Solved Random MAC address in iOS 14 may cause some problems

[Yota]

I've been using MAC addresses to manage my children's network usage, but I realized that this will no longer be effective because random MAC addresses are allowed in iOS 14.

With systems like Windows 10, Android 10 and iOS 14 supporting random MAC addresses, I am losing the management rights to my network.

Any solutions?

 

[Yota]

The guest network may be is a good solution, but it is too difficult to use, and I can't even enable it using schedule without a script.

 

[L&LD]

Drop Apple?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Parental Controls and iOS 14

Hello, My young teenagers have recently upgraded their phone to iOS14 which has private MAC address set by default. So, when they are at home and connect to the Asus Router wifi their MAC address is random. I assume that the Asus parent controls are assigned based on the MAC address of the...

www.snbforums.com

 

[XIII]

Turn off private addresses for your network?

Use private Wi-Fi addresses on Apple devices - Apple Support

To improve privacy, your device uses a different MAC address with each Wi-Fi network.

support.apple.com

 

[Yota]

Drop Apple?

Even Android 10 supports random MAC addresses (Reference), and I know that my Windows 10 laptop also supports random MAC address. so I think MAC addresses are losing their usefulness. We need a new way to mark a device, like Generate a unique fingerprint for each device.

 

[Yota]

Turn off private addresses for your network?

Use private Wi-Fi addresses on Apple devices - Apple Support

To improve privacy, your device uses a different MAC address with each Wi-Fi network.

support.apple.com

Yes, I can do this to myself.
To everyone? No way and they can easily turn it on.

 

[L&LD]

Mac addresses were useless ever since they could be spoofed.

A 'fingerprint' for each device is also not the solution.

 

[Yota]

Temporary solution:
Let all family members disable random MAC addresses on their devices.
Open the MAC address filter and add their real MAC address.

So when they try to change the MAC address they will no longer be able to use wifi. The only problem is that when guests come to my house, I need to add their MAC address to the list, which may be a bit troublesome.

Any new ideas?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Any new ideas?

Did you read post #4?

 

[Yota]

Did you read post #4?

Thank you, I read it, but the MAC address will change when the privacy WIFI address is turned on again, which means that if someone wants to use a random MAC address to circumvent the block, they will soon find this way.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thank you, I read it, but the MAC address will change when the privacy WIFI address is turned on again, which means that if someone wants to use a random MAC address to circumvent the block, they will soon find this way.

But according to that post they would get the same "random" address each time. So you would need to configure your controls for each address rather than just one. Not ideal, but possible.

 

[Yota]

But according to that post they would get the same "random" address each time. So you would need to configure your controls for each address rather than just one. Not ideal, but possible.

No, I tried it myself. After joining the network, turn off privacy address in the wifi settings and turn it on again, and it show a random mac address that is completely different from before.

 

[L&LD]

@Yota, how many times do you see a new random mac after turning off privacy address and turning them on again?

 

[ColinTaylor]

No, I tried it myself. After joining the network, turn off privacy address in the wifi settings and turn it on again, and it show a random mac address that is completely different from before.

Strange. That contradicts what is explicitly stated on Apple's website (bearing in mind that the address will be different for each BSSID).

 

[Yota]

@Yota, how many times do you see a new random mac after turning off privacy address and turning them on again?

Strange. That contradicts what is explicitly stated on Apple's website (bearing in mind that the address will be different for each BSSID).

I need to apologize, the last attempt is a long time ago, I may have forgotten something, I just tried it again, you are right, for the same ssid there are only two unique mac addresses, one is real and the other one is false, and they will not change anyway.

 

[Wishmaster1965]

Its exactly the same on Android, I get random MAC address's all the time, you can force it to use its own MAC.

 

[macster2075]

Hello,
I guess I missed the solution. How can I force the devices to use its own MAC?
Is this done via the router or within each device?

 

[eibgrad]

Hello,
I guess I missed the solution. How can I force the devices to use its own MAC?
Is this done via the router or within each device?

The device itself. The router has no means to control a device's MAC address.

On my iPhone, under WiFi settings, I simply disable the privacy feature.

 

[macster2075]

oh ok. This makes it a bit complicated when it comes to guests haha. But oh well, I guess it is what it is.