How To Use An iPad As Your Own Personal Hotspot
Whether you’re traveling or having internet trouble at home, sometimes the occasion calls for a Wi-Fi hotspot. They act as a handy workaround for Wi-Fi limitations by using a separate device to act as a surrogate via its own cellular data connection, and they can be very useful in a pinch.Portable hotspotslike travel-sized routers and the like are certainly an option and have their uses. However, if you don’t own one — or don’t want to make room in your luggage — a much more common practice is setting your tablet or smartphone up as one instead. And, of course, that feature extends to iPads.
There are some things to be aware of before you use your iPad as a hotspot. Your iPad will absolutely need to have a cellular data connection for this to work, so verify the iPad can get online without Wi-Fi. You also may need to check your data plan to see if it allows for hotspot usage because not all of them do. If not, you’ll need to talk to your provider to change that. Also, keep in mind that unless you have a plan that offers unlimited data, you run the risk of hitting your data limit (depending on what you download or stream via a hotspot connection). And even if your plan is unlimited, you might experience slower internet speeds once you hit your monthly cap.
Setting up your iPad hotspot
Assuming your iPad does indeed have the means to use cellular data and your carrier plan does accommodate a hotspot setup, here’s how to get started:
If you’re able to’t find an option for Cellular or Personal Hotspot anywhere in your iPad’s settings, that means it’s not using a cellular data plan and, thus, is incapable of being used as a hotspot. For everyone else, if you’ve turned on Personal Hotspot on your iPad — and as long as it’s able to make and maintain a connection to a cellular data network — you’re ready to start using it as your personal pseudo-Wi-Fi.
Connecting to your iPad hotspot
Getting other devices to use your iPad as a Wi-Fi connection is relatively simple, though there are a few ways to do this. You can get online using a wire:
Via Bluetooth:
Or by simply using Wi-Fi:
Once connected, you’ll see an indicator along the top of the iPad screen verifying the hotspot connection. Depending on the connected device, you may also see a hotspot connection icon (it looks like two links of a chain) in place of the Wi-Fi signal icon.
