MAC address lookup

How to see the devices on your Wi-Fi

A website can't see the devices on your home network, so the list has to come from your router. Open its settings page in a browser (how to find your router's address on iPhone), sign in and look for a page called something like Connected Devices, Attached Devices, Client List or DHCP Clients. If your router, mesh system or internet provider has an app, it usually shows the same list.

1. Copy the list, or just the addresses, and paste it above.
2. If the list is in a screenshot on iPhone, open it in Photos, tap the Live Text button, touch and hold the text, then tap Select All andCopy Text (Apple's steps).
3. Press Look up. Each address gets its maker, or a note on why it has none. Device names on the same line come along, so you can tell the rows apart.

What the results mean

• Known maker. The first half of the address is registered to that company with IEEE. The maker isn't always the brand on the box: smart plugs and bulbs often show the company that made their Wi-Fi chip, such as Espressif or Texas Instruments.
• Private address. The device made the address up for privacy, so there's no maker to find. Apple says iPhone, iPad and Mac use a different address on each network by default, and on networks with weak or no security they change it every 2 weeks. Android does the same from Android 10 on. A private address usually means a phone, tablet or computer.
• Unknown maker. Not in IEEE's public listing, or registered without a public name. It may be a new assignment or an address set by software.
• Group address. A multicast or broadcast address, which belongs to no single device.

Is someone using my Wi-Fi?

1. List the devices you own that use Wi-Fi: phones, laptops, TVs, speakers, consoles, cameras and smart plugs.
2. Match the known makers against that list.
3. Match the private addresses against your phones. On iPhone, open Settings, tap Wi-Fi, then the More Info button next to your network: the Wi-Fi Address there is the one it uses on that network.
4. Still can't place one? Turn off or unplug your devices one at a time and refresh the router's list to see which entry goes away.

Someone usually needs your password to join, unless the network has none or uses old security. As the FTC puts it, a unique and secure Wi-Fi password prevents strangers from getting onto your network.

How to kick someone off your Wi-Fi

• Change the Wi-Fi password in your router, then reconnect your own devices. Anyone who only had the old password is out.
• Use WPA3 Personal or WPA2 Personal. The FTC calls older WPA and WEP outdated and not secure. If your iPhone shows a weak security warning, here's what it means and how to fix it.
• Change the router's own sign-in from the default username and password, and turn off remote management, WPS and UPnP, as the FTC recommends.
• Block the device in the router if it offers that. It helps, but a phone can come back with a new private address, so the new password is what keeps it out.

What a MAC address can't tell you

It names the maker of a network chip, nothing more. It doesn't show where a device is or who owns it, and it never leaves your local network: websites don't see it. That's also why no website can list the devices on your Wi-Fi by itself.

Where the maker data comes from

IEEE's Registration Authority assigns address prefixes to companies and publishes them in three lists, for large, medium and small blocks. This page uses all three, downloaded from IEEE and refreshed each month; the date is shown under the results. The list loads into your browser the first time you press Look up, and what you paste stays on the page.

Questions