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Bluetooth address changes after installing Soti on a device

MB
Masentle Belebesi
BME

Hello everyone,

We are running into a bit of an issue regarding SOTI and Bluetooth addresses.  Whenever we install SOTI on an Android 6.0.1_r5 device, the Bluetooth address stays the same.  However, whenever we install it on an Android 8 or 9 device, we find that the Bluetooth address changes.  This is verified when we pair the device with another and check the address manually with Android's SDK (as opposed to the settings UI).  Furthermore, upon a reinstall, the Bluetooth address is changed again, but to a new one.

What is happening here?  Is a new static address being assigned every time, or a non-resolvable private address?  We need to know as we rely on the Bluetooth address being accurate for our use cases.

3 years ago
SOTI MobiControl
ANSWERS
MD
Matt Dermody Diamond Contributor
3 years ago

I am not exactly sure when it began, but Android has put increasing restrictions on unique device identifiers over time. Mac address randomization is one of those "features" that Google has implemented to obfuscate unique device IDs from apps for consumer protection. I believe this is likely what you are seeing. App developers that require unique IDs like MAC need to leverage different avenues to get this information. One option is to employ Managed Configurations and then have the EMM pass this information within a Managed Config payload since a Device Owner EMM agent does have visibility to the true values. 

I
ICMOD@SOTI
3 years ago

Hello Masentle,

Thanks for your post!

What is the method of enrollment you used?

Regards,

Technical Support | SOTI Inc. |1.905.624.9828 | support@soti.net | www.soti.net |

MB
Masentle Belebesi
3 years ago

Hi,

i used SOTI MobiControl Stage.

I
ICMOD@SOTI
3 years ago

Hi Masentle,

Thanks for your response!

When you unenroll the device from SOTI does the Bluetooth address change back? Also are the different devices you tested this one the same manufacturer?

Regards,

Technical Support | SOTI Inc. |1.905.624.9828 | support@soti.net | www.soti.net |

MB
Masentle Belebesi
3 years ago

Hi,

So lets say before enrolling to Soti the address is "A" after enrolling to Soti it changes to "B", if you uninstall Soti it changes to "C". it changes after every event.

The devices are the same manufacture, Trimble.

RS
Rafael Schäfer
3 years ago

Look into the checked answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36180407/why-the-address-of-my-bluetoothdevice-changes-every-time-i-relaunch-the-app

This is nothing Soti can change, it's a Google thing as Matt already said.

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