Redmond Pie is reporting that Twitter user @FredericJacobs found an unannounced feature in iOS8 that randomizes your MAC address when scanning for Wi-Fi networks. His Tweet is below.
iOS 8 randomises the MAC address while scanning for WiFi networks. Hoping that this becomes an industry standard. pic.twitter.com/oGsZMtydUo
— Frederic Jacobs (@FredericJacobs) June 8, 2014
If you’re anything like me you pretty much leave Wi-Fi on all the time. Sure it’s pretty easy to swipe up Control Center and turn Wi-Fi off but often times I just don’t remember. The issue with this is that companies are data mining hogs. They want anything and everything they can collect on users so they can market their wares and services to them. So every time your phone is searching for Wi-Fi and happens to find a hotspot, that company has just logged you and your MAC address. So now McDonald’s knows I visited store #3450 not once but 12 times in the last year.
What @FredericJacobs has discovered is that iOS8 Beta spoofs your MAC address for you giving the network that you might run into false information. And it seems this happens in the background consistently, making sure your real MAC address is protected. It’s really a handy little feature that you don’t even have to think about. While there’s likely to be companies that are going to hate this, I think it’s a great step to protect privacy. But the question remains. Will Apple’s iPhone MAC address spoofing software work inside of Apple’s own stores? Or will they somehow “magically” shut off that feature once connected to an Apple network? I’m just throwing that out there, it’s something to consider and ask. What do you think of this iOS8 feature? Worth it? Not impressed? Tell us in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter and Facebook. Social media links to the left of your screen.
Sources: RedmondPie, Twitter
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
