How to Use Your Phone as a Hotspot for Your Tablet

Stop paying for a separate tablet data plan. Use your phone’s cellular connection to provide internet access to your tablet via Personal Hotspot.

1. Enable Personal Hotspot on your phone. Open Settings on your phone and tap Personal Hotspot. Toggle the Allow Others to Join switch to the ON position. Ensure the Wi-Fi Password field is populated with a secure, recognizable string.
2. Connect the tablet to the network. Open Settings on your tablet and navigate to Wi-Fi. Locate your phone’s network name in the list of available connections. Select the network and enter the password you defined in the previous step.
3. Confirm the connection. Check the status bar of your tablet for the Wi-Fi icon. Once connected, open a browser and navigate to a website to confirm active internet throughput. Your phone's status bar will display a blue indicator to signify an active tethered connection.
4. Enable Low Data Mode. To prevent background processes from consuming your phone's data, go to the tablet’s Wi-Fi settings. Tap the Info icon (i) next to your phone's hotspot name and toggle Low Data Mode to ON. This restricts background app updates and syncs.
5. Use Auto-Join Hotspot. On your tablet, navigate to Settings > Wi-Fi > Auto-Join Hotspot. Set this to Automatic. Your tablet will now automatically request a connection from your phone whenever a known network is unavailable.