IPhone – How to connect mac to Iphone hotspot without making “personal hotspot discoverable”

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Question

How can I connect mac to Iphone hotspot without making "personal hotspot discoverable"?

Usecase

  • get on train
  • on phone, make "Personal hotspot discoverable"
  • open laptop
  • wait for laptop "looking for networks" to see my SSID
  • once laptop sees my SSID, connect to wifi

Desired

I want to "connect mac to hotspot" without "doing anything" on my phone.

i.e. remove these steps:

  • on phone, make "Personal hotspot discoverable"
  • wait for laptop "looking for networks" to see my SSID

so the "new usecase" would look like this:

  • get on train
  • open laptop
  • connect directly to my Wifi-hotspot

Environment

  • Mac Catalina
  • IOS 13

Some points

  • I could use bluetooth, but prefer to use wifi as my vpn software will automatically reconnect (i.e. if i disconnect from wifi at home and reconnect on the train)

Thanks!

Best Answer

Unfortunately many useful settings on iOS are simply not there. One of this is the inability to hide your SSID.

If you really care about security you should just use the USB cable, to force this you have to completely disable both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi from you settings and then enable the hotspot. It will ask if it's okay to only share your cellular connection with the USB.

Otherwise you can just use a strong password, if both computer and iPhone are up to date you shouldn't worry about anything. WPA2 is very secure and KRACK was patched a long time ago.

Even if you could hide the SSID everyone you should worry about can still see your hotspot. There is no way to hide any wireless connection.

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