How to share Wi-Fi from your Mac with macOS Catalina

Despite all of the shortcomings with macOS Catalina’s recent update, there are still a lot of useful features. Many of the core features of macOS have been unchanged, and that includes sharing your Wi-Fi connection.

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This is a feature that has been around for quite some time, even before the rebranding to macOS. With Catalina, you can still share your Wi-Fi and here is how you can make it happen.

Why would you want to share Wi-Fi?

The most obvious answer to the question above is to provide an internet connection to another device. But diving a little bit deeper, a few reasons could be just sharing a faster Wi-Fi connection than what’s already available.

Another very useful reason for sharing Wi-Fi from your Mac is if you need to connect a device wirelessly but don’t want to pay for multiple devices. This allows you to work around that limitation without paying unnecessary money out of pocket.

How to share Wi-Fi from your Mac

Before getting started, it’s important to note that you cannot share a Wi-Fi network from a Mac to an iOS device. Your Mac must be connected to the network via an Ethernet cable (hard-wired), in order for this to work. Once your Mac is connected and set up, let’s get started.

Share Wi-Fi from Mac to iPhone or iPad

Now that you are ready to share your connection, you have to do a little preparation in the System Preferences app.

1. Open the System Preferences app on your Mac
2. Tap Sharing

From here, you must click on Internet Sharing as it needs to be enabled before being able to be used. Once you have it highlighted, a new panel will appear with a few more checkboxes. You must mark the checkbox labeled Wi-Fi and then go back and mark the checkbox for Internet Sharing.

After turning on Internet Sharing, you are presented with another sub-panel. This provides the settings for the “internet-sharing network” that is being created.

• Network Name – Change this to whatever you would like
• Channel – Leave the default input alone (don’t change this)
• Security – Change this WPA2 Personal
• Password – Enter a secure password that will be used to connect to your iOS device.

After you have created the network, one more sub-panel appears, making sure that you want to turn this on. Simply click Start and the network sharing will be enabled, creating a Wi-Fi connection for your iPhone or iPad to use.

Here’s what you do next:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone
2. Tap on Wi-Fi
3. Select the Name that you created for the network previously
4. Enter the password that you entered when creating the network
5. Enjoy

This will give you access to a faster Wi-Fi connection thanks to your Mac. And the best part is that you can use both your Mac and iOS device on this network without any issues. There may be a slight slow-down depending on whether you are watching videos online, but that should be the only hiccup.

Take advantage of Bluetooth

There is another way that you can create a Wi-Fi connection between your Mac and iOS device, and its with the help of Bluetooth. Essentially, you are creating a personal network powered by Bluetooth.

Before you can get your Mac and iOS device working together, there are a few pre-requisites that are required. First, Bluetooth must be turned on for both devices, as this is the primary means for this working.

You also must pair your iPhone with your Mac through Bluetooth in order for this to work. Here are the steps to pair your devices:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone
2. Tap Bluetooth
3. Leave this screen open

From your Mac:

1. Open System Preferences
2. Select Bluetooth
3. Locate your iPhone and click Connect

A code will appear on both the iPhone and Mac, which must confirm match by tapping Confirm on your iPhone. Voila! Your iPhone and Mac are now paired via Bluetooth.

Once this is done, you’ll need to get the internet connection rolling. This can be done by turning on the Personal Hotspot functionality of your iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone
2. Tap Personal Hotspot
3. Toggle Allow Others to Join to the On position

In the “old” days, you would be required to enter a passcode in order to pair these two devices. However, those days are long gone and it’s much easier.

Provided that the Bluetooth menu on your Mac is still open, right-click on your iPhone and click Connect to Network. The blue connection icon will appear in the top right-hand corner of your Mac and the two devices will now be connected.

This is just another way that you can take advantage of Apple’s ecosystem of products to get some work done. However it’s important to note that this method is nowhere near as fast as the other methods for sharing the network.

Conclusion

Apple has really killed the game when it comes to communicating between its own devices. Sharing or creating a Wi-Fi connection between both your iPhone and Mac is extremely easy, even with macOS Catalina.

Let us know if you run into any issues when trying to share Wi-Fi from your Mac. If you aren’t having problems, let us know some of your favorite tips and tricks when using your Mac and your iPhone or iPad.

Andrew Myrick

Andrew is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US.

He has written for a variety of sites over the years, including iMore, Android Central, Phandroid, and a few others. Now, he spends his days working for an HVAC company, while moonlighting as a freelance writer at night.