The MAC address - short for Media Access Control address - is the unique hardware address of every network adapter. This means that each device can be clearly identified. You can read what a MAC address is in detail and how to find it out in the following tipps + tricks article.
What is a MAC address?
The MAC address (Media Access Control address) represents a number of your computer hardware that is unique worldwide. As a rule, this is stored on the network adapter - so it has a fixed storage location. This is why one speaks of the physical address in common parlance . If you were to replace your network card, you would also receive a new MAC address. As an example one could use the chassis number of a car. This is permanent. IP addresses, on the other hand, are logical addresses that are used temporarily. In contrast to the MAC address, these can be changed, since they are not physical, but logical. If you apply this comparison to the car again, the IP address would be the license plate number. This is not permanent and can be changed.
But be careful: Not only Apple devices have a MAC address, but every computer in a network. No matter if Windows, Android, macOS or Linux. In the case of Apple devices, the abbreviation Mac stands for Macintosh, the first microcomputer with a graphical user interface from Apple. Except for the abbreviation, MAC address and Macintosh don't have much in common.
In contrast to IP addresses, MAC addresses are used in Ethernet, but also in Bluetooth and WLAN. On a technical level, a MAC address consists of 48 bits and is often represented as a twelve- digit hexadecimal number. The MAC address is written byte by byte. The individual bytes are either separated by hyphens or colons. It looks like this:
50-9A-4C-29-E3-11 or 50:9A:4C:29:E3:11
The first 6 digits are a manufacturer ID assigned by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). The second half of the MAC address is assigned individually by manufacturers. Your computer or terminal device can be uniquely identified in the network through this physical address. Would you like to find out the manufacturer ID of your MAC address? At heise online we offer you a look-up tool for MAC addresses..
With the first three bytes of the MAC address, the tool shows you the manufacturer ID assigned by the IEEE. How to find out the MAC address for your device
We have already written some instructions for you on the most important operating systems:
- Find out the MAC address with Windows 10
- iPhone: Find the MAC address
- Read out the MAC address on Android
- Change MAC address under Windows