How to get iOS device MAC address programmatically

Question

How do I get an iOS device's MAC code programmatically in my app?

Answer 1

Actually it seems possible to get macaddr even on iOS >= 7 the information comes from this blog and the solution is based on ipV6. I have tested on iPhone12 running under 15.5 and it works fine. Here is the interesting code:

func GetMACAddress(){
    let address = getAddress()
    macAddressLabel = GetMACAddressFromIPv6(ip: address ?? "")
    print(macAddressLabel)
}

func GetMACAddressFromIPv6(ip: String) -> String{
    let IPStruct = IPv6Address(ip)
    if(IPStruct == nil){
        return ""
    }
    let extractedMAC = [
        (IPStruct?.rawValue[8])! ^ 0b00000010,
        IPStruct?.rawValue[9],
        IPStruct?.rawValue[10],
        IPStruct?.rawValue[13],
        IPStruct?.rawValue[14],
        IPStruct?.rawValue[15]
    ]
    let str = String(format: "%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x", extractedMAC[0] ?? 00,
        extractedMAC[1] ?? 00,
        extractedMAC[2] ?? 00,
        extractedMAC[3] ?? 00,
        extractedMAC[4] ?? 00,
        extractedMAC[5] ?? 00)
    return str
}


// this function was taken from
// https://stackoverflow.com/a/30754194/3508517
//and is slightly modified:
func getAddress() -> String? {
    var address: String?

    // Get list of all interfaces on the local machine:
    var ifaddr: UnsafeMutablePointer<ifaddrs>?
    guard getifaddrs(&ifaddr) == 0 else { return nil }
    guard let firstAddr = ifaddr else { return nil }

    // For each interface ...
    for ifptr in sequence(first: firstAddr, next: { $0.pointee.ifa_next }) {
        let interface = ifptr.pointee

        // Check IPv6 interface:
        let addrFamily = interface.ifa_addr.pointee.sa_family
        if addrFamily == UInt8(AF_INET6) {
            // Check interface name:
            let name = String(cString: interface.ifa_name)
            if name.contains("ipsec") {

                // Convert interface address to a human readable string:
                var hostname = [CChar](repeating: 0, count: Int(NI_MAXHOST))
                getnameinfo(interface.ifa_addr, socklen_t(interface.ifa_addr.pointee.sa_len),
                            &hostname, socklen_t(hostname.count),
                            nil, socklen_t(0), NI_NUMERICHOST)
                address = String(cString: hostname)
                let ipv6addr = IPv6Address(address ?? "::")
                if(ipv6addr?.isLinkLocal ?? false){
                    return address
                }
            }
        }
    }
    freeifaddrs(ifaddr)

    return address
}

Answer 2

You can get it by combining the following two answers i guess.

First, find ip of the device by using the following:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/30754194/1089206

Second, find the MAC of that address, by using the following:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/31246085/1089206

I'll be trying it out now and will let you know how it goes.

Answer 3

Now iOS 7 devices – are always returning a MAC address of 02:00:00:00:00:00.

So better use [UIDevice identifierForVendor]

so better to call this method to get app specific unique key

Category will more suitable

#import "UIDevice+Identifier.h"

- (NSString *) identifierForVendor1
{
    if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] respondsToSelector:@selector(identifierForVendor)]) {
        return [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
    }
    return @"";
}

Now call above method to get unique address

NSString *like_UDID=[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",
                [[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor1]];

NSLog(@"%@",like_UDID);

Answer 4

everybody is good advised to use the offical ios 7 way and use [UIDevice identifierForVendor]

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/uikit/reference/UIDevice_Class/Reference/UIDevice.html

And also think about the migration from some older assumptions.

Answer 5

You can get the MAC Adress using the following function:

+(NSString *)getMacAddress
{
    int                 mgmtInfoBase[6];
    char                *msgBuffer = NULL;
    NSString            *errorFlag = NULL;
    size_t              length;

    // Setup the management Information Base (mib)
    mgmtInfoBase[0] = CTL_NET;        // Request network subsystem
    mgmtInfoBase[1] = AF_ROUTE;       // Routing table info
    mgmtInfoBase[2] = 0;              
    mgmtInfoBase[3] = AF_LINK;        // Request link layer information
    mgmtInfoBase[4] = NET_RT_IFLIST;  // Request all configured interfaces

    // With all configured interfaces requested, get handle index
    if ((mgmtInfoBase[5] = if_nametoindex("en0")) == 0) 
        errorFlag = @"if_nametoindex failure";
    // Get the size of the data available (store in len)
    else if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, NULL, &length, NULL, 0) < 0) 
        errorFlag = @"sysctl mgmtInfoBase failure";
    // Alloc memory based on above call
    else if ((msgBuffer = malloc(length)) == NULL)
        errorFlag = @"buffer allocation failure";
    // Get system information, store in buffer
    else if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, msgBuffer, &length, NULL, 0) < 0)
    {
        free(msgBuffer);
        errorFlag = @"sysctl msgBuffer failure";
    }
    else
    {
        // Map msgbuffer to interface message structure
        struct if_msghdr *interfaceMsgStruct = (struct if_msghdr *) msgBuffer;

        // Map to link-level socket structure
        struct sockaddr_dl *socketStruct = (struct sockaddr_dl *) (interfaceMsgStruct + 1);

        // Copy link layer address data in socket structure to an array
        unsigned char macAddress[6];
        memcpy(&macAddress, socketStruct->sdl_data + socketStruct->sdl_nlen, 6);

        // Read from char array into a string object, into traditional Mac address format
        NSString *macAddressString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X",
                                      macAddress[0], macAddress[1], macAddress[2], macAddress[3], macAddress[4], macAddress[5]];
        if(IsDEBUG) NSLog(@"Mac Address: %@", macAddressString);

        // Release the buffer memory
        free(msgBuffer);

        return macAddressString;
    }

    // Error...
    if(IsDEBUG) NSLog(@"Error: %@", errorFlag);

    return errorFlag;
}

But as he said #Randomclik, mac address is unavailable from ios 7 and up.

form apple:

In iOS 7 and later, if you ask for the MAC address of an iOS device, the system returns the value 02:00:00:00:00:00. If you need to identify the device, use the identifierForVendor property of UIDevice instead. (Apps that need an identifier for their own advertising purposes should consider using the advertisingIdentifier property of ASIdentifierManager instead.)

link: https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/releasenotes/General/WhatsNewIniOS/Articles/iOS7.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40013162-SW1

Conversation about MAC Address:

How can I programmatically get the MAC address of an iphone

Answer 6

It seems that in iOS 7 and later get MAC addres will not work. Look at What's new on iOS document from Apple. (Deprecated APIs section.)