Why duplicate device entries might appear on your router’s device list

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This guide will explain why device entries might appear multiple times on your router’s device list and how to handle them.

Every device has a default MAC address used by routers to identify it on a network. If it uses a randomized MAC address instead of the default one, this might cause it to appear more than once on your device list.

What is a randomized MAC address?

Many operating systems now support MAC address randomization. When it is enabled, your device uses a randomized MAC address (also called a Private Address) instead of the default one when connecting to a Wi-Fi network to protect your privacy.

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Why do my devices duplicate on the list?

If your device does not use a randomized MAC address, it should only appear once on your device list.

However, devices with a randomized MAC address can appear more than once on the list. Most commonly, your device has one randomized MAC address for the router’s 2.4 GHz channel and another for its 5 GHz channel. In this case, your device will appear twice on the device list.

Since settings are unique to each device entry, the settings you previously configured for the first device entry will no longer apply:

• The device name
• The device’s IP address
• The device’s connection type (Router VPN, No VPN, or MediaStreamer)
• Any port forwarding rules set to that device

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Which of my devices uses randomized MAC addresses?

If any of your devices uses a randomized MAC address, you will see next to the device name on the device list.

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How to handle duplicate device entries on the list

If you do not need to configure any VPN settings or rules for your device, you can leave the duplicate entries on the list. There is no further effect.

If you see duplicate entries appearing for the same device, you can remove them by following these steps:

1. Select Last seen to sort your device names.
   
2. Keep the most recently connected devices indicated by the Last seen time.
   
3. For the duplicate devices, select > Forget Device. It may take up to 24 hours for the device to be removed from the list.
   

Disable MAC address randomization

Alternatively, you can disable MAC address randomization on your device. Randomized MAC addresses help protect your privacy in public networks, but it is not necessary on a private network since it is managed by you. To disable MAC address randomization:

iOS and WatchOS

Windows 10

Android 10

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