Personal Hotspot will only broadcast SSID for about 5 min.

[Consultant]

Personally, I don't think the rest of you who think I'm just full of it, have actually tried using Personal Hotspot in a practical situation. On the surface, conserving battery with auto-shut-off sounds nice, but in the real world, it kinda sucks.

So, yesterday afternoon, I took the family out to a community gathering. It was a carnival theme, put on by the elementary school--the kinda thing where you walk around for a few hours trying to act like the amateur attractions put on by your neighbors have at least some entertainment value, while trying to avoid getting your face painted, then bumping into people that you'd rather not talk to.

Anyway, my daughter has her iPTouch with her, and I've got my iP4. At several times during the afternoon, she wants to Google something, or look something up in iTunes, whatever. The problem is, her iPTouch doesn't stay connected to my PH WiFi after she turns it off (or it turns itself off). So, I had to pull my phone out, swipe in, swipe over to Settings, etc., to turn the PH back on SEVERAL TIMES during the course of the afternoon. I'm telling you, after just the second time, I'm already quite annoyed with the stupid timeout "feature" and after like 5 or 6 times doing this, I'm feeling ready to hurl my phone across the schoolyard.

Yes. I would very much like it if Apple could add a custom timeout to the PH settings. Anybody know where I could submit such a request?

BTW, I'm not an expert UI engineer like the folks at Apple, but doesn't it seem a little odd to you that when you go into PH Settings, it says PH is ON, when really, it wasn't?

So you rather have it on the whole time and have NO battery to do it later in the day? I am sure you'll still be complaining then.

 

[err404]

I'm with CodeCavalier on this. The current implementation is far from ideal. If this doesn't get fixed soon, I may need to return to the JB Hotspot solutions.

BTW - The most reliable workaround that I have come up with is the following: Under Settings:General, set Auto-Lock to never. Go to the Settingsersonal Hotspot and leave it on that screen. So long as the Phone is awake and on the Personal Hotspot screen wifi tethering will remain active. I recommend turning the brightness down since the screen will stay active.
Again, this workaround is not ideal, but may be useful to create a reliable hotspot for the kids during road trips.

 

[CodeCavalier]

So you rather have it on the whole time and have NO battery to do it later in the day?

You seem to be taking a real hard line point of view about all this when there have been many other good resolutions suggested.

Maybe suggest to Apple to enable a switch that gives you a choice in a future firmware update.

I would very much like it if Apple could add a custom timeout to the PH settings.

Maybe have the iPad be able to send some sort of "message" to the iPhone that it's looking for it, so the iPhone knows to turn the HotSpot back on.

At minimum, at least have the iPhone switch the HotSpot toggle to "off" when it switches off.

Perhaps they should allow WiFi to stay on when plugged in and charging

 

[Chris Pink]

If at least one connection is present then it will not turn off the hotspot feature.
If there is no connection at all for 5-10 minutes then it will stop broadcasting signal to save on battery and you will have to re-enable it later when you need it again.
That's how it works and its obviously like that for a reason. Maybe its too much work for you to unlock the phone and go thru a few menus but its there for your own good. Maybe suggest to Apple to enable a switch that gives you a choice in a future firmware update.

Unfortunately not true, if something is connected its connection will stay live but the SSID fails to be rebroadcast. This is therefore not a power saving feature, probably it is seen as a 'security' feature (or more likely just some programmers' bright ideas)

 

[Channan]

Unfortunately not true, if something is connected its connection will stay live but the SSID fails to be rebroadcast. This is therefore not a power saving feature, probably it is seen as a 'security' feature (or more likely just some programmers' bright ideas)

It is true. I use the hotspot on my iPad all the time still and used to use it on my iPhone for a couple of years as my only source of Internet.

As long as one device stays connected, the SSID is always broadcasted.

I wish there was a toggle for this, though. Either enable battery saving or always display SSID when the hotspot is left on. Leave battery saver on by default.

 

[beefcake jerky]

It is true. I use the hotspot on my iPad all the time still and used to use it on my iPhone for a couple of years as my only source of Internet.

As long as one device stays connected, the SSID is always broadcasted.

I wish there was a toggle for this, though. Either enable battery saving or always display SSID when the hotspot is left on. Leave battery saver on by default.

I really just signed up for this account on MacRumors to back up this guy Channan and CodeCavalier. They should give you an option whether you want to perms-broadcast your SSID or not.

I have 3 5V/2.4A batteries I can charge from if I want juice. I really do not care about battery drain, I have so much battery I'm in a state of surplus. I am like a battery surplus store bros. What I want is the connection.

It's a bit time consuming going to settings (for me that's a TouchID and 4 clicks) and waiting to broadcast SSID, then waiting on my other devices to scan for SSID and connect. I have another Android tablet in my car to be always-on and connected to OBDII for car diagnostics and stats and other fun stuff.

In fact, the timing on my Bluetooth OBDII adapter is so finicky that if you don't connect to it within like 10-20 seconds of turning on the car/adapter it "shuts off" in a similar way to the hotspot. It also only works on Bluetooth 2.0 SPP spec, and I don't know of any BLE ODBII adapters because of Apple's imposing prohibitive costs on MFI devices. It's a messy situation and I'm not sure how to find the best solution for my needs without spending a ton of money for no real reason... or well, becoming a hardware vendor.

I'm a Win/Mac/Linux developer btw. Maybe at least give me a Siri voice option to broadcast SSID, or a "swipey up from the bottom menu" (I forget the technical name) entry. I have an Android and Windows 10 tablet, they both do lots of things I still can't do on a Mac, I want them connecting through my Personal Hotspot and always connected no matter what.

What I'm not sure is, that the Apple Store folks tell me is the case, that it still works but just doesn't broadcast the SSID, or if it just turns OFF the hotspot altogether until you go back to the menu. If that's the case, I'm unsure how to set up those devices (I know this is not the appropriate forum) to try to connect even if no SSID is being broadcast.

 

[Azzin]

You all are not understanding.

Here is the scenario. I'm driving. My iPhone is plugged in and recharging. I don't care about battery drain. I have passengers with iPod touch, laptops, etc. that use WiFi, but not 3G. Now I have to show one of the passengers how to turn on Hotspot, or wait till I hit a red light and do it myself. If they close the laptop lid, then decide to open it again, we have to repeat the process. This gets old fast. If you think I'm not being serious, then you've obviously never spent all afternoon chauffeuring an SUV full of teenagers around town before.

You need a MiFi device, not an iPhone.

 

[riotxix]

I've also found that my iPhone SSID only broadcasts for a few minutes too (but a device that is connected will stay alive all day).

You could try tethering your phone to a single device which will broadcast a second hotspot without switching off.
E.g. a Windows PC tethered via USB cable which then broadcasts a second personal hotspot, or even a pocket battery powered (or USB powered if you are in a car) wireless repeater/access point device (could someone test this?).

Tip: swipe up from the homescreen, long press your Wifi button and you can switch the hotspot on and on without going into settings.

 

[palfvin]

I really just signed up for this account on MacRumors to back up this guy Channan and CodeCavalier.

Same here.

They should give you an option whether you want to perms-broadcast your SSID or not.

Agreed. All the arguments against this are non-sensical, in my opinion.