iOS 4.3 to Bring Mobile Hotspots to GSM iPhones, Pending Carrier Support? [Updated]
One of the major new features offered with the Verizon iPhone 4
announced today is support for turning the device into a
personal hotspot allowing up to five Wi-Fi devices to share the iPhone's cellular data connection. Personal hotspot support comes built directly into the operating system of the Verizon iPhone 4, which is running a new iOS 4.2.5.
According to both iPhoneclub.nl [Google translation] and iPhoneHellas [Google translation], Apple will be bringing the same personal hotspot support to current GSM iPhones with a forthcoming iOS 4.3 update.
The catch is that the functionality is also subject to the approval of individual carriers, requiring them to be onboard for allowing their customers to access the feature. For its part, AT&T has said that it is "evaluating" the hotspot feature and that it has "no plans to announce today".
Despite support for somewhat-similar Internet tethering via USB and Bluetooth included in iPhone OS 3.0 released in mid-2009 and with a number of international carriers moving quickly to support the feature, AT&T waited an entire year as it cited concerns over network performance before finally supporting the feature with the release of iOS 4.0.
Update: BGR has "confirmed" with one of its sources that the hotspot functionality will in fact come to all iPhones with iOS 4.3, which the source claims is due for release in March.
According to our source, the personal hotspot feature that debuted on the Verizon iPhone yesterday will, in fact, be making its way to all iPhones in iOS 4.3. We're sure there will need to be carrier support for this feature, and for AT&T users it is entirely possible we might not see this right away.
The report also offers several screenshots appearing to show the "Personal Hotspot" settings on a non-Verizon iPhone, including a change in the icon used for the service.
Popular Stories
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...
