Your Mac Can Auto-Join an iPhone Hotspot in macOS Tahoe

macOS Tahoe 26 includes support for automatically joining your iPhone's Personal Hotspot when no Wi-Fi network is available, so you no longer need to manually connect.

macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb 2
To set up automatic joining in macOS Tahoe, you can click on the Wi-Fi button in the menu bar or Control Center to open up Wi-Fi Settings. From there, scroll down to the bottom where it says "Ask to join hotspots" and click to select the Automatic option.

With Auto-Join Hotspot turned on, when your Mac doesn't have Wi-Fi available and is near an ‌iPhone‌ or iPad providing a Personal Hotspot, it will automatically attempt to join it.

automatic hotspot macos tahoe
Auto-Join works with Family Sharing, so you can set up your Mac to automatically connect to a family member's Personal Hotspot, or allow their Mac to automatically connect to yours.

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Top Rated Comments

Robert.Walter Avatar
7 weeks ago
Since my cell carrier has a strong signal, blazing fast speeds, and cheap prices, I no longer have a WiFi at home and exclusively use my hotspot.

It has been quite annoying to have to turn it on on the phone so frequently, so this is a much asked feature from me (via feedback app) (and no doubt many in my situation).

One question that I haven’t tested yet is that frequently I see my neighbor’s iPhone hotspot.

Does auto join any hotspot or only those it has been authenticated to like during manual join?

I think it must be the latter but ask out of an abundance of caution as I’m not keen (spoof hotspot for MIM attack?) on just attaching to any hotspot in the neighborhood, train or plane.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacRumorUser78 Avatar
7 weeks ago

my macbook air m1 is running crazy hot on tahoe . I regret updating
Relax and check back in a day or two.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macbookj0e Avatar
7 weeks ago

Since my cell carrier has a strong signal, blazing fast speeds, and cheap prices, I no longer have a WiFi at home and exclusively use my hotspot.

It has been quite annoying to have to turn it on on the phone so frequently, so this is a much asked feature from me (via feedback app) (and no doubt many in my situation).

One question that I haven’t tested yet is that frequently I see my neighbor’s iPhone hotspot.

Does auto join any hotspot or only those it has been authenticated to like during manual join?

I think it must be the latter but ask out of an abundance of caution as I’m not keen (spoof hotspot for MIM attack?) on just attaching to any hotspot in the neighborhood, train or plane.
I did the same and haven’t had a Wi-Fi router for a few years so this is welcome as I feel your pain in manually connecting.

You can forget networks so can set your neighbours phone to ignore. Also your Mac would need to know their hotspot password anyway which I assume you don’t have?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProbablyDylan Avatar
7 weeks ago
Crazy that the iPad did this before the Mac. Glad to see this feature.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RestlessCaviar Avatar
7 weeks ago
I look forward to this working magically. Except when it doesn’t, and there’s no way to find out why.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
East India Company Avatar
7 weeks ago

The easiest way to achieve a reliable hotspot connection is by
1. Connecting your iPhone to your Mac with a cable
2. Turning on Personal Hotspot in the Control Center
3. Turning OFF WiFi on your Mac
1. Was not a plausible scenario as I move my MacBook around the house.
2. Did that hundreds of times.
3. The hotspot IS a wifi connection...

Android just works. I step in the house and all my devices have instantly wifi. And it's fully configurable.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)