Can someone find my MAC address over the internet?

Not from the MAC address itself. MAC addresses are only used on the local network segment, and routers do not pass your device's MAC address on to websites. A site sees your public IP address instead. Devices on the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet network can see your MAC address, which is why phones and laptops now use a random one per network.

Can two devices have the same MAC address?

Manufacturers' universally administered addresses are meant to be globally unique, because each block comes from an IEEE assignment. Duplicates can still happen with locally administered or randomized addresses, cloned addresses, or faulty hardware. Two devices with the same MAC address on one network will interfere with each other's traffic.

Is a MAC address the same as an IP address?

No. A MAC address identifies a network interface on the local link and is normally fixed by the hardware or randomized by the operating system. An IP address identifies where a device sits in a network and is assigned by the network, so it changes when you move between networks. On IPv4 networks, ARP translates between the two.

Does a factory reset change my MAC address?

The hardware address burned in by the manufacturer stays the same. What a reset can change is the randomized private address your phone or laptop uses for a given Wi-Fi network, since the device may generate a new one when it rejoins. That can make a router treat it as a new device.

What Is a MAC Address? How to Find It and What It's For

A MAC address is the 48-bit hardware address of a network interface, written as six pairs of hex digits such as AC-DE-48-23-45-67, and devices on the same local network use it to deliver data to each other. Every Wi-Fi card, Ethernet port and Bluetooth radio has one; on Windows, run getmac /v or ipconfig /all to see yours.

MAC stands for media access control. The IEEE's formal name for the address format is EUI-48, and its guidelines note that the older term "MAC-48" is now obsolete. The two names describe the same 48-bit value.

What a MAC address looks like

Six octets (bytes), written in hexadecimal. The separator depends on the system, not the address:

AC-DE-48-23-45-67: Windows and the IEEE's own "hex representation"
ac:de:48:23:45:67: macOS and Linux

Upper or lower case doesn't matter. Both are the same address.

What the parts of a MAC address mean

For a manufacturer's address, the first three octets are the OUI (organizationally unique identifier), a 24-bit block the IEEE Registration Authority assigns to a company. The last three octets are numbered by that company. In the IEEE's example AC-DE-48-23-45-67, AC-DE-48 is the OUI. Because the OUI registry is public, you can look up the first half of an address and usually see who made the network card.

Two bits in the first octet have special meanings. From the IEEE guidelines:

Bit of the first octet	Name	0 means	1 means
Least significant	I/G	Individual (one interface)	Group (multicast)
Second least significant	U/L	Universally administered (from an IEEE assignment)	Locally administered (set by software or an admin)

You can read both from the second hex digit. AC is binary 1010 1100: the last bit is 0 (individual) and the next is 0 (universal), so it is a normal factory address. For an individual address, a second digit of 2, 6, A or E means the U/L bit is set: the address was made up by software. Randomized Wi-Fi addresses fall in this group, so x2, x6, xA or xE as the first octet is a quick sign that you are looking at a private address rather than the hardware one.

One address is reserved: FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF, all ones, means every station on the network. The IEEE guidelines call it the multicast address for all stations; it is what networking people call the broadcast address.

What a MAC address is used for

Ethernet and Wi-Fi frames carry a source and a destination MAC address. A switch or access point reads the destination and forwards the frame to the right port or client. That is all a MAC address does: it gets a frame from one interface to another on the same local network.

IP addresses do the long-distance part. When your laptop sends a packet to its router at 192.168.1.1, it first needs the router's MAC address. On IPv4 networks it finds it with ARP, the Address Resolution Protocol from RFC 826: it broadcasts "who has 192.168.1.1?" and the router replies with its hardware address. IPv6 does the same job with Neighbor Discovery; see IPv4 vs IPv6.

At each router hop the MAC addresses are replaced, while the IP addresses stay the same. That is why a website never sees your MAC address. It sees your public IP; public vs private IP addresses explains how that one is assigned.

Networks also use the MAC address as a device label: routers list connected devices by it, DHCP servers use it to give a device the same IP address each time (see what is DHCP), and some networks filter or register devices by it.

How to find your MAC address

Windows

getmac /v /fo list

Example output (address anonymised):

Connection Name:  Wi-Fi
Network Adapter:  Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX203
Physical Address: AC-DE-48-23-45-67
Transport Name:   \Device\Tcpip_{...}

/v adds the connection name and adapter, which matters on a PC with several interfaces. In PowerShell, Get-NetAdapter shows the same thing in a MacAddress column, and ipconfig /all lists it as Physical Address under each adapter.

macOS

In Terminal, networksetup -listallhardwareports lists each port (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Thunderbolt) with its device name and Ethernet Address. ifconfig en0 | grep ether prints the address currently in use on the interface en0; with a private Wi-Fi address turned on, that is the private one.

Linux

ip link show

The address follows link/ether on each interface. Example output:

2: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 ...
    link/ether ac:de:48:23:45:67 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

The brd value is the broadcast address described above.

iPhone and Android

On an iPhone, Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the info button next to the network: the address shown is the private address used for that network. On Android, open the network's details in Wi-Fi settings; the exact path differs by manufacturer.

Why your MAC address keeps changing: private Wi-Fi addresses

A fixed hardware address broadcast to every Wi-Fi network you pass lets anyone with a receiver follow a device around. Microsoft's support page gives shopping malls as an example of places that "might use this unique address to track your movement". All major systems now use a randomized, locally administered address for Wi-Fi instead, as of October 2026:

System	Default behaviour	Where to change it
iPhone, iPad (iOS 18+)	Fixed private address per network on WPA2 or better; Rotating (changes every 2 weeks) on open or weak networks	Settings > Wi-Fi > info button > Private Wi-Fi Address
Mac (macOS Sequoia 15+)	Private address per network	System Settings > Wi-Fi > Details > Private Wi-Fi Address
Android 10+	Persistent randomized address per network	The network's details screen, MAC randomization option
Windows 11	A setting you turn on	Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Random hardware addresses

Windows 11 can also enable it per network under Manage known networks. Microsoft notes it only works if the Wi-Fi hardware supports it.

Private addresses occasionally cause trouble on networks that identify devices by MAC address: a router's parental controls, a DHCP reservation, or a hotel or campus network where you registered a device once. If a device stops being recognised, switch that one network to the hardware address (Off on Apple devices) rather than disabling the feature everywhere. Apple's support page suggests installing the latest updates first.

Can you change your MAC address?

Yes, in software. The hardware address stays in the network card, but the operating system can send a different one, which is exactly what private Wi-Fi addresses do. On Windows, many adapters accept a manual value in Device Manager under the adapter's Properties > Advanced tab, usually as "Network Address" or "Locally Administered Address"; whether the option exists depends on the driver. On Linux, take the interface down, set the address, and bring it back up:

sudo ip link set dev wlan0 down
sudo ip link set dev wlan0 address 02:00:00:00:00:01
sudo ip link set dev wlan0 up

Use a locally administered value (second hex digit 2, 6, A or E) so it can't collide with a real manufacturer's address.

Changing it does not make you anonymous online. Your MAC address never leaves the local network, so websites and your internet provider beyond the router don't see it in the first place.

Frequently asked questions

Can someone find my MAC address over the internet?: Not from the MAC address itself. MAC addresses are only used on the local network segment, and routers do not pass your device's MAC address on to websites. A site sees your public IP address instead. Devices on the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet network can see your MAC address, which is why phones and laptops now use a random one per network.
Can two devices have the same MAC address?: Manufacturers' universally administered addresses are meant to be globally unique, because each block comes from an IEEE assignment. Duplicates can still happen with locally administered or randomized addresses, cloned addresses, or faulty hardware. Two devices with the same MAC address on one network will interfere with each other's traffic.
Is a MAC address the same as an IP address?: No. A MAC address identifies a network interface on the local link and is normally fixed by the hardware or randomized by the operating system. An IP address identifies where a device sits in a network and is assigned by the network, so it changes when you move between networks. On IPv4 networks, ARP translates between the two.
Does a factory reset change my MAC address?: The hardware address burned in by the manufacturer stays the same. What a reset can change is the randomized private address your phone or laptop uses for a given Wi-Fi network, since the device may generate a new one when it rejoins. That can make a router treat it as a new device.