Need to see your iPhone’s MAC address? Also called a Wi-Fi address, this is the code for how your phone is recognized on a network. Apple makes it easy to find your device’s unique ID, and we’ll show you how.
What is MAC Address?
A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a unique identifier for a hardware component on your device. Each manufacturer assigns a unique MAC address to their devices. This address is used to locate and identify your device across a pool of many other devices.
A MAC address is basically a 12-digit code usually every two digits separated by a colon. On your iPhone, you have a MAC address for your Wi-Fi card so that your wireless network knows when you connect your phone.
View Your iPhone’s MAC Address
To check your iPhone’s MAC address, all you need is access to the phone’s Settings app.
Start by launching Settings on your iPhone. Then tap on the “General” option.
Now you can use this address however you want. For example, you can use it for MAC filtering (though we don’t necessarily recommend it). This allows you to decide what bandwidth to give to your specific device based on your MAC address, and whether or not to allow it to connect to your network. It has other uses as well.
Apple’s Privacy Alternatives to MAC Addresses
Since your iPhone has a unique MAC address, wireless networks can use this address to uniquely identify you and trace your locations. For example, if a company has several wireless hotspots around town, and you connect to several of those hotspots, that company knows that it was you who visited many of their locations.
To combat this, Apple offers a private address feature on iPhones. With it, your iPhone uses a random MAC address when connected to a Wi-Fi network. This prevents the network from identifying your phone and helps maintain privacy. However, there are a few reasons why you can’t use this feature on your iPhone.
A MAC address consists of an alphanumeric combination of twelve hexadecimal characters grouped in pairs by a column. Some devices separate paired characters with a hyphen or dash (-) while others leave only a space between pairs.
There are several reasons why you would need the MAC address of your iPhone or iPad. This could be to track data usage on your home network. When setting up the Quality of Service (QoS) filter on your router, you will always need the MAC address of the device you want to prioritize. Want to allow only a specific device on your network? Your router may require the MAC address of the device.
Let’s look at several ways to find the MAC address of iPhone and iPad.
If your Wi-Fi router has a dedicated app for iOS, you should be able to check your iPhone’s MAC address through the app. The steps to find your iPhone’s MAC address through the Router app may vary depending on the brand, model of your router as well as the design, interface, or version of the app.
Nevertheless, we are confident that you will find the necessary information in the device management menu of your router’s app. View the list of devices connected to your Wi-Fi router and select your iPhone. Go to the Device Info page and check the MAC Address field—or an alphanumeric combination of twelve characters.
Can’t find your iPhone in the list of connected devices? Disable your iPhone’s Wi-Fi, rejoin the network, and check again. Closing and reopening the app may also fix the problem. Lastly, and most importantly, make sure the app is updated- Open the App Store and check if there is an update available in the App Store and check if
4. View MAC Address from Your Smart Home App
If you have linked the router with your smart home app, you should be able to check the MAC addresses of the devices connected to the router. I use Huawei’s AI Life app to manage devices on my smart home network. The app has a “Device Info” section that displays the IP addresses and MAC addresses of all the devices connected to my Wi-Fi router.