Android 13 "use of Device Mac as default" in WIFI Profile?

Hi,

we use Android 13 on TC21 and 53. Now we want roll out an WIfi profile. 

Our system use an MAC filter.

Now we have the problem that after run the profile with the correct wifi settings the Android system is used randomized mac adress.

Is there an possibility to change the settings in the profile to : "use Device Mac" as default?

2 years ago
SOTI MobiControl
ANSWERS
RC
Raymond Chan Diamond Contributor
2 years ago

According to Zebra online documentation at  

https://techdocs.zebra.com/emdk-for-android/6-8/mx/wifi/

Disabling MAC randomization is supported in Wifi Manager since MX 8.1.  So check the spec of your Zebra TC21/TC53 to confirm if they meet the minimum MX version.  If so, find the corresponding XML-format command and send the XML file with MobiControl script command.

MD
Matt Dermody Diamond Contributor
2 years ago

While this configuration setting does work on most Zebra devices I am not sure it will work on the TC21. The TC21 is a value tier device from Zebra that has been purposefully limited in functionality to keep costs low. This results in a dramatically reduced set of MX configurations for this class of device compared with the enterprise class devices from Zebra. This is frequently a rude awakening for end customers who buy the cheaper TC21 thinking its just like other Zebra devices, only to find out that it is severely limited from a configurability perspective. Based on the documentation you should be able to disable MAC randomization through configuration of the TC53, but the TC21 is not listed. Also note that MAC filtering has somewhat gone by the wayside in modern networks as there is increasing restrictions on device identifiers like MAC. Thankfully Zebra has built and exposed a configuration parameter to disable MAC randomization but the fact that newer versions of Android have this feature enabled by default now should be an indicator that MAC filtering on the network is no longer a reliable approach.

RC
Raymond Chan Diamond Contributor
2 years ago

Based on the information provided at https://supportcommunity.zebra.com/s/article/000022302?language=en_US

Zebra OEMconfig apps (https://play.google.com/work/apps/details?id=com.zebra.oemconfig.release) can also be used to disable Wifi MAC randomization if the Zebra device running it supports MX 8.1 or higher.