How to Find Your MAC Address on iOS

Modified on Wed, 15 Oct at 4:42 AM

A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a unique identifier for your device's Wi-Fi hardware. You might need this address to connect to certain Wi-Fi networks or for network troubleshooting. Here’s how to find it on your iPhone or iPad.

Understanding Private Wi-Fi Addresses

Before you look for your MAC address, it's important to know about a privacy feature on iOS called Private Wi-Fi Address. To protect your privacy, your iPhone or iPad uses a different, randomized MAC address for each Wi-Fi network it joins.

For most situations, you will want to use this Private Wi-Fi Address when a network asks for a MAC address. If you turn this feature off, your device will use its permanent, hardware MAC address for that specific network.

How to Find the MAC Address for a Specific Wi-Fi Network

This is the most common way to find the MAC address your device is currently using for a particular network.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on Wi-Fi.
Find the Wi-Fi network you are currently connected to and tap the blue "i" icon next to it.
On the next screen, you will see a field labeled Wi-Fi Address. This is the MAC address for this specific network.

How to Find Your Device's Hardware MAC Address

If you need the permanent, non-randomized MAC address of your device, you can find it in the "About" section.

Open the Settings app.
Tap on General.
Tap on About.
Scroll down, and you will see a field labeled Wi-Fi Address. This is your device's hardware MAC address.

Note: This address will be different from the Private Wi-Fi Address used for individual networks.

When to Use Which MAC Address

For most Wi-Fi networks: Use the Private Wi-Fi Address found in the settings for that specific network. This enhances your privacy and is the recommended approach.
For specific network configurations: If you are on a network that requires a consistent MAC address for device identification (like some corporate or home networks with MAC filtering), you may need to provide the hardware MAC address. In such cases, you might also need to turn off the "Private Wi-Fi Address" setting for that particular network. To do this, follow the first set of steps and toggle the "Private Wi-Fi Address" switch to the off position.