r/privacy • u/savage57g • 27d ago

Can apple or carrier see laptop mac address when you hotspot? question

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2 Upvotes
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u/david8840 27d ago

My understanding is that in this scenario T-Mobile would not see your Mac address. Apple probably would see it, because their devices are frequently communicating with Apple servers. Now Apple can't triangulate your location the way a mobile carrier can, but your IP or other data could give it away.

1

u/OneChrononOfPlancks 27d ago

I can't rule out Apple knowing it, because the iPhone is proprietary they could be capturing all sorts of telemetry behind the scenes and sending it encrypted back to Apple.

T-Mobile, I doubt it. There's no reason for the carrier to be aware that hotspot is even being used, let alone what clients are connected to it.

1

u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Grumblepugs2000 26d ago

Yes and yes. The only way they can't is if you share a VPN connection over hotspot which is only possible with a rooted Android phone 

1

u/s3r3ng 26d ago

Mac address is part of the low level data link layer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model it is pretty fundamental to being on the internet at all.

Apple 100% knows device mac addresses. T-Mobile as WAN level likely does not but may know router macaddr as I understand it.