a different password for your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot.
Use a Different Password the Personal Hotspot on an iPhone
These steps were performed on an iPhone 5, in iOS 9.3. These steps work for any iPhone model using iOS 9. Note that changing the Personal Hotspot password will mean that any other device that automatically connected to the Personal Hotspot network will no longer be able to do so.
Step 1: Tap the Settings icon.
Step 2: Tap the Personal Hotspot button. If you don’t see one, then you will need to go into the Cellular menu and enable the Personal Hotspot option. If it’s not on the Cellular menu, then you may need to contact your provider, as they might not support the service.
Step 3: Tap the Wi-Fi Password button near the center of the screen.
Step 4: Tap the x to the right of the current password, then enter the new Personal Hotspot password. You can then tap the Done button at the top-right corner of the screen.
Now you can simply turn on the Personal Hotspot and provide the new password to anyone that you wish to permit access to the network.
Note that some devices that can connect to a Personal Hotspot network are capable of using a lot of data. If you have a limited amount of data on your cellular plan, then you should limit usage of that data as much as possible.
Gary Thompson has been in IT consulting since the mid 2000s, and enjoys writing about mobile devices and computers. His primary topics of interest include iPhones and Windows, but he has written about many other devices and applications.