i use my iPhone hotspot to power my iPad. I noticed when my iPad connects to my iPhone hotspot it shows up as numbers and letters with semicolons in between. My iPads name is Lrdulv, but is shows up as 72:c3:5:33:b1:17 when connected to my personal hotspot. Does anyone know what can cause this? Is my iPad hacked or something?
iPad, iPadOS 15
You are seeing the iPad’s hardware (MAC) address - this being a globally unique identifier associated with the WiFi, Bluetooth or wired network connection.
You can find all the WiFi & Bluetooth interface MAC addresses listed in your iPad (and iPhone) settings:
Settings > General > About
If you have iOS/iPadOS15.x installed, you may be using Apple’s Private Addressing feature - this being intended to hide the “real” MAC address (remember, this is globally unique - and may be used to identify your specific device). With Private Addressing enabled, a “pretend” MAC address is generated, thus hiding the real address from the network to which you are connecting.
Private Addressing is enabled/disabled for each WiFi network to which you connect:
Settings > WiFi > [WiFi Network Name / SSID] - tap the blue “i” icon - Private WiFi Address - set to ON or OFF as required
Each time this feature is re-enabled, the visible MAC address will change.
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iPad name changed when connected to my iPhone personal hotspot
