Incorrect MAC address reported for Samsung Galaxy A50
2 posts · Closed
I have been using the NetWorx application for several years. Lately, I have been configuring two different smartphones, both of Samsung brand, in tethering router mode, and I use one or the other for the web connection of my PC, monitoring it with NetWorx.
My question is, why in Settings > Main > Networks..., NetWorx reports for one of the routers (the most recent smartphone Samsung Galaxy A50) an incorrect (partially different) MAC address? It shows 06-B4-29-08-9A-17 instead of 06-B4-29-08-95-17.
Thanks in advance for your kind help.
As you have already noticed, the MAC address is only partially different.
Generally, for the same device, the first three octets of the MAC address match, and the last three octets can differ to a various degree. The first three octets are manufacturer-specific and are fixed. The last three octets can be anything.
This is described on the MAC Randomization page of Android OS manual. Random MAC addresses are used in many places, including hotspot, aka SoftAP mode. There may or may not be a way to turn this randomisation off, depending on your device manufacturer.