how can I randomize my MAC address every time my WiFi is turned on?

Question

Given the increased prevalence of systems which track people's movements by their Mac addresses I'd like to obscure mine.

I have a rooted galaxy note 2 with busybox installed. I can change my MAC address like so:

busybox ifconfig wlan0 hw ether 11:22:33:44:55:66

however, if I disable and re-enable my wireless, or I reboot my phone, it gets forgotten. is there somewhere I can put a script so it will be run every time my wireless turns on?

Answer 1

How about Chainfire's tool Pry-Fi which was announced over at XDA?
It works great and it is available via the official Google play-store at:

• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.pryfi

Here’s a screenshot showing the tool in action…

Answer 2

You could do that using e.g. Tasker, the mighty automation tool:

• Condition: Monitor Start (i.e., Tasker was started; alternatively: Device Boot, i.e. boot process finished)
• Task: Run Shell, with your command as parameter

If you like it more fancy, you could even use Variable Randomize to generate a different MAC each time...

Answer 3

In addition to the other answer with Tasker ("You could do that using e.g. Tasker, the mighty automation tool:"), here a little Task (description export) with randomizing the MAC:

TestMacChanger (130)
    A1: Variable Set [ Name:%count To:0 Do Maths:On Append:Off ] 
    <randomstart>
    A2: Variable Randomize [ Name:%random Min:0 Max:15 ] 
    A3: Variable Convert [ Name:%random Function:Decimal to Hex Store Result In:%rhex ] 
    A4: Test Variable [ Type:Length Data:%rhex Store Result In:%len ] 
    A5: Variable Set [ Name:%rhex To:0%rhex Do Maths:Off Append:Off ] If [ %len eq 1 ]
    A6: Variable Convert [ Name:%rhex Function:To Upper Case Store Result In: ] 
    A7: Variable Set [ Name:%mac To:%mac:%rhex Do Maths:Off Append:Off ] If [ %mac Set ]
    A8: Variable Set [ Name:%mac To:%rhex Do Maths:Off Append:Off ] If [ %mac !Set ]
    A9: Variable Add [ Name:%count Value:1 Wrap Around:0 ] 
    <randomend>
    A10: Goto [ Type:Action Label Number:1 Label:randomstart ] If [ %count < 6 ]
    A11: Variable Set [ Name:%mac To:00:11:22:33:44:55 Do Maths:Off Append:Off ] If [ %mac !Set ]
    A12: Flash [ Text:%mac Long:On ] 
    A13: Run Shell [ Command:su
busybox ifconfig wlan0 hw ether %mac Timeout (Seconds):0 Use Root:On Store Output In:%output Store Errors In:%error Store Result In: Continue Task After Error:On ] 
    A14: Flash [ Text:%error Long:Off ] If [ %error Set ]

This is doing a loop for 6 random hex values to get a random mac as e.g. 01:4F:89:BA:3F:0C Then it is setting this random mac as own mac.

I can see the new mac with this command:

busybox iplink show wlan0

After a reboot the old mac is reset.

Answer 4

Use Chainfire's app called Pry-Wifi which does exactly that.

Answer 5

As things move forward, I've got a new phone (a Pixel 5a), which has such a built in option, but that's for Developers.

First I had to enable the developer feature (see here for original):

• Open Settings » About Phone
• Click on Build Number 7 times

Next, I went to the Developer feature (you can use the search feature if you have a slightly different phone):

• Open Settings » System » Advanced » Developer options
• Scroll down to "Wi-Fi-enhanced MAC randomization" and Enable

As you probably know, the default is to generate a random MAC address once per network, address that gets saved once and for all unless you change the above flag. So with the default, if you use different WiFi networks, it at least will use a different MAC for each connection point.

Answer 6

I feel like this could be done with a bash script or editing the init file to include the command you have here.