MAC Address Lookup & Guide

A MAC address (Media Access Control) is the unique 48-bit hardware identifier burned into your computer or phone's network card at the factory. Think of it as a fingerprint that belongs to the device — the first 24 bits (OUI) identify the manufacturer, while the last 24 bits are unique to the device itself.

Important: A MAC address is only visible on the local network (Layer 2) and is stripped from the packet by your router before it reaches the internet. For this reason, a website cannot detect your MAC address — you must look it up on your own device and paste it below.

How Do I Find My MAC Address?

In Command Prompt, run the following command — it lists all network adapters and their physical addresses:

getmac /v /fo list

Or, for more detailed output along with the full network configuration:

ipconfig /all

Or through the GUI: Settings → Network & Internet → Wi-Fi/Ethernet → Hardware properties → "Physical address (MAC)".

Open Terminal and use the following command to see the MAC address of your active Wi-Fi/Ethernet adapter:

ifconfig en0 | awk '/ether/{print $2}'

To see all adapters:

ifconfig | grep ether

Or through the GUI: Apple menu → System Settings → Network → Details → "Wi-Fi Address".

In Terminal, using the modern ip command:

ip link show

Or print every interface's MAC in a single line:

cat /sys/class/net/*/address

On older systems:

ifconfig -a | grep -i hwaddr
  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Go to About phone (or About device) → Status.
  3. Look at the Wi-Fi MAC address row.

Note: On Android 10+, MAC randomization is enabled by default; a different (random) MAC is used for each Wi-Fi network. To see the real hardware MAC, you can disable this option under Developer options.

  1. Settings → General → About → the "Wi-Fi Address" row shows your general hardware MAC.
  2. For the MAC used on a specific network you're connected to: Settings → Wi-Fi → (i) next to the network name → "Wi-Fi Address".

Note: On iOS 14+, the "Private Wi-Fi Address" feature uses a different random MAC on each network for privacy. For this reason, the address you see can vary from user to user and from network to network.

MAC Lookup & Analysis

Paste a MAC address — we'll detect the vendor (OUI) and show format variants along with technical flags.

Every common format is supported: aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff, aa-bb-cc-dd-ee-ff, aabb.ccdd.eeff, aabbccddeeff.
Vendor (OUI)

MAC Address (Media Access Control)

A MAC address is a unique 48-bit (6-byte) hardware number assigned to every network interface in accordance with the IEEE 802 standards. It is usually written like 3C:5A:B4:11:22:33, with each byte represented as two hexadecimal (hex) characters separated by colons.

OUI — Organizationally Unique Identifier

The first 3 bytes (24 bits) are called the OUI and are registered to manufacturers by IEEE. Apple owns hundreds of OUIs such as 3C:5A:B4, and Samsung owns ones like D8:46:30. The remaining 3 bytes correspond to the manufacturer's own per-device serial number.

Locally Administered & Multicast Flags

The last two bits of the first byte carry a special meaning:

  • Bit 0 (LSB): 0 = unicast (single target), 1 = multicast (multiple targets)
  • Bit 1: 0 = universal (IEEE-assigned, the real manufacturer MAC), 1 = locally administered (software-assigned / virtual machine / randomized)

Why can't a browser detect your MAC address?

The internet runs over IP (Layer 3). A MAC address, on the other hand, is only valid between devices on the same local network (Layer 2). When a packet passes through a router, the router uses its own MAC as the source address and your MAC is completely stripped from the packet. In the traffic that reaches our server, not even your ISP router's MAC is visible — let alone yours. JavaScript APIs also do not expose the MAC address, for privacy reasons.

MAC randomization (privacy)

Modern versions of Android (10+), iOS (14+), Windows 10/11, and macOS generate a random MAC address when connecting to each Wi-Fi network in order to protect your privacy. This way, network owners cannot track you using your device's real hardware identifier. Only the device itself knows the true MAC.

MAC Address Lookup — FAQ

Quick answers to the most common questions about this tool.

What is a MAC address?

A MAC address is a 48-bit hardware identifier burned into your network card at the factory. The first 24 bits identify the vendor (OUI); the last 24 bits are unique to the device.

Can a website detect my MAC address?

No. MAC addresses are stripped at your router and never leave your local network. You must look them up on the device itself and paste them here.

How do I find my MAC address on Windows?

Open Command Prompt and run "ipconfig /all". Look for "Physical Address" under your active adapter. On Windows 11 you can also see it in Settings → Network & Internet → properties.

How do I find my MAC address on iPhone?

Settings → General → About → Wi-Fi Address. Note that iOS uses a randomised MAC per Wi-Fi network by default for privacy.

What is OUI?

Organizationally Unique Identifier — the first 3 bytes of every MAC address. The IEEE assigns OUIs to manufacturers so that any MAC can be traced back to its vendor.