Can one programmatically obtain the MAC address of a device running Android 6.0+?

Question

According to this,

To provide users with greater data protection, starting in this release, Android removes programmatic access to the device’s local hardware identifier for apps using the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth APIs. The WifiInfo.getMacAddress() and the BluetoothAdapter.getAddress() methods now return a constant value of 02:00:00:00:00:00.

Does that mean it's impossible to get the device's MAC address in Android 6.0+? If it's possible, can you tell me how to do it in Android Studio?

Also, this answer only applies to devices with versions of Android below 6.0

stop adding android studio tag. Your question has nothing to do with android studio — Tim, Jul 11 '16 at 08:06
@TimCastelijns Please stop editing my question. I want to use Android Studio. — Dake, Jul 11 '16 at 08:10
that is great but that is totally irrelevant. Your question also applies to people using eclipse. Is your question about the IDE? No? Dont use the tag — Tim, Jul 11 '16 at 08:11
Hi Dake. I agree with @TimCastelijns. Your question is regarding the Android APIs and not related to the IDE. — Ruchira Randana, Jul 11 '16 at 08:41
I posted here working solution https://stackoverflow.com/a/47789324/5330408 — Android Developer, Dec 13 '17 at 11:39

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 10 '17 at 21:19

9

You can use an alternative way to get the MAC addr on a Android 6.0 device.

First add Internet User-Permission to your AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

Secondly,

try {
        // get all the interfaces
        List<NetworkInterface> all = Collections.list(NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces());
        //find network interface wlan0  
        for (NetworkInterface networkInterface : all) {
            if (!networkInterface.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("wlan0")) continue;
        //get the hardware address (MAC) of the interface    
            byte[] macBytes = networkInterface.getHardwareAddress();
            if (macBytes == null) {
                return "";
            }


            StringBuilder res1 = new StringBuilder();
            for (byte b : macBytes) {
                //gets the last byte of b
                res1.append(Integer.toHexString(b & 0xFF) + ":");
            }

            if (res1.length() > 0) {
                res1.deleteCharAt(res1.length() - 1);
            }
            return res1.toString();
        }
    } catch (Exception ex) {
           ex.printStackTrace();
    }

edited Aug 10 '17 at 21:19

Archie.bpgc

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answered Jul 11 '16 at 08:03

GAVD

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Thanks for you answer! Can you please comment what your code does step by step? I'm a new programmer. :) – Dake Jul 11 '16 at 08:17
1

Edited. Hope this help :) – GAVD Jul 11 '16 at 08:36
Can we modify the device's MAC address using your code? I guess I should ask another question for this. – Dake Jul 11 '16 at 08:55
I don't think you can change the MAC address. See [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) – GAVD Jul 11 '16 at 08:57
There are many apps that can modify the MAC address such as this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wireless.macchanger – Dake Jul 11 '16 at 09:01
But, nevermind. Thanks for your answer. I might ask another question for this. – Dake Jul 11 '16 at 09:01
Hello again. In which function should I put your code? `protected void onCreate`? – Dake Jul 12 '16 at 14:23
or `public void onStart()`? – Dake Jul 12 '16 at 14:28
It depends on you. You can put these code in a function, and call it when you need. – GAVD Jul 13 '16 at 01:47
1

Can you please explain your code even more? (+1) Also, the difference between `macBytes` and `res1`. – Dake Jul 13 '16 at 21:15
1

I'd like some more explanation. – Dake Jul 14 '16 at 14:40

Can one programmatically obtain the MAC address of a device running Android 6.0+?

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