How to Enable Internet Sharing on Mac

Do you want to enable internet sharing from your Mac to your other Apple devices?

We are sure you are familiar with using your iPhone’s personal hotspot feature. This is very handy especially if you are traveling. Wi-Fi is very popular in most countries but believe it or not, there are some that have limited access. In other countries, you are not gonna get it at a cheap price.

You have a huge advantage if you travel with your Mac. Some places all around the world do not have Wi-Fi access, but you can still set up your own internet and share it with your friends and family. When you have your Mac, the options of getting an internet source is much higher. Aside from Wi-Fi, you can use ethernet or cellular data.

Our guide for today is about how to enable internet sharing on your Mac. If you can set up a personal hotspot on your iPhone, you can do that on your Mac, too. There are a variety of ways on how to do it as well.

Let’s dive in!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. 1. Share via Wi-Fi with Ethernet as Internet Source
   2. Enable Internet via Wi-Fi with Cellular Data as Internet Source
   3. Sharing via Bluetooth with Wi-Fi as Internet Source
   4. Enable Your Internet via USB Cable with Wi-Fi as Internet Source

How to Enable Internet Sharing on Mac: 4 Ways

1. Share via Wi-Fi with Ethernet as Internet Source.

In certain places such as hotels, they will only provide you an ethernet cable so you can connect your laptop to the internet. That would be a problem because your phone does not have an ethernet port. Don’t worry, you can set up your Mac as a personal Wi-Fi hotspot device. 

1. First and foremost, go to your Mac, click on the Apple menu and then click on System Preferences.
2. Next, find and click Sharing option, and then click Internet Sharing.
3. From there, click the “Share your connection from” pop-up menu, then find and choose Ethernet.
4. Now select how you want to share your internet connection in the “To computers using” list. To share your internet connection via Wi-Fi, select Wi-Fi.

5. Next is click on Wi-Fi Options and provide your Wi-Fi network a name.
6. Then click the Security menu and choose WPA2 Personal, create a password for your Wi-Fi network, then click OK.

7. Finally, select and click the Internet Sharing checkbox to finalize the setup.

Now that you have created your own Wi-Fi network, you and your friends can enjoy the internet connection together. Just look for the Wi-Fi name on the list and connect using the password that you created for security. But what if you don’t have internet source using ethernet cable? Let’s see how else you can enable internet sharing on your Mac!

2. Enable Internet via Wi-Fi with Cellular Data.

There might also be a way to share an internet connection if your internet source is a USB modem. Some cellular data modems have built-in tethering feature, but some don’t, especially the USB dongles. You can use your Mac instead to share that connection for you. 

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Go ahead and connect your Cellular Modem into your Mac using a USB Cable.
2. Next, on your Mac, click on the Apple menu and then click on System Preferences.

3. From there, find and click Sharing option, and then click Internet Sharing.
4. Then click the “Share your connection from” pop-up menu, then find and choose Cellular Modem. In some cases, you will see the brand of the Cellular Modem instead.
5. Now select how you want to share your internet connection in the “To computers using” list. To share your internet connection via Wi-Fi, select Wi-Fi.
6. After that, click on Wi-Fi Options and provide your Wi-Fi network a name.
7. Then click the Security menu and choose WPA2 Personal, create a password for your Wi-Fi network, then click OK.

8. Finally, select and click the Internet Sharing checkbox to finalize the setup.

The same with the first method, you can connect to your personal Wi-Fi network by finding the network name and entering the password you created for the network. But what if you don’t have both ethernet and cellular data as an internet source? Check out the next method.

3. Sharing via Bluetooth with Wi-Fi as Internet Source.

If you were given one Wi-Fi password in your hotel, for instance, you can still share it with your iPhone using Bluetooth connection. You cannot use the same Wi-Fi device as a source and sharer at the same time. You can use your Bluetooth connection instead. 

1. Go ahead and click on the Apple menu and then click on System Preferences on your Mac.
2. Then, find and click the Sharing option, and then click Internet Sharing.
3. From there, click the “Share your connection from” pop-up menu, then find and choose Wi-Fi.
4. Now turn on your Bluetooth in your Mac.
5. Back on your iPhone, go to Settings, and then toggle Bluetooth option to enable it.
6. Next, go to Settings, then Cellular Data, and tap on Personal Hotspot.

7. Now, to pair your iPhone and Mac, open up the Bluetooth pane in System Preferences and wait for your iPhone to appear, and then click on Connect.

8. Then, click on Pair on your iPhone to pair it with your Mac. Tap Pair and enter the code from your Mac screen.
9. After that, the Bluetooth icon will appear in the top left of your iPhone screen indicating the devices are connected. On your Mac, the usual symbol showing Wi-Fi will show an arrow.
10. Finally, on your iPhone, go to Wi-Fi and find the Mac you want to link to. You will see the option to join the Personal Hotspot, click on Join. Provide a password if you created one.

Now that you have connected your iPhone to the internet using a Bluetooth connection, make sure to use it near your Mac. Bluetooth works only in a limited range, and it will disconnect if devices are far away from each other.

If you have an extra Wi-Fi dongle, you can also use it to share the internet connection. All you need to do is define which Wi-Fi device is the source and which will be the sharer. If you don’t have Bluetooth, let’s go check our next method.

4. Enable Your Internet via USB Cable with Wi-Fi.

If you don’t have Bluetooth, you can still share your internet on your Mac with the use of USB connectivity. But sad to say, you can only share it with one device. It will also be at a limited range of how far your USB cable can go. This might be an inconvenience but it will work if you need the connection. 

1. Go ahead and connect your iPhone to your Mac using a lightning USB cable.
2. Next, on your Mac, click on the Apple menu and then click on System Preferences.
3. From there, find and click Sharing option, and then click Internet Sharing.
4. Now click the “Share your connection from” pop-up menu, then find and choose Wi-Fi.
5. Then select how you want to share your internet connection in the “To computers using” list. To share your internet connection via Phone USB, select Phone USB.

6. Finally, select and click the Internet Sharing checkbox to finalize the setup.

Now you may be able to use the internet in your iPhone through USB connection in your Mac. But don’t worry, as these are just ideas on how to do internet sharing using your Mac. It will come handy someday, but for now, most of the countries have Wi-Fi internet access. You may be able to connect each device separately into the Wi-Fi network.

If you have questions regarding Apple devices, you can always contact Apple Support. The good thing about it is that you can send them feedback whenever you have difficulties using Apple devices. You can also request a feature for your device if you have suggestions to make the feature more user-friendly.

We hope that you find this guide useful and learned how to enable internet sharing on Mac. If you have questions related to this topic, please feel free to leave a comment below and we will try our best to help out.

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