How to find the MAC address of your Android phone

If a device can access the internet, it has a MAC address. Short for Media Access Control address, this uniquely identifies a device on a network, almost like a house or apartment number. While you can normally ignore the info, it’s useful for certain technical reasons, such as cybersecurity or solving connection problems. Let’s go over how to find the MAC address for an Android phone.

How to find the MAC address on Android

Finding the Wi-Fi MAC address on an Android phone is relatively simple, at least once you understand the way Android’s menus are organized. The data you’re after is however buried several layers deep in Settings, and depending on your device, certain buttons and icons may be labeled differently. Our guide is based on a OnePlus 8T running Android 12, but things shouldn’t look much different in Android 14.

• Swipe down from the top of the screen to pull up the Quick Settings bar and tap the gear-shaped Settings icon.
• Scroll down and go to About [device] > Status. On some phones, “Status” may be replaced with something like “Hardware Information.”
• Your device’s MAC address will appear next to Wi-Fi MAC address.

Can you change the MAC address on Android?

If you’re determined, you can manually alter your device’s Wi-Fi MAC address. However, as noted in our guide to changing a MAC address on Android, Google started randomizing MAC info with Android 10 onwards. That means that if you own a halfway recent Android product, there’s probably no reason to bother with manual adjustments.

Why is randomization good enough? The only reason to change a MAC address, normally, is to make it harder for hackers to pinpoint your device on a network. In this regard randomization is actually preferable, since even changing it every few days isn’t going to substantially improve security.