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How can I eliminate the „Privacy Warning“ for networks where I don‘t want to mask my MAC address?

My home network assigns reserved IP addresses based on the MAC of known devices. Apple‘s new MAC masking is therefore counter-productive at home. I have therefore turned off masking for my home network, but my iPad Pro 2020 still shows the „Privacy Warning“ for my home network. How can I get rid of the warning? Furthermore, can I leave Mac masking turned off for my home network and stsill have it active for other networks? The help article suggests that this is the default behaviour, but the description isn‘t quite clear.

iPad Pro, iPadOS 15

Posted on Mar 11, 2022 7:51 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 11, 2022 8:10 AM

The privacy warning associated with non-use of Wi-Fi Private Addressing is informational; the warning, if visible, cannot be directly suppressed. Private Wi-Fi Addresses are enabled by default.


As you appear to be aware, the WiFi Private Address feature provides additional privacy and security when using “public” (untrusted) WiFi networks. This feature is largely unnecessary for your home WiFi network - and may, in some circumstances, disrupt network connectivity.


This feature is configured for each WiFi network to which you connect. You can enable or disable this feature for each network to which you connect:

Settings > WiFi > [Your Network Name / SSID] - tap the blue “i” icon - Private Wi-Fi Address - set to ON or OFF as required


More information about this feature can be found here:

Use private Wi-Fi addresses on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch - Apple Support

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 11, 2022 8:10 AM in response to rsbrux

The privacy warning associated with non-use of Wi-Fi Private Addressing is informational; the warning, if visible, cannot be directly suppressed. Private Wi-Fi Addresses are enabled by default.


As you appear to be aware, the WiFi Private Address feature provides additional privacy and security when using “public” (untrusted) WiFi networks. This feature is largely unnecessary for your home WiFi network - and may, in some circumstances, disrupt network connectivity.


This feature is configured for each WiFi network to which you connect. You can enable or disable this feature for each network to which you connect:

Settings > WiFi > [Your Network Name / SSID] - tap the blue “i” icon - Private Wi-Fi Address - set to ON or OFF as required


More information about this feature can be found here:

Use private Wi-Fi addresses on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch - Apple Support

Mar 11, 2022 8:24 AM in response to LotusPilot

@lotuspilot, Thanks for the prompt response. The link you provided is in fact the help article I referred to. What exactly do you (and the help article) mean by „on by default“? Since the setting appears to be per connection, will it still be on for other networks I join, even though I have turned it off while connected to my home network?

Or, now that I have turned it off, will I have to turn it back on when joining other networks?

Mar 11, 2022 8:29 AM in response to rsbrux

To reiterate, the setting is independent between WiFi networks. Changing the setting for one network will not affect the setting for other networks.


The Private Wi-Fi Address setting was default “enabled” when the feature was originally introduced by Apple. If your iPad is reset, this setting will - by default - be enabled for each WiFi network that you subsequently configure. Despite being default-on, it can be disabled (per network) at any time.

How can I eliminate the „Privacy Warning“ for networks where I don‘t want to mask my MAC address?

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