False Mac Address

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False Mac Address

The MAC address that is displayed in settings, about, MAC address is not the MAC address that might Wi-Fi is picking up. There was an unknown MAC address. I tried to block it from my Wi-Fi. It said that I cannot block the device that I’m using but when I compared the MAC address on my Wi-Fi app to the MAC address on my phone, it was totally different, is there a way that somebody could have given me a phone that is compromised and displays a false settings page with false, some some numbers and addresses etc.? my fear is that if this is the case that this is a false phone or a cloned phone that this is serious, this is not just a stocker boyfriend at situation that this is a government or national security issue and I don’t understand why I am the target is this a Experiment that I’m involved in unknowingly unwillingly involved in a government experiment? This is outta control.

iPhone SE, iOS 16

Posted on Jan 18, 2023 10:11 AM

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Answer 1

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faith185

Community Specialist

Jan 19, 2023 5:05 PM in response to Lolastruth

Hi Lolastruth,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. This sounds expected. The following is from Use private Wi-Fi addresses on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch.

"Starting with iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7, your device improves privacy by using a different MAC address for each Wi-Fi network. This unique MAC address is your device's private Wi-Fi address, which it uses for that network only.

In some cases, your device will change its private Wi-Fi address:

If you erase all content and settings or reset network settings on the device, your device uses a different private address the next time it connects to that network.
Starting with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8, if your device hasn’t joined the network in 6 weeks, it uses a different private address the next time it connects to that network. And if you make your device forget the network, it will also forget the private address it used with that network, unless it has been less than 2 weeks since the last time it was made to forget that network."

Take care.

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False Mac Address

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