Changing MAC Address on macOS Tahoe

Some hotspots restrict access by MAC address. macOS gives you three built-in modes to set the MAC address:

• Off — uses the hardware MAC
• Fixed — one static, randomized MAC per network
• Rotating — rotates roughly every few weeks

Sometimes you need the rotation right now. macOS doesn’t expose a button for that, so this command sequence forces a fresh MAC address on macOS Tahoe (26):

networksetup -setairportpower en0 off; sudo networksetup -setairportpower en0 on; sudo ifconfig en0 ether $(printf "%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x:%02x" $(((RANDOM%256|2)&254)) $((RANDOM%256)) $((RANDOM%256)) $((RANDOM%256)) $((RANDOM%256)) $((RANDOM%256))) ; sudo networksetup -detectnewhardware #CHANGEMAC

This powers Wi-Fi off/on, injects a valid random MAC, and forces hardware re-detection.

Caveats

Running networksetup -listallhardwareports shows network interfaces and their MAC addresses (usually en0 for the built-in Wi-Fi). Pressing Option and then clicking on the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar displays detailed network information.

However, after running the above command, both of these options advertise an incorrect MAC address. sudo ifconfig en0 ether seems to be the only correct way to display the (changed) MAC address.