

This is why you’re prompted to reconnect to the Wi-Fi network. It’s important to note that each time you disable and re-enable the Private MAC Address feature, a new Wi-Fi MAC address will be used with the network. Tap on “Rejoin” to disconnect and reconnect to the network. You’ll get a pop-up message prompting you to rejoin the Wi-Fi network with the Private MAC address.Tap on the toggle for Private Address to enable this feature. Here, you’ll see a Privacy Warning as long as Private Wi-Fi address is turned off.


This is sort of like spoofing a MAC address with a random address, if you’re on the geekier side and familiar with that process, except it’s automated and doesn’t require any tinkering at a command line. However, Apple has managed to address this issue with the iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later system software versions, by allowing devices to use a unique MAC address for each network. Furthermore, network operators and observers can easily track your activity and access your location over time since the same MAC address is used. The MAC address is typically a hardware address associated with your device, and by default the same MAC address is used as you switch between different Wi-Fi networks, which could be a security or privacy risk since it identifies your device. For some technical background, every time you connect to a Wi-Fi network regardless of the device you’re using, your device has to identify itself to the network using a MAC address.
