A MAC handle often is the handle of your Mac, however they’re not interchangeable. MAC stands for Media (or Medium) Entry Management, a geeky time period for part of community communications between the precise {hardware}, like a Wi-Fi radio or ethernet chip and jack, and the info that flows over it. Each community adapter has a singular MAC handle set by the producer throughout manufacturing.
Why ought to you must know a tool’s MAC handle? It may come in useful once you wish to configure options in your router. You’re in all probability acquainted with an IP (Web Protocol) handle, one which uniquely identifies your pc, telephone, or different {hardware}’s connection on the web. A MAC handle applies solely to the native space community—the gathering of units linked bodily collectively or by way of Wi-Fi.
Since you virtually at all times depend on a community router to assign IP addresses to your units, the router can’t use an IP handle to determine your {hardware} first. That’s the place the MAC handle is available in.
Router options that work together with a MAC
You would possibly use a MAC handle on a router to:
- Assign a hard and fast IP handle to a tool by MAC. This may be helpful in the event you’re attempting to determine entry from exterior your community to a service run on a pc or different gadget in your community.
- Create a listing of solely permitted units for safety’s sake. Even when somebody will get the community password, they nonetheless wouldn’t have the ability to be a part of the community.
- Block particular units from becoming a member of the community. I lately encountered an odd iCloud syncing downside that I might need to resolve in the end by connecting to my community by way of ethernet. A colleague instructed leaving Wi-Fi on for Continuity options however blocking web entry over Wi-Fi utilizing the Wi-Fi adapter’s MAC handle. (Some Continuity options, like Handoff, use a Private Space Community [PAN], the place units join straight.)
- Prohibit a baby’s entry to the web throughout sure instances of day.
- Throttle the quantity of information {that a} explicit gadget can retrieve from the web.
Each router has completely different options, so seek the advice of your guide to see what yours presents. Our family is blanketed with TP-Hyperlink units, and an AX3000 mannequin acts as our major router. After connecting to the router’s administrative interface, I can, for example, allow its Entry Management function (Superior > Safety > Entry Management), add units by MAC handle or browse a listing of linked {hardware} (exhibiting each their IP and MAC addresses), and permit or deny them entry to the community.
The place to search out the MAC handle on our Mac, iPhone, or iPad
In macOS, look in these locations:
- In Ventura, go to > System Settings > Community and choose the interface. For ethernet, click on Particulars after which click on {Hardware} to view the MAC handle. For Wi-Fi, click on Superior and the Wi-Fi MAC Tackle seems within the dialog.
- In Monterey and earlier, go to > System Preferences > Community and choose your ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter within the lefthand checklist, click on Superior, and click on {Hardware}. The MAC handle seems in that view.
You may as well Possibility-click the Wi-Fi system menu, and the MAC handle for the Wi-Fi adapter seems, however it will possibly’t be as simply copied with one hand urgent the mouse button or trackpad.
In iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and faucet the i (data) icon. The MAC handle is listed because the Wi-Fi Tackle. For current variations of iOS/iPadOS, additionally, you will see an possibility for a Non-public Wi-Fi Tackle, which provides complexity–that handle overrides the built-in one for the Wi-Fi adapter and solely persists for just a few weeks at a time. You may disable Non-public Wi-Fi Tackle on recognized and trusted networks that you must use a static MAC handle with.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a query submitted by a Macworld reader.
Ask Mac 911
We’ve compiled a listing of the questions we get requested most steadily, together with solutions and hyperlinks to columns: learn our tremendous FAQ to see in case your query is roofed. If not, we’re at all times on the lookout for new issues to resolve! E-mail yours to mac911@macworld.com, together with display captures as applicable and whether or not you need your full title used. Not each query might be answered, we don’t reply to e mail, and we can’t present direct troubleshooting recommendation.
