How to Check Hotspot Data Usage on iPhone and Android

See how much data your hotspot used on iPhone and Android, which device used it, how much a laptop uses on a hotspot, and how to make your laptop use less.

5 min readUpdated

The short answer

On iPhone with iOS 26.4 or later, open Settings > Personal Hotspot and tap Data Usage to see how much each connected device used. On older versions, look for Personal Hotspot in the list under Settings > Cellular.

On Android, open your mobile data usage screen and look for the hotspot or tethering line in the app list. Everything shared over a hotspot comes out of your phone's cellular (mobile) data plan.

Check hotspot data on iPhone

iOS 26.4 and later

  1. 1Open Settings > Personal Hotspot.
  2. 2Tap Data Usage, below the Maximize Compatibility switch.
  3. 3Read the total, and the amount used by each device that joined your hotspot.

The option only appears if your hotspot has been used recently. Apple devices on iOS 26.4 or macOS 26.4 show up by name. Android phones, Windows laptops and Apple devices on older software are grouped as Other Devices.

Earlier versions

  1. 1Open Settings > Cellular (or Mobile Data or Mobile Service).
  2. 2Scroll down the app list and tap Personal Hotspot to see the devices that used it.
These numbers count from the last time you tapped Reset Statistics at the bottom of the Cellular screen, not from the start of the month. Resetting also clears the hotspot figures. See How to Check Data Usage on iPhone for how to line the count up with your billing day.

To see who is connected right now, open Control Center. It shows the devices using your Personal Hotspot.

Check hotspot data on Android

Menu names vary by phone maker and Android version, but the steps are similar.

  1. 1Pixel and most Android phones: open Settings > Network & internet > SIMs, then tap App data usage.
  2. 2Samsung Galaxy: open Settings > Connections > Data usage and tap Mobile data usage.
  3. 3In the app list, look for a line called something like Hotspot & tethering or Tethering & portable hotspot. That is the total shared with other devices in the chosen period.

Android usually shows one total for the hotspot, not how much each connected device used. Because hotspot traffic is mobile data, the data warning and limit in the same settings apply to it. On Pixel, set them under Settings > Network & internet > SIMs > Data warning & limit.

Check with your carrier

Your carrier's figure is the one you are billed on. Some plans have a separate hotspot allowance, and your carrier's app shows how much of it is left. Google Fi, for example, shows your phone and any tethered devices separately in the Fi app. Verizon lets you turn on alerts for mobile hotspot use in My Verizon.

How much data a laptop uses on a hotspot

A laptop on your hotspot uses the same data for a task as your phone would. Vodafone puts it simply: a movie streamed on a tethered device uses as much as streaming it on the phone. The difference is that laptops tend to do heavier things, at higher quality, for longer.

AT&T's estimates per hour:

  • Music streaming: about 30 MB.
  • SD video: about 240 MB.
  • Video calls (FaceTime, Zoom): about 480 MB.
  • HD video: about 900 MB.

Netflix in HD on a computer can use up to 3 GB an hour, so one two-hour movie on a laptop can use about 6 GB of your plan. See How Much Data Does Netflix Use? for the full numbers. Software updates and cloud backups add more, often without you noticing.

Make your laptop use less on a hotspot

Mac

  1. 1While connected to the hotspot, open System Settings > Wi-Fi.
  2. 2Click Details next to the hotspot network and turn on Low Data Mode.

If you connect to your iPhone over USB instead, the same switch is under System Settings > Network, in the details for the iPhone's USB connection.

Windows

  1. 1Open Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi and select the hotspot network.
  2. 2Turn on Metered connection. Windows then holds back many updates and background downloads on that network.
Windows treats Wi-Fi networks as not metered by default, so it won't know your phone's hotspot is on a data plan unless you tell it.

If several devices share your hotspot and you are not sure which one is to blame, see Which Device Is Using All My Wi-Fi Data? How to Find Out.

Summary

  • iPhone (iOS 26.4 and later): Settings > Personal Hotspot > Data Usage shows data per connected device.
  • Older iPhones: Settings > Cellular, then Personal Hotspot in the app list. The count runs since the last reset.
  • Android: the hotspot appears as one line in the app data usage list, not per device.
  • A laptop uses the same data per task as a phone, but HD video and video calls add up fast.
  • Turn on Low Data Mode (Mac) or Metered connection (Windows) for the hotspot network.

Sources

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