How do I find the MAC Address on a Mac?

On macOS Ventura 13 and later, open Apple menu > System Settings > Network, select the service you need — Wi-Fi or Ethernet — click Details, then open the Hardware tab. The MAC address row shows the address of that interface. On macOS Monterey 12 and earlier the same value is under System Preferences > Network > Advanced > Hardware. Apple documents the current path in Change Hardware settings on Mac.

Find the MAC address in System Settings (macOS Ventura 13 and later)

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings .
2. Click Network in the sidebar. On recent releases the Wi-Fi and Ethernet services are also listed directly in the sidebar.
3. Select the network service you want the address for, for example Wi-Fi or Ethernet . If the service is not listed, add it first.
4. Click Details next to the service name. You may need to scroll down to reach the button.
5. Open the Hardware tab and read the MAC address row.

A Mac can have several interfaces, and each has its own address: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and any Thunderbolt, USB or dock adapter you connected. Check that the service you selected is the one actually carrying the traffic.

Find the MAC address in Terminal

Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities and run:

ifconfig | grep ether

Each line lists one interface and the address after ether. On most Macs the Wi-Fi interface is en0, but Ethernet and adapters take other names, so ifconfig en0 | grep ether only helps once you know the Wi-Fi interface is en0.

The same output includes virtual interfaces such as utun, bridge and awdl. Those are created by the system for VPNs, Internet Sharing and AirDrop and are not hardware addresses a network administrator would register.

Find the MAC address on macOS Monterey 12 and earlier

1. Open System Preferences .
2. Select Network .
3. In the list on the left, select the connection you are using, for example Wi-Fi or Ethernet .
4. Click Advanced , then open the Hardware tab, where the address is labelled MAC Address .

System Preferences was replaced by System Settings in macOS Ventura 13, so instructions that send you to System Preferences describe an older release.

The address the network sees may differ

Since macOS Sequoia 15 a Mac can join a Wi-Fi network with a private Wi-Fi address rather than its hardware address. The setting has three modes — Off, Fixed and Rotating — chosen per network under Apple menu > System Settings > Wi-Fi > Details. In Off mode the Mac presents the hardware address, which is the value the Hardware tab shows. In Fixed and Rotating mode the network sees a different, locally administered address.

This matters when a network registers, filters or bills devices by MAC address: the address in the Hardware tab is then not the one the network has on record. Use the mode the network expects, or read the address from the network side. See how Apple private Wi-Fi addresses work for the modes and their defaults.

What the address tells you

Paste the address into the MAC address lookup to see the organization that registered the block. A registered address resolves to the registrant of the prefix, not to the model, the owner or the location of the Mac. An address whose second hexadecimal digit is 2, 6, A or E is locally administered, so it is either a randomized or manually assigned address and no organization is registered for it.