In the olden days, cellular data was slow and prohibitively expensive, forcing people to frantically search for Wi-Fi spots when away from home (it's one of the early reasons why Starbucks got popular; every venue had a working Wi-Fi hotspot back in the early aughts).

This is no longer the case. Personally, I almost never bother with Wi-Fi because the data plan on my phone allows me to do serious work on the go without ever worrying about the data expenditure.

Apple must've realized that, which is why the company introduced a small but important option in macOS Tahoe 26 : You can now set your Mac to automatically join an iPhone hotspot (via MacRumors ).

To do so, go to Settings - Wi-Fi - and under "Ask to join hotspots" you can now choose between "Never," "Ask To Join," and "Automa

See Full Page