iPhone Tutorial: Set up a Personal Hotspot for WiFi on the move

If you’ve ever been out and about with your iPhone and laptop and wanted to get online, your only choice was to use the (albeit very capable) mobile browser on the iOS device to get to your favourite sites. Other smartphones could use their 3G connections to create a small Wi-Fi hotspot which would let them browse the web in full size through their laptop, and now (well, since the introduction of iOS 4.3) the iPhone can do it too.

One of the most exciting things about this update is that it almost entirely removes the need to buy an iPad with both Wi-Fi and 3G data if you have an iPhone. You can create a Personal Hotspot with a password of your choice and use the data from your iPhone to browse the internet using your iPad.

Step 1: Setting up
Fire up your iPhone’s settings app, you’ll see the Personal Hotspot tab right near the top of all of the different available options.

Step 2: Keep it secret
By default, the Personal Hotspot is turned off, and you will have been given a randomly generated password other devices need in order to connect.

Step 3: Choices, choices
If Wi-Fi is turned off you can still use Bluetooth or a USB connection to share data. You will be asked which to use when you turn the hotspot on.

Step 4: Randomised?
You can leave your password if you wish, as there will be a mix of numbers and letters to make the connection as secure as possible.

Step 5: Keep it safe
Changing your password will help you to keep things a little more private, and remember to make it something memorable to save time later.

Step 6: The thin blue line
Once you’re set up and another device has connected to your Personal Hotspot, a bar at the top of the screen will show the data being used.

Click on the image below to zoom in on the annotations.