APRIL 2020 MACWORLD 129web app is quite fast and full-featured
compared to iCloud.com. And it has a
much larger set of items it can recognize
automatically and let you search by.
THAT’S RIGHT: YOU CAN’T
TURN OFF PERSONAL
HOTSPOT IN iOS 13 AND
iPADOS 13
If you’re a regular user of the Personal
Hotspot feature for iPhones and cellular-
equipped iPads, you might wondered
where the “off” setting went in iOS 13.1 and
iPadOS 13.1. The switch is gone, but it’s not
a bug and you’re not just unable to find it.
Apple in that dot release—not in iOS
13.0, but the 13.1 update for both
platforms—rethought how it expresses
Personal Hotspot’s use philosophically. In
previous releases, you had the on-demand
Personal Hotspot that could be turned on,
put on standby, or turned off. There was
also an Instant Hotspot feature, which
allowed any of your iCloud-connected
devices to select the Personal Hotspot
even if it were set to Off or Off, But
Discoverable.
That was rather confusing. If it’s off,
how can it be available for use? Shouldn’t
it need to be turned on?
So in 13.1, Apple resolved this logical
paradox by redefining the state of
Personal Hotspot to reflect how it lets it be
used. It also extended use to Family
Sharing groups as an option.
First, Personal Hotspot is always on for
all devices logged in to the same iCloud
account, regardless of what the label in
Settings says. It cannot be disabled among
your devices. The only way to turn it off is to
disable cellular networking or turn on
Airplane Mode. The term Instant Hotspot
appears to be banished. If you select your
Personal Hotspot from another of your
devices, the label now reads “On” in
Settings next to the Personal Hotspot label.
Second, the feature’s on/off switch has
been replaced with an Allow Others To
Join switch. When this is off, only iCloud-
connected devices can connect and
approved Family Sharing group members
may use it, if any. When it’s on, the hotspot
Wi-Fi network can be joined by anyone
who has the password, and the device can
be used via Bluetooth or USB by anyone
who can pair (for Bluetooth) or plug into it
(via USB).
Because of the security feature added
late in iOS 11 to prevent unwanted USB
devices from having the potential to crack
an iPhone or iPad’s passcode, USB
tethering remains subject to the choice
made in Settings → Touch ID/Face ID &
Passcode → USB Accessories. When
turned off, you must unlock the device
within the previous hour before its
Lightning port can be used for any USB
data interactions. (I wouldn’t suggesting