For example, a OnePlus phone houses these options within the “Wi-Fi and network” menu while a Samsung smartphone calls it “Connections”. It is easy to activate or deactivate a random MAC address whenever you want but, before doing so, it is appropriate to point out that depending on the models and versions of Android, different names are used for certain Configuration options. As with many other options on our smartphones, the user can disable it or not through the network profiles that we can configure in the phone’s settings. Some like OnePlus keep it random by default but there are other brands where fixed address is enabled by default. The MAC address function usually changes depending on the manufacturer. Also, if you have your router configured to always assign a certain static IP address to a device on your local network, you must link that IP with the MAC address, not being able to use random addresses. In this case, if your device uses a random MAC address, the router will not be able to identify the phone and you will not be able to use specific MAC settings. The main reason to disable random addresses is if MAC filtering is used in the router we connect to to access the network. Who could, under this premise, want to keep a fixed MAC address on the smartphone’s Wi-Fi? Very easy. In fact, this is how it comes by default on our mobiles or, at least in most, as this is going to give us more privacy when browsing as it is a security feature that makes monitoring difficult. Random MAC address : For each unique SSID (wireless network), the device will choose a new random address and use that private address to connect to the network.įor most people, it’s best to leave random MAC addresses on.Device MAC address : Whenever you connect to the Wi-Fi Network, the same identification system will be used for your device, with the information associated with it mentioned a few lines earlier.

What is mac address on android phone