Mac joins the iPhone hotspot but has no internet

A hotspot connection is only the link to the iPhone. The internet can still fail on the iPhone's cellular data, at the carrier, in DNS or on the Mac.

Fix this with your agentCopies a prompt for Claude Code, Codex or any agent that can use Terminal.

My Mac has this problem: Mac joins the iPhone hotspot but has no internet. Read https://kilobat.app/guides/hotspot-connected-no-internet-mac.md and work through it with me. Install the Kilobat CLI if it’s missing: brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat. Run the guide’s Terminal and kilobat checks yourself and tell me what you find. List the steps only I can do. Ask before you change any setting.

Applies to: Current iOS versions and macOS 14 and later. The Terminal commands work on all current versions.Checked: 7 November 2026

Symptoms

The Wi-Fi menu shows the Personal Hotspot icon, but pages do not load.
Safari says that you are not connected to the internet.
The iPhone loads pages over cellular data, but the Mac does not.
The internet worked on the hotspot, then stopped in the middle of the month.

Likely causes

The iPhone has no working cellular data. The hotspot shares the cellular connection of the iPhone. If the iPhone has no data, the Mac has none.
The carrier limits or blocks hotspot use. Some plans leave hotspot out, or stop it or slow it after a hotspot allowance. Only the carrier can change this.
No valid address. An address that starts with 169.254 means that the Mac did not get an address from the iPhone. See Mac has a self-assigned IP address.
Another network service carries the traffic. A connected Ethernet adapter or another service above Wi-Fi can take the default route. See Mac uses the wrong network connection.
A VPN, filter or iCloud Private Relay. Apple says that some networks are not compatible with Private Relay. A VPN that cannot reach its server can also stop traffic.
DNS fails. The link works, but names do not resolve. See DNS not resolving on a Mac.

How to check

On the iPhone, turn off Wi-Fi. Open a web page in Safari. This tests the cellular data.
On the Mac, show the address and router of the Wi-Fi service. An iPhone hotspot router is usually 172.20.10.1.
```
networksetup -getinfo Wi-Fi
```
Show the interface that the default route uses. For a Wi-Fi hotspot, it is the Wi-Fi interface.
```
route -n get default
```
Ping the iPhone. Use the router address from the first command.
```
ping -c 5 172.20.10.1
```
Ping an internet address. This test does not use DNS.
```
ping -c 5 1.1.1.1
```
Look up a name. If the ping works but this fails, DNS is the problem.
```
dscacheutil -q host -a name apple.com
```
In the carrier's app, look at the hotspot data that is left.

How to fix it

If the iPhone has no data, fix that first. Abroad, see iPhone has no mobile data abroad.
If the hotspot allowance is used up, add data or wait for the next bill.
If the address starts with 169.254, turn Wi-Fi off and on. Then join the hotspot again.
To renew the address, choose System Settings > Wi-Fi. Click Details, then TCP/IP, then Renew DHCP Lease.
If another service has the default route, disconnect it or change the service order.
Turn off the VPN or filter app for a test, if you can. See VPN connected but no internet on a Mac.
To test without Private Relay, turn off Limit IP address tracking for the hotspot. See Limit IP address tracking on a Mac.
Restart the iPhone and the Mac.
Reset network settings on the iPhone. Choose Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
Try a USB cable instead of Wi-Fi. See Connect a Mac to an iPhone hotspot with a USB cable.

With Kilobat

Check the link, the internet, DNS and login pages in one step.
```
kilobat diagnose
```
If one site or service fails, find the layer that stops it.
```
kilobat why example.com
```
See which interface the default route uses, and whether a VPN carries the traffic.
```
kilobat ip
```
See whether downloads on this hotspot stop at one of the speeds that carriers use as caps.
```
kilobat hotspot
```
The CLI is free. In the app, the advice from these checks is part of Kilobat Pro.

Questions

The iPhone has internet, but the Mac does not. Is the iPhone at fault?

Not always. The carrier can treat hotspot traffic in a different way from the phone's own traffic. Ask the carrier whether the plan includes hotspot.

Does Reset Network Settings delete my data?

No. Apple says that it removes saved Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN and APN settings.

Why does the hotspot work for a few pages, then stop?

Look for a data cap first. Then look at the VPN. A VPN with a kill switch stops traffic when it loses its server.

Sources

Apple Support: If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
Apple Support: Share the internet connection from your iPhone or iPad with your Mac
Apple Support: If your Mac isn't connecting to the internet over Wi-Fi
Apple Support: About iCloud Private Relay
Apple Support: Manage iCloud Private Relay for specific websites, networks, or system settings
networksetup(8), route(8), ping(8) and dscacheutil(1), man pages installed with macOS 27.2
Kilobat docs: Hotspot throttling

Checked on 7 November 2026.