Changing MAC Address in macOS Big Sur & Monterey with spoof-mac

Sep 5, 2021 - 20 Comments

Mac Terminal icon

If you want to change your MAC address in macOS Monterey or Big Sur, you can use the traditional method to spoof a MAC address, or you can use a slightly easier approach by using a command line tool called spoof-mac. We’ll be covering the mac-spoof method here, which relies on HomeBrew.

For some quick background, your computers MAC address is unique and identifies it to connected networks, and some services use MAC addresses for filtering who or what is allowed onto a particular network. Additionally, some services use a MAC address to track a computer or device. And by the way, MAC in this case stands for Media Access Control, not to be confused with Mac which is short for Macintosh – but yes, this article will cover changing the MAC address on a Mac.

This is aimed at advanced users, as the majority of people have no need to change a MAC address or spoof one.

Using spoof-mac to Change a MAC Address in MacOS Monterey / Big Sur

Before beginning, you will need to install Homebrew on the Mac if you have not done so already. Assuming that’s already done, launch Terminal app to get started.

  1. From Terminal app, install mac-spoof with HomeBrew
  2. brew install spoof-mac

  3. Option-click on the wi-fi menu bar item in MacOS to get the interface name (typically en0, sometimes en1)
  4. Temporarily disconnect from wi-fi by going to the Wi-Fi menu and toggling the current Wi-F network so that it’s not longer connected
  5. At the command line, use the following mac-spoof command to generate a random MAC address and change the network interface at en0 to that (change en0 to en1 if applicable):
  6. sudo spoof-mac randomize en0

  7. Return to the wi-fi menu and now re-connect to Wi-Fi on the Mac, the new MAC address should immediately take effect

The MAC address will remain changed until you either switch it back, or the Mac is rebooted.

Note that some users may find that only disconnecting from the active wi-fi network, changing the MAC address, then reconnecting to that network works, while others may find that temporarily disabling wi-fi, changing MAC address, then re-enabling wi-fi works. In testing, both worked on my particular MacBook Air, and FWIW disabling Wi-Fi is the more traditional approach.

This applies to the Mac computer of course, but interestingly enough, the latest versions of iOS and iPadOS offer a private wi-fi address feature on iPhone and iPad that is basically changing and randomizing the MAC address as well for those devices. Perhaps a similar privacy feature will arrive for the Mac eventually.

Whether or not this spoof-mac HomeBrew approach is easier than using the bundled command line tools to spoof a MAC address in Mac OS is up to you and your particular use case.

Why’d you change your MAC address? Do you intend to use this capability often? Do you use another approach to spoofing MAC addresses? Share your experiences, tips, and thoughts in the comments.

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Related articles:

Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Command Line, Mac OS, Tips & Tricks

20 Comments

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  1. Saliha Shaihd says:

    Hello Guys,
    I downloaded the homebrew successfully but when i enter “brew install spoof-mac” it tells me “command not found”.

    I did try to do it with the other method but when i enter “sudo ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx” it tells me
    “can’t assign requested address” or permission denied”

    i have Monterey 12.1, 16 inch 2021. I need help.

    • Ray Zhu says:

      Hello,
      I’m pretty sure you have to be an administrator on your computer in order to be able to download. Are you an administrator? Also, my mac won’t change it’s IP or EN even though I use the random line.

  2. Edward says:

    Hi, im having trouble spoofing my address, each time I run the command, My wifi disconnects and when I do I turn it on again it still does not work.

  3. John Quinn says:

    Hi,

    Just found this page, super helpful and some great articles!

    Regarding the mac change, I have successfully done this via terminal using the ‘old’ and ‘new’ methods. As a poster mention above this change is reflected in terminal, but not in the Wi-Fi icon on the menu bar. Should it?

    Secondly, has anyone utilised this to get around the dreaded Zoom 1132 error?

    Thanks!

    John.

    • Paul says:

      Can you elaborate a bit more on the Zoom 1132 error you are encountering and when? Often updating Zoom, or deleting and reinstalling Zoom, remedies Zoom app related error messages and issues.

  4. Phil says:

    Ignore my previous post. It’s working.

  5. Phil says:

    I have a MBP M1 16 2021 with Monterey 12.2. I followed the instructions very closely yet my MAC Address does not change.

    I successfully start spoof-mac:
    ==> Successfully started `spoof-mac` (label: homebrew.mxcl.spoof-mac)

    Before running spoof-mac, i tried both disabling WiFi and forgetting my WiFI network. Neither one changed the MAC address.

  6. Owen says:

    Hi,
    is there a command to set a specific MAC address? The random one worked for me but I would like to set it to a specific MAC address.
    Thanks!

  7. Steven says:

    Did everything right, HomeBrew installed correctly, followed all the steps, Mac address still the same.

    Using BigSur by the way.

    • Abdul says:

      Hi guys!

      I was able to change it using the old method.

      It’s important to follow the step to check your interface name—hold option key and click wifi menu bar icon—(en0 or en1).

      I believe the main difference following the new update (Monterey 12.2) is that previously I used en1 to spoof but after the new update I’m using en0 to spoof.

      So you can try switching between them.

      Next, generate random Mac address

      To spoof enter this:
      sudo ifconfig en0 ether NEW ADDY

      (replace NEW ADDY with the generated Mac Addy)
      if it asks for password that means it is successful.

      To see new Mac address enter this:
      Ifconfig en0 | grep ether

  8. Lifeform says:

    Hi,

    All of this didnt work. I am still stucked with the same MAC-address?

    Any ideas…? Using a old Macbook Pro from 2013

  9. Noob says:

    Great article, it works great. though I am stuck on something taking this further. so my question is .. “how do I make this a shell script to run automatically every time my Mac boots” … “or even just have it as a quick action”? I keep trying and its not working on Monterey.

  10. nospam says:

    There is a typo should be

    brew install spoof-mac

  11. FolksIT says:

    Quite a good article i will try once for my mac lapi thanks for your work great effort

  12. Stefan says:

    Hey there! Did you mean „spoof-mac“ instead of „mac-spoof“? I do not know any so called formulae though „spoof-mac“ works on Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur. Or did you add any special repo? Nevertheless, thank you for your blog – its a nice read and often very informative!

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