Introduction
With the rollout of iOS 14 Apple introduced the ability for iPhone and iPad users to enable the use of a private address on wifi networks that support it. Turning on the private access feature increases your security and makes it harder for hackers or anyone else to track your device, as this feature will assign it a different MAC address (or media access control) to the device on each network where this is enabled. It should be noted that having this enabled may cause you to have to log back into your wifi network every 24 hours, and that this feature may not be available on some wifi networks. Examples of all instructions in the steps can be seen in both the YouTube video above and the image collection located beneath the steps.
Steps to Use Private Wifi Address on iPhone or iPad
- Open the Settings app, and then tap “WiFi” in that menu.
- Tap the Wifi network you’re currently connected to.
- Tap to toggle on “Private Address.”
- Tap “Rejoin.” You’ll be disconnected from and then reconnected to your Wifi network, and private address will be enabled, assigning you a unique MAC address when you’re connected to that Wifi network.