Note: Your Wi-Fi MAC address will only be visible when your phone’s Wi-Fi is “ On”. I will show you two methods to locate the MAC address of your android phone. Changing MAC can prevent you from this type of tracking. Changing MAC address allows us to impersonate a MAC that is allowed on the network and bypass the MAC address filtering.ģ.) To stay anonymous and conceal your identity from Wi-Fi providing companies who keeps records of users based on their MAC address.

If you ever need to connect to a public Wi-Fi, then its best to change MAC address for privacy reasons, if a hacker knows your original MAC address then he can use it to impersonate you and can do many illegal things using your MAC address.Ģ.) Some networks have MAC address filtering enabled so that only the devices which are allowed can connect to the network.

Home or Office Wi-Fi may be safe for you but public Wi-Fi is the hunting grounds for hackers. Now you know what a MAC address is let’s see why go with the hassle of changing the MAC address on an Android phone.ġ.) You carry your smartphone to different places, also you connect it to many different networks such as home, office or public Wi-Fi (hotel, airport, library, café etc.). MAC address is made using six two-digit hexadecimal numbers separated by colons (“:”)Įxample of a MAC address = 00:0C:43:B4:C1:8E Advantages of Changing MAC Address on Android Phone A MAC address is used to uniquely identify a device on the internet and local network. MAC (Media Access Control) address is a physical and unique address assigned to a networking device (such as Wi-Fi or Ethernet). The data collected includes the header data, SSID, MAC addresses and the GPS coordinates of the vehicle.Before diving into “change the MAC address of android”, let’s first understand some basic things about MAC address and advantages of changing the MAC. Google’s Street View car is equipped with commercially available Maxrad BMMG24005 omnidirectional radio antenna which receives publicly broadcast WiFi radio signals passively within range of the vehicle when travels at normal speed. In addition to Skyhook Wireless, Google has been doing the same thing. Skyhook Wireless has a database of more than 100 million WiFi access points surveyed by drivers and covers 70 percent of population centers in the United States and Canada, which enables it to provide locating service for Motorola Android cell phones. The Boston-based company Skyhook Wireless is the first to use the WiFi hotspots to determine the location of a portable device without GPS the accuracy is around some 20 to 30 meters.

In addition to cell phone GPS tracking and GSM tracking techniques, you can also track down a handset’s location using WiFi hotspots (or called WiFi access points).

How to find mac address on phone