Pixel 8 pro connecting with new MAC address to home wifi

wetop

Hi there - I am not sure I am going to explain this correctly but I will give it a try.

I use Synology kit as a wifi mesh at home, when my phone connects to my wifi, when I reboot my phone or come home the router adds a new dhcp/MAC address for the device - creating many devices over time. I had already set the phone with a static IP but that was being ignored. After reading around a bit on the forum I think this is because the phone is set to "use per-connection randomised MAC (default)". I have now set it to "use per-network randomised MAC". So does this mean, for any new wifi networks I connect to in the future (this is not often, and would use VPN), I would generate a new MAC address? Have I taken the write approach to solve my issue?

Is there anything else I should/should not do to rectify the problem?

Thanks for reading!

becomeparmesan

Yes, that would be the correct setting in your case. I would leave it for other networks as fully randomized, so you can't be tracked from network to network. So your phone will generate a new MAC address on each connection, for each network - except the one you set to per-network randomized.

Edit: re-reading your post, maybe you meant if this setting is valid only for that WiFi or all WiFis. It is only valid for that specific WiFi you selected, afaik there is no way to change it globally.

wetop

Thanks for the reply @becomeparmesan. I assume I would need to manually switch back to "use per-connection randomised MAC (default)" if I was to connect to another wifi?

becomeparmesan

Nah, the way I understand it, it is only valid for one WiFi. So the default setting is randomizing each connection.