[ACCEPTED]-How can I programmatically get the MAC address of an iphone-mac-address

NOTE As of iOS7, you can no longer retrieve 7 device MAC addresses. A fixed value will 6 be returned rather than the actual MAC

Somthing 5 I stumbled across a while ago. Originally 4 from here I modified it a bit and cleaned things 3 up.

IPAddress.h
IPAddress.c

And to use it

InitAddresses();
GetIPAddresses();
GetHWAddresses();

int i;
NSString *deviceIP = nil;
for (i=0; i<MAXADDRS; ++i)
{
    static unsigned long localHost = 0x7F000001;        // 127.0.0.1
    unsigned long theAddr;

    theAddr = ip_addrs[i];

    if (theAddr == 0) break;
    if (theAddr == localHost) continue;

    NSLog(@"Name: %s MAC: %s IP: %s\n", if_names[i], hw_addrs[i], ip_names[i]);

        //decided what adapter you want details for
    if (strncmp(if_names[i], "en", 2) == 0)
    {
        NSLog(@"Adapter en has a IP of %s", ip_names[i]);
    }
}

Adapter names vary depending 2 on the simulator/device as well as wifi 1 or cell on the device.

Update: this will not work on iOS 7. You should 1 use ASIdentifierManager.

More clean solution on MobileDeveloperTips website:

#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/sysctl.h>
#include <net/if.h>
#include <net/if_dl.h>

...

- (NSString *)getMacAddress
{
  int                 mgmtInfoBase[6];
  char                *msgBuffer = NULL;
  size_t              length;
  unsigned char       macAddress[6];
  struct if_msghdr    *interfaceMsgStruct;
  struct sockaddr_dl  *socketStruct;
  NSString            *errorFlag = NULL;

  // 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";
  else
  {
    // Get the size of the data available (store in len)
    if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, NULL, &length, NULL, 0) < 0) 
      errorFlag = @"sysctl mgmtInfoBase failure";
    else
    {
      // Alloc memory based on above call
      if ((msgBuffer = malloc(length)) == NULL)
        errorFlag = @"buffer allocation failure";
      else
      {
        // Get system information, store in buffer
        if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, msgBuffer, &length, NULL, 0) < 0)
          errorFlag = @"sysctl msgBuffer failure";
      }
    }
  }

  // Befor going any further...
  if (errorFlag != NULL)
  {
    NSLog(@"Error: %@", errorFlag);
    return errorFlag;
  }

  // Map msgbuffer to interface message structure
  interfaceMsgStruct = (struct if_msghdr *) msgBuffer;

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

  // Copy link layer address data in socket structure to an array
  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]];
  NSLog(@"Mac Address: %@", macAddressString);

  // Release the buffer memory
  free(msgBuffer);

  return macAddressString;
}

I wanted something to return the address 6 regardless of whether or not wifi was enabled, so 5 the chosen solution didn't work for me. I 4 used another call I found on some forum 3 after some tweaking. I ended up with the 2 following (excuse my rusty C ) :

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <net/if_dl.h>
#include <ifaddrs.h>


char*  getMacAddress(char* macAddress, char* ifName) {

int  success;
struct ifaddrs * addrs;
struct ifaddrs * cursor;
const struct sockaddr_dl * dlAddr;
const unsigned char* base;
int i;

success = getifaddrs(&addrs) == 0;
if (success) {
    cursor = addrs;
    while (cursor != 0) {
        if ( (cursor->ifa_addr->sa_family == AF_LINK)
            && (((const struct sockaddr_dl *) cursor->ifa_addr)->sdl_type == IFT_ETHER) && strcmp(ifName,  cursor->ifa_name)==0 ) {
            dlAddr = (const struct sockaddr_dl *) cursor->ifa_addr;
            base = (const unsigned char*) &dlAddr->sdl_data[dlAddr->sdl_nlen];
            strcpy(macAddress, ""); 
            for (i = 0; i < dlAddr->sdl_alen; i++) {
                if (i != 0) {
                    strcat(macAddress, ":");
                }
                char partialAddr[3];
                sprintf(partialAddr, "%02X", base[i]);
                strcat(macAddress, partialAddr);

            }
        }
        cursor = cursor->ifa_next;
    }

    freeifaddrs(addrs);
}    
return macAddress;
}

And then 1 I would call it asking for en0, as follows:

char* macAddressString= (char*)malloc(18);
NSString* macAddress= [[NSString alloc] initWithCString:getMacAddress(macAddressString, "en0")
                                              encoding:NSMacOSRomanStringEncoding];
free(macAddressString);

Starting from iOS 7, the system always returns 10 the value 02:00:00:00:00:00 when you ask for the MAC address 9 on any device.

In iOS 7 and later, if you 8 ask for the MAC address of an iOS device, the 7 system returns the value 02:00:00:00:00:00. If 6 you need to identify the device, use the 5 identifierForVendor property of UIDevice 4 instead. (Apps that need an identifier for 3 their own advertising purposes should consider 2 using the advertisingIdentifier property 1 of ASIdentifierManager instead.)"

Reference: releasenotes

There are vary solutions about this, but 2 I couldn't find a whole thing. So I made 1 my own solution for :

nicinfo

How to use :

NICInfoSummary* summary = [[[NICInfoSummary alloc] init] autorelease];

// en0 is for WiFi 
NICInfo* wifi_info = [summary findNICInfo:@"en0"];

// you can get mac address in 'XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX' form
NSString* mac_address = [wifi_info getMacAddressWithSeparator:@"-"];

// ip can be multiple
if(wifi_info.nicIPInfos.count > 0)
{
    NICIPInfo* ip_info = [wifi_info.nicIPInfos objectAtIndex:0];
    NSString* ip = ip_info.ip;
    NSString* netmask = ip_info.netmask;
    NSString* broadcast_ip = ip_info.broadcastIP;
}
else
{
    NSLog(@"WiFi not connected!");
}

This looks like a pretty clean solution: UIDevice BIdentifier

// Return the local MAC addy
// Courtesy of FreeBSD hackers email list
// Accidentally munged during previous update. Fixed thanks to erica sadun & mlamb.
- (NSString *) macaddress{

    int                 mib[6];
    size_t              len;
    char                *buf;
    unsigned char       *ptr;
    struct if_msghdr    *ifm;
    struct sockaddr_dl  *sdl;

    mib[0] = CTL_NET;
    mib[1] = AF_ROUTE;
    mib[2] = 0;
    mib[3] = AF_LINK;
    mib[4] = NET_RT_IFLIST;

    if ((mib[5] = if_nametoindex("en0")) == 0) {
        printf("Error: if_nametoindex error\n");
        return NULL;
    }

    if (sysctl(mib, 6, NULL, &len, NULL, 0) < 0) {
        printf("Error: sysctl, take 1\n");
        return NULL;
    }

    if ((buf = malloc(len)) == NULL) {
        printf("Could not allocate memory. error!\n");
        return NULL;
    }

    if (sysctl(mib, 6, buf, &len, NULL, 0) < 0) {
        printf("Error: sysctl, take 2");
        free(buf);
        return NULL;
    }

    ifm = (struct if_msghdr *)buf;
    sdl = (struct sockaddr_dl *)(ifm + 1);
    ptr = (unsigned char *)LLADDR(sdl);
    NSString *outstring = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X", 
                           *ptr, *(ptr+1), *(ptr+2), *(ptr+3), *(ptr+4), *(ptr+5)];
    free(buf);

    return outstring;
}

0

Now iOS 7 devices – are always returning 6 a MAC address of 02:00:00:00:00:00.

So better 5 use [UIDevice identifierForVendor].

so better 4 to call this method to get app specific 3 unique key

Category will more suitable

import 2 "UIDevice+Identifier.h"

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

Now call above method 1 to get unique address

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

NSLog(@"%@",like_UDID);

@Grantland This "pretty clean solution" looks 2 similar to my own improvement over iPhoneDeveloperTips 1 solution.

You can see my step here: https://gist.github.com/1409855/

/* Original source code courtesy John from iOSDeveloperTips.com */

#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/sysctl.h>
#include <net/if.h>
#include <net/if_dl.h>

+ (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]];
        NSLog(@"Mac Address: %@", macAddressString);

        // Release the buffer memory
        free(msgBuffer);

        return macAddressString;
    }

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

    return nil;
}

It's not possible anymore on devices running iOS 7.0 or later, thus 10 unavailable to get MAC address in Swift.

As 9 Apple stated:

In iOS 7 and later, if you 8 ask for the MAC address of an iOS device, the 7 system returns the value 02:00:00:00:00:00. If 6 you need to identify the device, use the 5 identifierForVendor property of UIDevice 4 instead. (Apps that need an identifier for 3 their own advertising purposes should consider 2 using the advertisingIdentifier property 1 of ASIdentifierManager instead.)

#import <sys/socket.h>
#import <net/if_dl.h>
#import <ifaddrs.h>
#import <sys/xattr.h>
#define IFT_ETHER 0x6

...

- (NSString*)macAddress
{
    NSString* result = nil;

    char* macAddressString = (char*)malloc(18);
    if (macAddressString != NULL)
    {
        strcpy(macAddressString, "");

        struct ifaddrs* addrs = NULL;
        struct ifaddrs* cursor;

        if (getifaddrs(&addrs) == 0)
        {
            cursor = addrs;

            while (cursor != NULL)
            {
                if ((cursor->ifa_addr->sa_family == AF_LINK) && (((const struct sockaddr_dl*)cursor->ifa_addr)->sdl_type == IFT_ETHER) && strcmp("en0", cursor->ifa_name) == 0)
                {
                    const struct sockaddr_dl* dlAddr = (const struct sockaddr_dl*) cursor->ifa_addr;
                    const unsigned char* base = (const unsigned char*)&dlAddr->sdl_data[dlAddr->sdl_nlen];

                    for (NSInteger index = 0; index < dlAddr->sdl_alen; index++)
                    {
                        char partialAddr[3];

                        sprintf(partialAddr, "%02X", base[index]);
                        strcat(macAddressString, partialAddr);
                    }
                }

                cursor = cursor->ifa_next;
            }

        }

        result = [[[NSString alloc] initWithUTF8String:macAddressString] autorelease];

        free(macAddressString);
    }

    return result;
}

0

To create a uniqueString based on unique 1 identifier of device in iOS 6:

#import <AdSupport/ASIdentifierManager.h>

NSString *uniqueString = [[[ASIdentifierManager sharedManager] advertisingIdentifier] UUIDString];
NSLog(@"uniqueString: %@", uniqueString);