[2018-11-01] MAC addresses aren't accessible in iOS 11

Since release 11 of the iPhone / iPad operating system Apple does not allow to access MAC addresses anymore. A MAC address is a string that is unique for every computer device. iOS 11 does absolutely not allow apps to read these MAC addresses.

We were told by Apple engineers that this is a privacy feature of iOS 11 because some companies misused the unique MAC address to track users.

All basic functions of iNet are still working in iOS 11, but not having access to MAC addresses has some consequences: There is no unique identification of the discovered devices possible (because the IP can change).

For that reason we implemented a kind of interim solution: we identify devices by a combination of their IP and name.

As long as the IP of a device and its name (on system level) does not change

  • you can assign custom names and icons to the discovered devices.

  • you can assign notes to the discovered devices.

  • you can see the history of the network

Up to now

  • MAC addresses of the scanned devices cannot be detected.

  • Manufacturers of the discovered devices cannot be discovered.

  • For Wake on Lan the MAC addresses have to be entered manually (we added a special keyboard to simplify this)

There could be a solution for this in the future if Apple would allow access to the MAC addresses in special cases, e. g. by implementing some kind of special permission for network scanning apps. But this is up to Apple whether to implement this or not.

We have done everything possible to keep the excellent usability of the iNet family, also without knowing MAC addresses of found devices. If the access of MAC addresses is possible again all the lost features will be available again.

Just for clarification: The Mac release of iNet is not affected by these limitations ... :-)

Have a beautiful day.

The BananaGlue Team

If you want to contact Apple regarding the missing MAC addresses in iNet you could use this link:

Send Comment to Apple

If network management via your iPhone is important to you or is impacting your business or personal lifestyle, we strongly recommend reaching out to Apple directly and explaining how blocking access to MAC address from networking apps is causing an overall inferior iPhone experience.

Just enter “Problem with MAC address Blocking on iOS11” in the Subject field of the form. Please also mention in the Comment section of the form why using iNet and having MAC address information (and related features) are important to you as an iPhone user. Please let your voice be heard.

There is also a campaign on change.org to convince Apple to let network applications acceess MAC addresses. You would help us very much by signing this petition: Sign Petition