Can You Connect Apple TV to a Mobile Hotspot?

So you’ve finally went ahead, bit the bullet, and put down your hard-earned cash for an Apple TV streaming box. However, if you don’t have a stable Wi-Fi connection or if you’re traveling with your Apple TV you may want to try to connect Apple TV to a mobile hotspot.

In this short guide, I’m going to show you the easiest and most simple way to do it so you can begin enjoying your content.

Can You Connect Apple TV to a Mobile Hotspot?

Picture of an Apple TV and remote

Yes. To connect Apple TV to a mobile hotspot, you will first need to enable the hotspot on your mobile device. After that, you will need to enter the network settings on the Apple TV itself and connect to the hotspot. It’s a very straightforward process, and is easy to do, even if you aren’t familiar with Apple TVs.

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How To Connect Apple TV to a Hotspot

To do it correctly and avoid headaches, you’re going to need to follow these steps in order, without skipping any of them. If you do anything wrong or skip a step it will not work and cause frustration. So let’s get started.

Start a Hotspot on iPhone:

  1. From The Home Screen Tap The Settings Icon On Your iPhone
  2. Open Hotspot Settings Menu
  3. Allow Others To Join & Make Note Of Your Wi-Fi Password
  4. Go Back To The Home Screen On your iPhone & Open Your Control Center By Swiping Down From The Top Right Corner
  5. Tap And Hold The Top Left Square To Bring Up Additional Connectivity Option
  6. Tap On The Personal Hotspot Icon To Enable The Hotspot.
  7. Power On Your Apple TV, Scroll Down To The Settings Icon, and Open The Settings Menu
  8. Scroll Down To The Network Tab In The Settings Menu And Open It
  9. On The Network Settings Screen, Choose “Wi-Fi”
  10. Find Your iPhone’s Hotspot Network.
  11. Enter Your Hotspot Wi-Fi Password
  12. Use the Apple TV remote to type in the password
  13. Verify You’re Connected & Begin Streaming Content

After you enter your password you may see the spinning wheel icon for a few moments as the Apple TV works to connect to your Hotspot. Once it is connected you’ll be taken back to the Network settings screen and you will see your Phone’s Network Name next to “Wi-Fi.” This means you are connected and can begin using the Apple TV.

You can also connect a Chromecast, Roku, and a Fire TV to a mobile hotspot too.

Can You Connect Apple TV to an Android Hotspot?

You can connect an Apple TV to an Android hotspot, it will connect to any Wi-fi network. Start a mobile hotspot on Android pull pulling down the notifications tab and toggling on the mobile hotspot. It should work with no problems. 

One thing to note is that Apple-specific features like AirPlay won’t work when the AppleTV is connected to an Android hotspot.

Can You Cast To Apple TV from Android?

You can cast to an Apple TV from Android but need a separate app to get the Android and Apple devices playing together. It’s called AllCast. It’s available for free on the Google Play Store. It’s very simple and straightforward to set up and get working as well.

There are a couple of issues though. First is the free version is ad-supported so you may see some ads on your phone will casting content. The second is that AllCast seems to have mixed reviews when it comes to how well it works.

Some people say it works fine, others can’t seem to get it working at all on newer Apple TVs. Since it’s free it is worth a try though.

Downsides to Using Apple TV with a Mobile Hotspot

The biggest issue you’ll run across is the amount of mobile data that is used. If you’re streaming in HD or UHD the bandwidth is very high and can use most of your mobile data, spanning into the many tens of Gigabytes or more.

Many phone plans have data caps and penalize you with slower internet speeds and fees if you go over the data limits, which can easily happen when using your mobile hotspot with Apple TV. 

I recommend you double-check your plan before streaming to get an idea of how much leeway you have. Some phone companies are now providing unlimited data plans, albeit at a higher cost. Be aware that some companies offer unlimited plans but throttle your connection once you reach a certain data usage limit. 

Conclusion

As you can see it’s a fairly straightforward process to connect Apple TV to a mobile hotspot. I know that working with technology can be intimidating, especially if you are unfamiliar.

So all you need to do is simply follow the steps we’ve outline here and you’ll be good to go. If you’ve found this guide helpful please feel free to leave a comment for me below and I’d be happy to hear from you.

Thanks and happy Hotspot connecting!

2 thoughts on “Can You Connect Apple TV to a Mobile Hotspot?”

  1. My Apple TV 3rd generation does not connect to my iphone 11 (iOS 15.2). The problem is that after step #10 (selecting iphone hotspot network on apple TV), apple TV does not ask for the hotspot password. Instead, immediately the following error message shows up on apple TV: “There was a problem connecting to the network. The Wi-Fi password you entered is not correct. Try again. (-100)”
    However, apple TV did not ask me for the passwort! (It does, if I try to connect to my home WLAN though. So the problem must be with the iphone hot spot.)
    Can you help?

    Reply

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