Haas Entertainment Systems

Beware of “Private Wi-Fi Address” feature in iOS 14

In September, Apple will release iOS 14 for the Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Watch. This release introduces ‘private Wi-Fi address,’ a feature that assigns the iOS device a random MAC address for each Wi-Fi network. To learn more, check out Apple’s Support Article. 

When ‘private Wi-Fi address’ is enabled, some OvrC and MAC-based network services may be interrupted for Apple iOS devices:

• OvrC Services 
  • Apple iOS devices appear twice in the OvrC device list
  • OvrC home client services may stop functioning, including wireless device profiles created for Apple iOS devices and content filtering
• Network MAC-based services configured for Apple iOS devices: 
  • Device lists may show iOS devices twice
  • MAC filtering no longer works (for example: parental controls)
  • DHCP reservations 
  • Whitelist/blacklists & Access Control lists

How to Prepare

• Learn more about Apple’s upcoming iOS 14 release to understand and consider how you and your customers may be impacted. Apple’s Support Article.
• Prior to the iOS 14 release, identify projects where the above OvrC and/or MAC-based network services are configured for iOS devices. 
• Watch for additional information from Haas Entertainment around the release of iOS 14.