Can I combine Wi-Fi and my iPhone's Internet connection on my Mac? You can, with Speedify

This article explains how to combine your Mac's Wi-Fi connection with your iPhone's 4G/5G cellular connection using Speedify. Combining both internet connections gives you faster upload and download speeds and a more reliable connection.

What You'll Need

  • A Mac connected to a Wi-Fi network
  • An iPhone with an active cellular data plan that supports Personal Hotspot
  • A USB cable to connect your iPhone to your Mac
  • Speedify installed on your Mac

Let's Get Started

Step 1

Connect your Mac to a Wi-Fi network. Click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar at the top right of your screen. If Wi-Fi is off, choose Turn Wi-Fi On. Then select a nearby Wi-Fi network from the list. Private networks will ask you to enter a password before connecting.

For more help with this step, see Apple's guide to connecting to Wi-Fi on Mac.

Step 2

Enable Personal Hotspot on your iPhone. Personal Hotspot lets your iPhone share its 4G/5G cellular data connection with other devices over Wi-Fi, USB, or Bluetooth.

On your iPhone, go to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot or Settings > Personal Hotspot, then turn the switch on.

Note: If you don't see Personal Hotspot in your Settings, contact your carrier to confirm that your plan supports it.

For more help with this step, see Apple's guide to using Personal Hotspot.

Step 3

Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable. If a prompt appears on your iPhone asking "Trust This Computer?", tap Trust.

Next, open System Settings (or System Preferences on older versions of macOS) and click Network. Select iPhone USB from the list on the left. In the panel on the right, make sure the Disable unless needed checkbox is unchecked.

System Preferences Network panel showing the 'Disable unless needed' checkbox unchecked for iPhone USB

For more help with this step, see Apple's guide to USB tethering on Mac.

Step 4

Download and install Speedify on your Mac if you haven't already. Once it's running, Speedify will automatically detect both your Wi-Fi connection and your tethered iPhone's cellular connection, and combine them. You'll get faster upload and download speeds along with a more stable connection.

Speedify's Pair & Share Feature

If you'd rather avoid the USB cable, you can use Speedify's Pair & Share feature to combine internet connections across devices wirelessly. Here's how to set it up:

  1. Install Speedify on all the devices you want to pair.
  2. Make sure all devices are on the same Wi-Fi network or local network.
  3. Open Pair & Share in Speedify and tap the device you want to pair with to send an invitation.
  4. Accept the invitation on the other device.

Once paired, devices can share and use each other's internet connections at the same time. Internet traffic between paired devices is fully encrypted, and you stay in control of which devices can share what. You can set limits, adjust permissions, or unpair devices at any time.

Did you know - Speedify can combine more than two internet connections at once, not just Wi-Fi and cellular. The more connections you add, the more speed and reliability you get. Learn how Speedify combines multiple internet connections.