Determine MAC Address
The MAC (Media Access Control) address is an identifier that is associated with a network adapter and uniquely identifies a device on a network. A MAC address consists of 12 hexadecimal numbers, typically formatted as follows
XX:XX:XX:YY:YY:YY
The XX values in a MAC address identify the manufacturer, the YY values are the serial number assigned to the network adapter.
The MAC address can be useful if you need a way to uniquely identify a device – this can be used as a substitute for the UDID value that is now deprecated in iOS 5 and greater.
The code below shows how to get the MAC address on an iOS device:
- #include <sys/socket.h>
- #include <sys/sysctl.h>
- #include <net/if.h>
- #include <net/if_dl.h>
- - (NSString *)getMacAddress
- {
- int mgmtInfoBase[6];
- char *msgBuffer = NULL;
- NSString *errorFlag = NULL;
- size_t length;
- // Setup the management Information Base (mib)
- mgmtInfoBase[0] = CTL_NET; // Request network subsystem
- mgmtInfoBase[1] = AF_ROUTE; // Routing table info
- mgmtInfoBase[2] = 0;
- mgmtInfoBase[3] = AF_LINK; // Request link layer information
- mgmtInfoBase[4] = NET_RT_IFLIST; // Request all configured interfaces
- // With all configured interfaces requested, get handle index
- if ((mgmtInfoBase[5] = if_nametoindex("en0")) == 0)
- errorFlag = @"if_nametoindex failure";
- // Get the size of the data available (store in len)
- else if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, NULL, &length, NULL, 0) < 0)
- errorFlag = @"sysctl mgmtInfoBase failure";
- // Alloc memory based on above call
- else if ((msgBuffer = malloc(length)) == NULL)
- errorFlag = @"buffer allocation failure";
- // Get system information, store in buffer
- else if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, msgBuffer, &length, NULL, 0) < 0)
- {
- free(msgBuffer);
- errorFlag = @"sysctl msgBuffer failure";
- }
- else
- {
- // Map msgbuffer to interface message structure
- struct if_msghdr *interfaceMsgStruct = (struct if_msghdr *) msgBuffer;
- // Map to link-level socket structure
- struct sockaddr_dl *socketStruct = (struct sockaddr_dl *) (interfaceMsgStruct + 1);
- // Copy link layer address data in socket structure to an array
- unsigned char macAddress[6];
- memcpy(&macAddress, socketStruct->sdl_data + socketStruct->sdl_nlen, 6);
- // Read from char array into a string object, into traditional Mac address format
- NSString *macAddressString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X",
- macAddress[0], macAddress[1], macAddress[2], macAddress[3], macAddress[4], macAddress[5]];
- NSLog(@"Mac Address: %@", macAddressString);
- // Release the buffer memory
- free(msgBuffer);
- return macAddressString;
- }
- // Error...
- NSLog(@"Error: %@", errorFlag);
- return errorFlag;
- }
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/sysctl.h>
#include <net/if.h>
#include <net/if_dl.h>
- (NSString *)getMacAddress
{
int mgmtInfoBase[6];
char *msgBuffer = NULL;
NSString *errorFlag = NULL;
size_t length;
// Setup the management Information Base (mib)
mgmtInfoBase[0] = CTL_NET; // Request network subsystem
mgmtInfoBase[1] = AF_ROUTE; // Routing table info
mgmtInfoBase[2] = 0;
mgmtInfoBase[3] = AF_LINK; // Request link layer information
mgmtInfoBase[4] = NET_RT_IFLIST; // Request all configured interfaces
// With all configured interfaces requested, get handle index
if ((mgmtInfoBase[5] = if_nametoindex("en0")) == 0)
errorFlag = @"if_nametoindex failure";
// Get the size of the data available (store in len)
else if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, NULL, &length, NULL, 0) < 0)
errorFlag = @"sysctl mgmtInfoBase failure";
// Alloc memory based on above call
else if ((msgBuffer = malloc(length)) == NULL)
errorFlag = @"buffer allocation failure";
// Get system information, store in buffer
else if (sysctl(mgmtInfoBase, 6, msgBuffer, &length, NULL, 0) < 0)
{
free(msgBuffer);
errorFlag = @"sysctl msgBuffer failure";
}
else
{
// Map msgbuffer to interface message structure
struct if_msghdr *interfaceMsgStruct = (struct if_msghdr *) msgBuffer;
// Map to link-level socket structure
struct sockaddr_dl *socketStruct = (struct sockaddr_dl *) (interfaceMsgStruct + 1);
// Copy link layer address data in socket structure to an array
unsigned char macAddress[6];
memcpy(&macAddress, socketStruct->sdl_data + socketStruct->sdl_nlen, 6);
// Read from char array into a string object, into traditional Mac address format
NSString *macAddressString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X:%02X",
macAddress[0], macAddress[1], macAddress[2], macAddress[3], macAddress[4], macAddress[5]];
NSLog(@"Mac Address: %@", macAddressString);
// Release the buffer memory
free(msgBuffer);
return macAddressString;
}
// Error...
NSLog(@"Error: %@", errorFlag);
return errorFlag;
}The output will look as follows: Mac Address: E0:F8:47:C0:E3:C9
UPD: Update code to fixed version. Thx to C?ur

Fixing a memory leak and a logic warning in the above code:
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