How to Tether an iPhone or iPad to your PC via Wi-Fi

This is the most efficient way to tether your iPhone to a PC: it's fast and it's wireless. This article shows you the steps to do this, and how to share that connection with your other devices using Connectify Hotspot.

Hardware requirements: internal Wi-Fi card, external Wi-Fi USB adapter (optional)

Step 1: Download and install Connectify Hotspot on your PC. Your iPhone's Personal Hotspot shows up on your PC as an ordinary Wi-Fi connection, so every edition of Connectify Hotspot can share it as a Wi-Fi hotspot, including Hotspot Lite (free). Sharing it to a router or other Ethernet devices (Wired router) needs Hotspot PRO or MAX.

Step 2: Make sure you have a Wi-Fi card installed on your PC and it’s on. Open Windows Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi and check that Wi-Fi is turned on. If your computer doesn’t have an internal Wi-Fi card, get an external Wi-Fi USB adapter and plug it into a USB port of your PC. Windows will install the appropriate drivers, or you may be required to install them - just see the documentation you get with the device. You may need to restart your PC before being able to use the external Wi-Fi USB adapter.

Step 3: Create a Wi-Fi hotspot on your iPhone (Wi-Fi tethering). To do this, go to Settings on your iPhone's home screen, tap Personal Hotspot and turn on Allow Others to Join.

Step 4: Configure the Wi-Fi hotspot on your iPhone. When you go into the Personal Hotspot menu, you can also see and change the Wi-Fi password used by other devices to connect. The hotspot's name (SSID) is your iPhone's name.

Step 5: Connect your PC to the Wi-Fi network. Click the network icon at the right end of the taskbar. On Windows 11, click the arrow next to Wi-Fi to see the list of networks. Make sure Wi-Fi is on, select the Wi-Fi hotspot you set up on your iPhone, and click Connect. Enter your password and you’re good to go.

Step 6: Share the connection with Connectify Hotspot. On the Hotspot screen, choose your iPhone's Wi-Fi network under Internet to share, and then click Start hotspot.

For every step, see How to Set up Connectify Hotspot.