Hotspot mode: keep a tethered connection from dropping

An iPhone's Personal Hotspot tends to drop the connection when it thinks nobody's using it, and a sleeping Mac makes that worse. Hotspot mode keeps the connection busy and the Mac awake for as long as it's on.

Turn it on

• Browse all › Network — flip the switch on Hotspot mode PREMIUM.
• Menu bar — click the Mainspring icon, then Hotspot mode under Network.

Turn it off the same way.

What it does while it's on

• Checks in every 25 seconds. Mainspring makes a tiny request to Apple's standard connectivity-check address, captive.apple.com, so there's always a little traffic and the phone doesn't treat the connection as idle.
• Keeps the Mac awake, the same way Keep awake does, renewing itself as needed.
• Pauses Power Nap. When you turn Hotspot mode off, Mainspring puts Power Nap back the way you had it.

Only while Mainspring is running

As the card says, Hotspot mode is “Active while Mainspring is running.” Quitting Mainspring stops the check-ins and the keep-awake; if you quit with it switched on, it resumes the next time Mainspring opens. Closing the window is fine — Mainspring keeps running in the menu bar.