Apple’s iOS 18.2 software permits you to use the iPhone Mirroring feature while sharing your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot with a Mac.
iPhone Mirroring is part of Continuity, Apple’s umbrella term for a set of features that enable iPhone, iPad and Mac to work better together. With iPhone Mirroring, for example, you can run iPhone apps on your Mac without installing them, receive iPhone notifications on your computer, use drag and drop, and more.
But iPhone Mirroring has a fundamental flaw that limits its usability for digital nomads like myself—you cannot mirror your iPhone while sharing its cellular connection with your Mac using the Personal Hotspot feature.
iOS 18.2: iPhone Mirroring while sharing iPhone’s Personal Hotspot with a Mac
That’s precisely what I do every day when blogging from coffee shops and public libraries. I turn on Personal Hotspot on my iPhone and then connect to it via the Wi-Fi menu on my Mac. I have unlimited cellular data, and sharing my iPhone’s cellular connection allows me to work from pretty much anywhere there’s a cellular signal.
But every time I wanted to use iPhone Mirroring, I had to disconnect my Mac from the iPhone’s Personal Hotspot. On iOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2, iPhone Mirroring works even with the hotspot connection active.
iPhone Mirroring requires an iPhone powered by iOS 18 or later and a Mac powered by Apple silicon or an Intel-based Mac equipped with Apple’s T2 Security Chip, using macOS Sequoia or later.
iOS 18.2 will be released to the public in December. It will bring the second wave of Apple Intelligence features (Image Playground, Image Wand, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration, etc.) and a bunch of under-the-hood changes, like the double-click speed for Camera Control, limiting the volume of the built-in speaker, two-stage shutter, location sharing for AirTag and third-party trackers, etc.