Personal Hotspot Not Working on Your eSIM? Fixes That Work

If your Personal Hotspot won't work on a travel eSIM, the fault is almost always one of three things: the hotspot is sharing the wrong line's data, the data line is missing a tethering (APN) configuration, or your phone simply needs a restart after the eSIM was installed. Work through those in order and you'll fix the vast majority of hotspot failures without contacting anyone.

This guide walks each culprit in the order it's most likely to be the problem, with separate sections for iPhone and Android, and an honest note on whether your plan permits tethering at all.

Check which line your hotspot shares

Your Personal Hotspot doesn't have a data source of its own — it shares whichever line is currently selected for Mobile Data. If that's still your home SIM, the hotspot will either fail or try to bill your home carrier's roaming rates. The single most common fix is confirming the travel eSIM is the active data line before you switch the hotspot on.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Hotspot switches itself off instantly	No active data line, or the selected line has no signal	Set the travel eSIM as the Mobile Data line and confirm it shows bars
Devices connect but get no internet	Hotspot is sharing your home SIM, which has roaming off	Change the Mobile Data line to the travel eSIM
Hotspot works but data is unexpectedly slow	Sharing a weak home-SIM signal, not the local eSIM network	Re-select the eSIM and check it's on a local network
Personal Hotspot toggle is greyed out or gone	Data line lacks tethering carrier settings	See the iPhone and Android sections below

Set the correct line first. On most phones this lives under Settings, in the mobile or SIM section, where you choose which line handles Mobile Data. Once the eSIM is the data line and shows a signal, try the hotspot again before touching anything else.

iPhone: the Personal Hotspot menu disappears

On iPhone, a vanishing Personal Hotspot option is the classic symptom of a data line whose carrier settings don't include a tethering configuration. It looks alarming — the menu is simply not there — but it's rarely a hardware fault. Walk these steps in order:

1. Re-select the line. Go to Settings, then Mobile Data (or Mobile Service), and make sure your travel eSIM is chosen for Mobile Data.
2. Toggle Mobile Data off and on. Turn the data switch off, wait ten seconds, and switch it back on. This forces the phone to re-read the line's settings.