Find a MAC: Apple Devices

Modified on Fri, 1 Mar, 2024 at 1:43 PM

A MAC address (or physical address, or hardware address) is a unique identifier that each network-enabled device possesses. A MAC address is much like a Social Security Number for each device. If a device has both Wifi and ethernet (i.e. both wireless and wired connection) capabilities, it will possess a different MAC address for each connection type.

MAC addresses consist of 12 hexadecimal characters (the letters A through F and numbers 0 through 9).

Examples:

01:23:45:AB:CD:EF
01-23-45-AB-CD-EF
012345ABCDEF

NOTE: you are looking for your MAC address for Wi-Fi, not the physical MAC

Apple computers/macOS

Wifi MAC Address

Click on the Apple logo on the top left bar of your computer and click System Preferences:
Click on Network:
Click Advanced at the bottom:
Locate Wi-Fi MAC Address at the bottom:

Wired MAC Address

Select System Preferences from the Apple menu located on the top left-hand corner

Select Network from the System Preferences panel.

Select the Advanced button corresponding to the Built-in Ethernet or Network Adapter (depending on how you access the network).

Select Hardware from the centered menu of the page. Your MAC address will be listed next to a field labeled with the same name.

iOS/iPadOS

Finding the MAC address when connected to Wi-Fi:

If you're currently connected to a Wi-Fi network, following these steps (see below for locating the MAC address when not connected to Wi-Fi):

Go to Settings and click on Wi-Fi:
On the currently selected Wi-Fi network, click the blue info button:
Disable Private Address:

What is a Private Address?
In iOS 14, Apple now enables a new feature called Private Address which randomizes your MAC address. We recommend disabling this feature to prevent having to re-login every time your MAC address changes. When you disable this feature, your MAC address will change back to its original address.
See more info from Apple

A prompt will appear asking you to confirm. Click Rejoin:
Locate the changed Wi-Fi Address:

Be sure to enable Auto-Join to reconnect to the network.

Finding the MAC address when not connected to Wi-Fi:

Go to Settings and click on General:
Click on About:
Scroll down and locate Wi-Fi Address:

Apple TV

Using your Apple TV remote, navigate to the Settings icon and select it.
From the Settings menu, select General.
Under General, select Network.
Your MAC address will be displayed next to either Wi-Fi Address or Ethernet Address, depending on whether you are connected to Wi-Fi or a wired connection.

Note: If a MAC address second character is a 2, 6, A, or E, then it is a randomized address.