iOS 15 Hotspot Connections Feature Stronger WPA3 Security

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

AirPort Extreme should be updated to support it too..

 

[SFjohn]

Wifi hotspot got self disconnected all the time. I mean, many times they disconnect right in the middle of me downloading something or loading a webpage. The range is ok but not great, and taking device around sometimes just break the hotspot even though there is no obstacle between devices.
I only pickup wifi hotspot recently cause my iPhone could not connect to computer anymore, and it is still bad.

I would check with your service provider. Many require extra money each month to use your phone as a hotspot. I have not experienced what you describe, but it sounds awful.

 

[Shirasaki]

I would check with your service provider. Many require extra money each month to use your phone as a hotspot. I have not experienced what you describe, but it sounds awful.

No. My service provider don’t separate hotspot from regular data in terms of charging. All bundled.

 

[Shirasaki]

mom wondering if you’re using Hotspot as a dual meaning. By nature a hotspot comes from your phone, a wifi access point is anything broadcasting 802.11xxx for internet connection.

when using your iPhone as a hotpot, I’m curious if you checked:

a) provider to ensure your data plan allows for this?
- any continuous data connection limitations to you hotspotting
B) checked your computer to see if the connection is being dropped there OR if the computer network connections need to be removed and reinstalled - replacing driver if needed.

you can’t blame hotspot just on the phone itself without checking other issues that could lead to the same symptom.

There is no separate charges for hotspot from my service provider nor do they throttle the tethered connection. And no. Connection drops ON my phone, not from computer. I know that cause it happens when I am actively Downloading something, and my computer would display the connection is there (a delay) but hotspot on my phone is stopped.

 

[W2u7Yw4HaD]

I hope you can force WPA2 (or it will use both 2/3) I currently use an iPhone 5 as a bike computer and tether to my main iPhone for data. If I can't do this anymore, not going to upgrade and I don't see the need to throw again a device (iPhone 5) while it still works otherwise.

Edit: It seems you need at least an iPhone 7 era device to support WPA3, so I couldn't even replace my iP5 with an SE. Well going to be on iOS14 for a while then.

WPA3 is backwards compatible with WPA2 only devices...

 

[urgs]

Quantum computer: I can generate 10^6 passwords per millisecond
Service: You have Used 1 of your 5 login attempts, you have 4 remaining

How would a quantum computer help in this scenario or crack anything?

If you had received a few thousand Wi-Fi packages, you have unlimited tries and all the time in the world to crack their encryption. Even rolling keys can’t stop anyone, it just make it more difficult / time consuming.

On the other hand, WPA2 and 3 have many known and widely published security flaws, so you don’t need to crack the encryption by brute force.

 

[Macropanda]

Nice of them to upgrade it, but on a larger note, anyone else feel like MacRumors has been a little over the top with iOS15, iPadOS15 and Monterey posts lately? Just collect all the features and break them down in a few articles. I love MR, but this is getting out of hand.

If they just did a few articles with all the features how are they going to highlight relevant features as they are discovered. They aren’t posting about icon changes within the photos app, these are significant changes that Apple hasn’t mentioned.

 

[Oohara]

What trouble are you having with it? I've always had a pretty reliable hotspot from my iPhone.

Mine is a complete lottery whether my Mac connects to it or not, and how long it takes. Sometimes it’ll work as intended and be discovered and connected to automatically by my Mac, but more often than not it’ll take a few minutes of switching stuff on/off before it connects. The really frustrating part is that my work PC will connect to it instantly every time.

 

[DFP1989]

Anything that can improve the abomination called iOS Hotspotting. What a pain in the neck!

Not really sure I see how bumping the encryption level will help, but I too have had a troubled relationship with iOS hotspotting over the years.

It’s been better over the past couple of years, but still have times where it simply will not connect. The auto connection with devices on the same iCloud account isn’t reliable either.

 

[djgamble]

Sweet! More secure and safe security.

Bloods hackers ay!

I miss the world where far less sophisticated security measures were okay.

 

[KUKitch]

There is no separate charges for hotspot from my service provider nor do they throttle the tethered connection. And no. Connection drops ON my phone, not from computer. I know that cause it happens when I am actively Downloading something, and my computer would display the connection is there (a delay) but hotspot on my phone is stopped.

Mine is a complete lottery whether my Mac connects to it or not, and how long it takes. Sometimes it’ll work as intended and be discovered and connected to automatically by my Mac, but more often than not it’ll take a few minutes of switching stuff on/off before it connects. The really frustrating part is that my work PC will connect to it instantly every time.

I third these comments. My devices will sometimes connect right away, but many times will just error out continuously until they randomly decide to connect. This has been an ongoing thing for multiple versions of iOS though, and different devices as well (both phones and Macs/iPads/etc).

 

[svish]

Stronger security is always essential

 

[scottie2345]

Mine is a complete lottery whether my Mac connects to it or not, and how long it takes. Sometimes it’ll work as intended and be discovered and connected to automatically by my Mac, but more often than not it’ll take a few minutes of switching stuff on/off before it connects. The really frustrating part is that my work PC will connect to it instantly every time.

Mine is also flakey, depends what mood it’s in

scottie

 

[iapplelove]

**** apple

 

[matrix07]

Hmm.. surprised to see many people having problems with iPhone hotspot 🤔 Guess I'm very lucky 'cause I rarely had problem with it. Just a few times since the feature launched and I use it a lot.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Quantum computing will crack everything. Remember that at any time.

But can it crack itself?

 

[apparatchik]

But can it crack itself?

Or more importantly, will it blend?

 

[Damian83]

Apple should re-route “efforts” elsewhere. Who cares of strong security on a hotspot used for few minutes on a phone that most of time its in front of you and shows u the number of connected devices?

 

[Damian83]

Isnt easier to add an option to limit number of connected devices? 1 device limit = once i connect with my pc, no more other devices can even attempt to connect to the hotspot. In this case its enough even a no-password access....

 

[LukeHarrison]

There is no separate charges for hotspot from my service provider nor do they throttle the tethered connection. And no. Connection drops ON my phone, not from computer. I know that cause it happens when I am actively Downloading something, and my computer would display the connection is there (a delay) but hotspot on my phone is stopped.

I'm with you Shirasaki. I have a properly unlimited data plan and my network don't seperate hotspot traffic from regular data traffic (in fact I'm using one of their SIMs in a 4G modem router at home now, it's faster than my fixed-line broadband ever was), and I get disconnections all the time when I use my iPhone 8 Plus as a WiFi hotspot. All devices lose their connection to the device and it needs Personal Hotspot switching off and back on again to make it work again.

 

[Shirasaki]

I'm with you Shirasaki. I have a properly unlimited data plan and my network don't seperate hotspot traffic from regular data traffic (in fact I'm using one of their SIMs in a 4G modem router at home now, it's faster than my fixed-line broadband ever was), and I get disconnections all the time when I use my iPhone 8 Plus as a WiFi hotspot. All devices lose their connection to the device and it needs Personal Hotspot switching off and back on again to make it work again.

That’s a major reason wired connectivity to me is critical for personal hotspot. I only use USB connection to use hotspot for computers. For iPad, uh, I kind of have to use wifi kekw, and suffer instability while doing so.

 

[Premium1]

I had to disable WPA3 (on my Eero 6 Pro setup) – wanted the extra security but too many older/cheaper devices (esp some Homekit ones) simply can't/won't play nicely with it and I don't see some of these companies updating their firmwares.

Same. Kept giving me weird issues off and on with certain devices. Maybe if they get updated in the future I will turn it back on.

 

[Gabebear]

WPA3 is required for connecting to new 6Ghz WiFi(WiFi6E).

WPA1/WPA2 aren’t supported with the newest WiFi standards… so hopefully this means we’ll see the new WiFi supported soon. The FCC added about 3x the existing bandwidth from Wifi6 -> WiFi6E.

 

[Populus]

Anything that can improve the abomination called iOS Hotspotting. What a pain in the neck!

I don’t know what devices you have. I used to have issues with iOS WiFi or Bluetooth Hotspot on my older devices, but since I upgraded to an iPhone 8, and a mac from 2014, and an 11” iPad Pro, and iOS 13 and 14, my conectivity issues have dissapeared. Maybe it has something to do with Bluetooth 5, maybe it is a software related issue, but for me, it works fine now.

 

[zorinlynx]

I hope you can force WPA2 (or it will use both 2/3) I currently use an iPhone 5 as a bike computer and tether to my main iPhone for data. If I can't do this anymore, not going to upgrade and I don't see the need to throw again a device (iPhone 5) while it still works otherwise.

Edit: It seems you need at least an iPhone 7 era device to support WPA3, so I couldn't even replace my iP5 with an SE. Well going to be on iOS14 for a while then.

I'm curious as to why you don't use your main phone for that? I mean you have it with you anyway.

I use my 11 pro max to record my rides and it works great. No battery life issues and only have to carry one device with me.