How do I change the private Wi-Fi address on an Apple device?

Apple devices join each Wi-Fi network with a private Wi-Fi address instead of the hardware MAC address burned into the device, so the same device is not recognised across networks. Since iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, visionOS 2 and macOS Sequoia 15 the setting has three modes — Off, Fixed and Rotating — and you choose one per network in the Wi-Fi settings. iOS 14 to 17 and watchOS 7 to 10 only offer on or off.

What is a private Wi-Fi address?

A private Wi-Fi address is a random address the device generates for one specific network and uses only there. Apple generates a new one for each network, so the address a café sees is not the address your home router sees. It is a locally administered address, which means the second-least-significant bit of the first octet is set: the second hexadecimal digit is 2, 6, A or E, as in A6:1B:2C:3D:4E:5F.

Because that bit marks the address as locally administered, it is not an IEEE registration and a MAC lookup returns no registered organization for it. That is expected, not a lookup failure: the same answer appears for every randomized address, on every operating system.

What do Off, Fixed and Rotating mean?

Switching a network between Fixed and Rotating does not replace the address immediately: the device keeps the address it is already using on that network. The mode names, the defaults and the rotation interval are the ones Apple documents.

How do I change it on iPhone and iPad?

1. Open Settings and select Wi-Fi .
2. Tap the More Info button next to the network name. If you are not connected to it, tap Edit in the top-right corner first.
3. Tap Private Wi-Fi Address , then choose Off , Fixed or Rotating .

On iOS 14 to 17 and iPadOS 14 to 17 the same screen shows a single switch. Turning it off makes the device present its hardware address on that network. If the device joined a network before the private address was enabled, iOS shows a privacy warning that explains why the address changed.

How do I change it on Apple Watch, Mac and Apple Vision Pro?

• Apple Watch (watchOS 11 or later): open Settings > Wi-Fi , tap the network name, then choose Off, Fixed or Rotating. On watchOS 7 to 10 the same screen has an on-off switch.
• Mac (macOS Sequoia 15 or later): choose Apple menu > System Settings > Wi-Fi , click Details next to the network name, then set Private Wi-Fi Address .
• Apple Vision Pro (visionOS 2 or later): open Settings > Wi-Fi , tap the More Info button next to the network name, then set Private Wi-Fi Address.

When does the address change?

• In Rotating mode the device changes the address on that network about every two weeks.
• Erasing all content and settings, or resetting network settings, makes the device use a different private address the next time it joins the network.
• Forgetting a network also forgets the private address used with it, unless it has been less than 24 hours since the network was forgotten. Before iOS 18, that window was two weeks.
• Before iOS 18, a device that had not joined a network for six weeks used a different private address the next time it joined.

What it does not do

• It does not make the device anonymous. The address is one signal among others, and the network still sees the traffic it carries.
• It does not hide the hardware address from the device itself: setting the mode to Off presents the hardware address again on that network.
• A network that filters, registers or bills by MAC address can reject a private address. Use Fixed so the address stays stable on that network, or Off if the network requires the hardware address.
• An organisation that manages the device can disable the setting for managed networks through a device management profile. The device then shows a privacy warning on that network.

Check an address with MACLookup

Paste any Wi-Fi address into the MAC address lookup. A private address has no registered organization, because it is locally administered rather than assigned by IEEE. Use the API to run the same check programmatically. Related guides: why devices use randomized hardware addresses, MAC randomization on Android and random hardware addresses on Windows.