How to Get the MAC of an Android Device using NetworkInterface Class?

The MAC (Media Access Control) address in Android is a unique identifier assigned to the Wi-Fi module of the device. It is used to identify devices on a network and helps in network communication and security. The general method for getting the MAC address of the android device is using the Wifi Manager class in android studio. Getting mac using wifi manager class is given here. But, to provide users with greater data protection android removes programmatic access to the device’s local hardware identifier for apps using the Wi-Fi APIs. The WifiInfo.getMacAddress() methods now return a constant value of 02:00:00:00:00:00.

In Android M (Marshmallow) the MAC address is unreadable for WiFi. You can get the WiFi MAC Address with Android M Preview 2 (Android M Preview 2 is the second developer preview release of the Android M (Marshmallow) operating system).

Implementation using Network Interface Class

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select Java as the programming language.

Step 2: Add the following Permissions in the AndroidManifest.xml file

XML

<!-- Permissions -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION"/>
    <uses-permission android:name = "android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.LOCAL_MAC_ADDRESS"
        tools:ignore="ProtectedPermissions"/>
<!-- Permissions -->

AndroidManifest.xml file will look like this:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">

    <!-- Permissions -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION"/>
    <uses-permission android:name = "android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.LOCAL_MAC_ADDRESS"
        tools:ignore="ProtectedPermissions"/>
    <!-- Permissions -->

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/data_extraction_rules"
        android:fullBackupContent="@xml/backup_rules"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.NetworkInterfaceGFG"
        tools:targetApi="31">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.app.lib_name"
                android:value="" />
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Step 3: Make a design to show MAC Address

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file.

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatButton
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Get WIFI MAC"
        android:backgroundTint="#44D10D"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/Mac_TV"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="MAC HERE"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        android:layout_below="@+id/button"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:textColor="@color/black"/>

</RelativeLayout>

The above code looks like the below image in the user interface:

UI

Step 4:

Now we are in the last phase of the project, import NetworkInterface, Collections, and List classes using the below lines of code in MainActivity.java.

import java.net.NetworkInterface;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

Step 5: Working with the MainActivity.java file

Go to the MainActivity.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Java

package com.example.networkinterfacegfg;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatButton;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TextView;

import java.net.NetworkInterface;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    TextView MAC_TV;
    AppCompatButton button;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        button = findViewById(R.id.button);
        MAC_TV = findViewById(R.id.Mac_TV);

        button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener(){
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v){
                MAC_TV.setText(getWIFIMAC());
                MAC_TV.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            }
        });

    }

    public static String getWIFIMAC() {
        try {
            String interfaceName = "wlan0";
            List<NetworkInterface> interfaces = Collections.list(NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces());
            for (NetworkInterface inter_face : interfaces) {
                if (!inter_face.getName().equalsIgnoreCase(interfaceName)){
                    continue;
                }

                byte[] mac = inter_face.getHardwareAddress();
                if (mac==null){
                    return "";
                }

                StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
                for (byte aMac : mac) {
                    buffer.append(String.format("%02X:", aMac));
                }
                if (buffer.length()>0) {
                    buffer.deleteCharAt(buffer.length() - 1);
                }
                return buffer.toString();
            }
        } catch (Exception ignored) { }
        return "";
    }
}

Now all are set, just run your app and you will be able to see the Wi-Fi MAC address of your Android device.

Output:

Output