How to Stop iPhone Personal Hotspot From Turning On Automatically

By Dilum Senevirathne Updated July 29, 2024 Reviewed & Updated by Arshmeet Hora

Quick Tips

If you’ve multiple Apple Devices, your iPhone’s Hotspot is auto-enabling to support them. Go to Settings (of the other device) → Wi-Fi → Auto-Join Hotspot → select Never or Ask to Join.
Family Sharing can also auto-enable the iPhone’s hotspot. To disable that, go to Settings → Personal Hotspot → Family Sharing → Either disable the setting completely or switch from Automatic to Ask for Your Approval.
To stop others from joining your Hotspot without notice, go to Settings → Personal Hotspot → toggle off ‘Allow Others to Join’.

Fix 1. Disable Auto-Join Hotspot

Do you have an iPad (or a secondary iPhone) without its own cellular data plan? If you use the same Apple ID across your devices, the iPad (or iPhone) can automatically activate your primary iPhone’s Personal Hotspot when there are no nearby Wi-Fi hotspots to join.

That ensures constant online connectivity, but you may not want that. Strangely, you can’t disable Personal Hotspot for devices that use the same Apple ID — it’s always available by design. However, you can stop other devices from automatically joining your iPhone by diving into each device’s Settings app.

Step 1: Open the Settings app of the device (iPhone or iPad) that you want to prevent from connecting to your iPhone.

Step 2: Next, tap Wi-Fi > select Auto-Join Hotspot from the options.

Go to Settings → Wi-Fi → Auto-Join Hotspot

Step 3: On the following screen, choose between Never or Ask to Join.

Select Never if you want to completely stop the device from activating Personal Hotspot on your iPhone. Alternatively, select Ask to Join if you want the device to ask for your permission to connect to your iPhone.

Note: Since Personal Hotspot is available on your iPhone, you can still connect other devices manually via Settings > Wi-Fi.

Do you have Family Sharing enabled? If so, your family members can activate your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot from their iOS or iPadOS devices and start consuming cellular data. Yes, without asking you for permission.

Thankfully, you don’t have to disable Family Sharing to put a stop to that. Briefly diving into the Personal Hotspot settings screen should suffice.

Step 1: Open the Settings app → Personal Hotspot.

Step 2: Here, tap Family Sharing.

Go to Settings and select Personal Hotspot

Note: You can also access your Personal Hotspot settings via Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot.

Step 3: Here, you can then manage how each family member connects to your iPhone. Switch from Automatic to Ask for Your Approval.

Disable Iphone Automatic Personal Hotspot 5

Don’t want to play favorites? Disable Personal Hotspot for all family members by turning off the toggle for Family Sharing.

Fix 4. Disable Personal Hotspot for Other Devices

Have you allowed other people to connect to the Personal Hotspot on your iPhone? If so, they can connect to it again without your permission.

That isn’t as prevalent an issue as with your own devices or family members since the iPhone must be actively broadcasting the Personal Hotspot for that to happen. If you don’t want to take chances, here’s what you must do to stop that.

Open the Settings app → Personal Hotspot. Turn off the toggle for Allow Others to Join. That should stop others from connecting to your iPhone.

However, this will also prevent your own non-Apple devices from detecting the Personal Hotspot if you must connect to it. In that case, head back and re-enable the Allow Others to Join option.