Who's on My WiFi?

Published September 3, 2026

Short answer: open your router's admin page in a browser — usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 — and find the section called Connected Devices, Attached Devices, DHCP Clients or Device List. That list comes from the router itself, so it is the authoritative answer.

The list is the easy part. The two genuinely hard parts are working out which entries are yours, and getting an unwanted device off for good — where the advice you will usually be given (block its MAC address) does not actually work. Both are covered below.

Step 1: See the list

The router's own list (the reliable one)

You need your router's address. It is almost always one of 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.254 or 10.0.0.1. If none of those load, ask your computer — it already knows:

Type that address into a browser, sign in, and find the device list. The sign-in details are usually printed on a sticker on the router — and if they still are, that is your first thing to fix once you are done here.

Your provider's app

Most internet providers now ship an app that shows the same list, often with friendlier names and the ability to pause a device. If you have one, start there — it is the same data from the same router, just easier to read.

A network scanner

Scanner apps sweep your network and report what answers. They are useful for a second opinion, with one important limitation: a scanner only sees devices that are switched on right now, while the router's list generally includes recent ones too. Treat the router as the source of truth.

Step 2: Work out which ones are yours

This is where most people get alarmed unnecessarily. A modern household runs far more connected devices than it feels like. Before assuming the worst, count yours:

• Phones, tablets and laptops — including work devices and old phones still on WiFi
• TVs, streaming sticks, consoles, e-readers
• Smart speakers and displays — often several
• Printer, robot vacuum, thermostat, doorbell, cameras
• Smart plugs and bulbs — each bulb is usually its own device
• Watches and fitness trackers

Two or three people can easily reach 15 to 25 entries. A long list on its own is not evidence of anything.

Reading the cryptic entries

Some devices report a helpful name; plenty report something like ESP-4A2F1C or nothing at all. Three techniques, in order of effort:

1. Use the manufacturer column. Routers show a vendor name derived from the first half of each device's MAC address, which is assigned to the manufacturer. "Espressif" is almost certainly a smart plug or bulb; "Amazon" is an Echo or a Fire Stick; "Hon Hai" or "Liteon" are common WiFi chipsets inside laptops and consoles.
2. Switch things off one at a time. Unplug the suspect device, refresh the list, see which entry disappears. Tedious but conclusive.
3. Compare counts. Turn WiFi off on every device you can, note how many entries remain, then bring them back one by one.

Step 3: Removing a device — and why MAC blocking is not the answer

Nearly every guide says to block the intruder's MAC address. Most routers offer it. It does not really work, for a simple reason: a MAC address is chosen by the device, not assigned by your router. Anyone who wants back in changes theirs and reconnects. And since phones now rotate MACs on their own, the filter list becomes stale almost immediately.

MAC filtering is a speed bump. It will keep out a neighbour who guessed your password and does not care much. It will not keep out anyone who does.

What actually works: change the password

Changing the WiFi password disconnects every device at once, and only the ones you re-enter the password on come back. There is nothing to spoof around. It is one action instead of a list you have to maintain.

Do it properly while you are there:

• Use a new random password, not a variation of the old one. Our WiFi password generator makes one that is strong but still practical to type on a TV remote.
• Change the router's admin password too. That is a different password from the WiFi one, and it is the one that lets someone reconfigure your network. If it is still the value printed on the sticker, change it now.
• Check you are on WPA2 or WPA3, not WEP. WEP is broken and a password will not save it.
• Turn WPS off. If someone got in through the WPS PIN, a new password alone will not stop them doing it again.

Then reconnect your own devices. To avoid typing a long password into every phone in the house, make a WiFi QR code and let people scan it — and see how to change your WiFi password without doing the rounds twice for the order of operations that saves an afternoon.

Was someone actually using it?

Honest answer: usually not. The far more common explanations for a slow or crowded-looking network are an unidentified device of your own, WiFi congestion from neighbouring networks on the same channel, or a device quietly uploading backups. Signs that point at a real intruder are a device you have conclusively eliminated as yours, or unexplained heavy usage at times nobody is home — see the red flags in our WiFi security guide.

Either way, the cost of being wrong is low: changing the password takes ten minutes and settles the question permanently. If the mystery entry never comes back, you had an intruder. If it reappears after you reconnect your own things, it was yours all along.

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