Step-by-step guide on how to change the network name of your iPhone or iPad. This guide will also help you to change the name of your iPad and iPod touch.
What’s the Network Name?
Every device has the network name (a.k.a. hostname). When talking about Windows PC, your laptop or desktop can be accessed by hostname or IP-address on the LAN or even Internet. But mobile devices also have it.
The closest example: if you log in to your router’s web interface, open the DHCP Clients List section you can find your iPhone in the list mentioned by its hostname. By default apple devices have a network name like Brian’s iPhone or Amanda’s iPad.
As you might understand, your iPhone’s hostname will appear on router’s settings page every time you connect to a wireless network. Consequently, administrators of that network (or router in particular) will be able to see it.
So if you don’t want your device to uncover your name when you access public or office network you may want to change iPhone’s hostname to another one. For instance, if you change “Amanda’s iPhone” to neutral “iPhone 7” or “Kitty”.
Related: Enable Private Address to prevent tracking your Apple devices
How To Change iPhone’s Network Name
Perform the following easy steps:
- Go to Settings:
- Scroll down a bit and tap on General:
- Select About:
- Tap on Name:
- Change the name (first delete the old one and than type the new name).
- Tap Done:
Now you may reboot your router, connect to wi-fi from your iPhone and ensure your device is visible by its new client name:
That’s it!
I need to resolve an IP address from a hostname in iOS. I know this is trivial using NSHost, however NSHost resolution capability seems to only work on OSX.
Thanks in advance.
asked Aug 7, 2012 at 11:41
2
Like this:
struct hostent *host_entry = gethostbyname("stackoverflow.com");
char *buff;
buff = inet_ntoa(*((struct in_addr *)host_entry->h_addr_list[0]));
buff variable now contain an ip address…
answered Aug 7, 2012 at 11:47
TutankhamenTutankhamen
3,5121 gold badge30 silver badges38 bronze badges
5
Hi everyone, On a UDMB running 1.10, it’s doing DHCP for the subnet/vlan.
I have a new iPhone 13 device on the network but it’s name and hostname isn’t showing on the Clients page. All other Apple iOS devices running iOS 15 is showing up correctly. Is anyone else seeing this and can suggest what may be causing this?
NB All the other Apple iOS/iPadOS devices have (the default) Private Address setting on, and their name/hostname is showing.
UPDATE: With more testing, this doesn’t appear to be an Apple issue. If I do a network scan using an app like LanScan https://pcmacstore.com/en/app/472226235/lanscan – the iPhone 13 shows up in the DNS Name and Host Name columns. For some reason, it doesn’t in Unifi.
How do I SSH into my iPhone (Mac / Windows instructions)?
When your iPhone is jailbroken many features and functions of the device can be accessed by the command line, and files can be transferred between the iPhone and your computer outside of iTunes. Access to the iPhone is accomplished using the Secure Shell (SSH) network protocol. Assuming your iPhone is already jailbroken and has Cydia installed, follow these instructions to SSH into the device.
1. Open Cydia and navigate to Sections -> Networking -> OpenSSH
2. If there’s a green check mark next to OpenSSH the package is already installed. If not, then install OpenSSH.
3. Find your iPhone’s IP address.
4. On Windows, you must install an SSH client for your computer. One example of a free SSH client is PuTTY. Once installed run the program and open a new connection.
5. The hostname is your iPhone’s IP address. The username is root. Password is alpine.
6. On Mac OS X, open a new console window using Terminal. This program can be found under Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.
7. Type ‘ssh root@(your iPhone’s IP address)’ without the quotes or parentheses into the Terminal console and hit return. Enter the password ‘alpine’ and hit return.
8. If asked “Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?” type ‘yes’ to continue.
9. You are now connected via SSH to your jailbroken iPhone.
10. Change the default root password on your iPhone for security and use this password for future connections.
If your session gets interrupted it may help to turn off Auto-Lock to keep the connection open. To turn off Auto-Lock navigate to Settings -> General -> Auto-Lock -> Never
To end your SSH session type ‘exit’ at the command prompt.
More Like This
I’m running a websever on my macbook and I want to access it from my phone over wifi using my home network. If I type in the IP address, it connects just fine, but I need the domain name to be fully-qualified in order for me to get anywhere within the web app. How do I set my host name on my home network so I can access the server with a fully-qualified name?
PS (I can’t root the phone so I can’t edit its host files or redirect its DNS).
asked Aug 10, 2012 at 15:09
JasonJason
1,8332 gold badges14 silver badges15 bronze badges
1
The simple version is machine name dot local. Example: macbookpro.local Of course I’m running a DNS server on my home network (MacMini Server) so it works. You may need to do the same thing. I think the server download for OsX is $20, and adds DNS functionality (along with LOTS of other cool stuff).
answered Aug 10, 2012 at 15:49
EverettEverett
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3