How to Change the MAC Address — Octo Browser

MARCH 17, 2025 • EXPERT OPINION • PRIVACY & ANONYMITY

The MAC address helps identify a specific device and its owner. For example, routers understand which device is connecting to them and to whom they should transmit information using network addresses. However, because of this, the MAC address is associated with risks of deanonymization and online tracking. Is it possible to change your MAC address? How can it be done on a specific device? Is it true that changing the MAC address helps maintain anonymity? Find all the answers and more in this article.

A MAC (Media Access Control) address is the unique number of your network card (NIC), consisting of six pairs of characters separated by colons or hyphens (e.g., 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E). Essentially, it is the digital equivalent of a house or apartment number, which allows your device to be identified on a local network. For example, when you connect to a home Wi-Fi network, the router sees your MAC address and transmits data to the correct recipient.

When you turn on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, the MAC address becomes visible to other nearby devices. This poses a potential privacy risk because it allows tracking of your movements. For example, shopping malls do this to collect visitor statistics. Government agencies can do the same to verify where you were at a certain time. But the main threat comes from scammers and fraudsters. By obtaining your MAC address, they can use it to gain access to your data. For instance, they can spoof their MAC address to match yours, connect to a local network as if they were you, and steal confidential information.

Changing the MAC address can help you to:

Changing the MAC address in Windows 10 is only possible on certain adapters. If you do not find the "Network Address" field, changing it is likely not available.

There are two ways to change the MAC address in Windows 10. To do this through the connection settings follow these steps:

To change your MAC address using the registry:

You cannot manually change the MAC address in Windows 11. However, you can randomize it for Wi-Fi connections to make identification more difficult. To do this:

A regular user cannot change the MAC address on macOS, but they can randomize the network address. Before doing this, you need to check what it currently is. To do this, hold down the Option key and click on the Wi-Fi icon at the top of the screen. Find the line with the MAC address and write it down.

To randomize the MAC address on macOS:

To change the network address on Android, you need to obtain root access and install special applications.

If you are willing to take these risks, follow these steps:

iOS does not allow manually changing the MAC address. However, devices with this operating system automatically spoof it when connecting to Wi-Fi. To set up network address randomization:

If you want to remain anonymous online, changing your MAC address will not affect the degree of your privacy protection. This is because browsers do not show this parameter to websites. Instead, online services identify users through digital fingerprints.

A fingerprint consists of dozens of device parameters, from the operating system version and user agent to fonts, extensions, and hardware settings. Since no two devices have completely identical configurations, websites can accurately identify users based on digital fingerprints.

To spoof a fingerprint at the browser kernel level, you need to use an anti-detect browser, such as Octo Browser. This software allows you to create new profiles with fingerprints different from your real one. As a result, websites will see each profile as a different user, increasing your anonymity online.

Changing your MAC address helps bypass access restrictions in networks that filter devices by this parameter and resolve network connection conflicts. However, to better protect your online privacy, you need to use anti-detect browsers, such as Octo, in combination with proxies or VPNs. The anti-detect browser spoofs your digital fingerprint, while the proxy or VPN masks your IP address, providing much better protection against online tracking.