iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia Add 'Rotate Wi-Fi Address' Option to Cut Down on Tracking

[ledzep1]

Hi

Ive always had this off on my home network (eero) because the eero app always reported my devices as new every now again which got annoying, does this new feature solve that now so I can enable it?

I see that there is the options of rotate/fixed/off.

Am I best leaving it off still for my home network?

 

[adrianlondon]

Hi

Ive always had this off on my home network (eero) because the eero app always reported my devices as new every now again which got annoying, does this new feature solve that now so I can enable it?

I see that there is the options of rotate/fixed/off.

Am I best leaving it off still for my home network?

You could try "fixed".

This generates a random MAC address for each network, but keeps it the same every time you reconnect back to that network.

"Off" means it sends your actual hardware MAC address. I think "fixed" is good for most people's home networks. If you use your router to allocate an IP address based on MAC address then you'll need to update the MAC address in your router to match the rando one Apple generates as a one-time thing.

Personally, as I have separated my 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks (due to some crappy home device that doesn't work well otherwise) and I want my laptop to have the same IP address whichever one I connect to, I've had to use the "Off" setting to stop Apple giving me a separate MAC address for each network (which the router internally considers as just the one).

 

[ledzep1]

You could try "fixed".

This generates a random MAC address for each network, but keeps it the same every time you reconnect back to that network.

"Off" means it sends your actual hardware MAC address. I think "fixed" is good for most people's home networks. If you use your router to allocate an IP address based on MAC address then you'll need to update the MAC address in your router to match the rando one Apple generates as a one-time thing.

Personally, as I have separated my 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks (due to some crappy home device that doesn't work well otherwise) and I want my laptop to have the same IP address whichever one I connect to, I've had to use the "Off" setting to stop Apple giving me a separate MAC address for each network (which the router internally considers as just the one).

Thank you, I tried fixed and although it may work for me, the Eero app still reports the device as private, so I will just keep it off for my home network, had it off prior to this update and all was good.

 

[Timmo78]

Well... Sequioa 15.0.1 decided to give me a new mac address just for fun then.. despite being configured for this network as "fixed"

Not helpful when I'm using DHCP assignment based on Mac address

 

[adrianlondon]

Well... Sequioa 15.0.1 decided to give me a new mac address just for fun then.. despite being configured for this network as "fixed"

Not helpful when I'm using DHCP assignment based on Mac address

Yeah, "fixed" isn't clearly defined. Theoretically, it allocates a random MAC address to a network, and then doesn't change it.

However, upgrading MacOS does seem to cause them to be re-randomised. I've also noticed that my home network, which I define as "Off" (so that my actual, real, hardware MAC address is always presented) sometimes gets changed to "Fixed" by itself.

 

[Timmo78]

Yeah, "fixed" isn't clearly defined. Theoretically, it allocates a random MAC address to a network, and then doesn't change it.

However, upgrading MacOS does seem to cause them to be re-randomised. I've also noticed that my home network, which I define as "Off" (so that my actual, real, hardware MAC address is always presented) sometimes gets changed to "Fixed" by itself.

Well that's, wonderful lol

What you say makes absolute sense.. and thank you for clarifying.. for a moment I questioned why I might not have set my home network to "off" as well, as that seems sensible for my purposes..

Possibly it was this screenshot (below).. despite the "off" setting being specifically for "this" network, the dialogue here suggests that it applies "across Wi-Fi networks"

Obviously I understand what they were trying to say here (or, I do now).. but it's not at all clear and the casual observer (and earlier me) might easily misinterpret.

 

[adrianlondon]

Thanks for bringing my post back to life. I've just upgraded to the latest beta and it changed my setting from "Off" back to "Fixed", so my confused router just allocated me a new IP address again.

changed it back to "Off" and all is well with the world. Now I'm sure this happens after each install, I'll log a Feedback bug.