My project is a beam-break, race timer. There is a set of two poles for race start and another two for the race end. All 4 poles contain a Photon in WiFi mode which communicate with an iPhone which is the user interface and the stop-watch timer functions. Due to iPhone security constraints, it cannot be an access point. I currently use a makerfocus product to provide access point functions (DHCP, etc). I would like it if a designated Photon could become the access point for the timer network. Please let me know if this is possible.
For the Photon as AP, there might be ways to shoehorn that in in a rather limited way, but I wouldn't go down that rabit hole. It was intended as a more suitable feature, but never took off.
Of what kind? Technically it should work.
If you really can't use a phone hotspot, I'd go with some other mobile (pocket) hotspot.