What is the unique identification of an Internet connected IP / MAC device?
I am creating a script that only show the popup once, and then it will never show up again on that device.
How can I do that?
I already tried using cookies, but they can be deleted by the user and therefore the effect is limited.
Another question: what is unique for each device, IP address or MAC address?
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The two most obvious options are cookies or a flag on the account (if your users are authenticated).
Even though you mentioned that cookies can be deleted, it is still a solid form of "I've done something for this client before." If the user deletes the cookies, then chances are that they know what they are doing and should wait for tasks to be repeated (for example, entering other websites too).
If your users are authenticated (namely: they must be logged into your site / service), you can easily save the flag indicating that a notification has already been shown to the user.
This method is, of course, more secure, but depends on authentication. In short: you need to take what you can get, and cookies are your best bet to have a unique device identification.
Regarding your other question: Nothing is unique in reality. MAC addresses (which you won't have access to at all) can be spoofed and IP addresses can be split.
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Neither. Millions of internet devices have 192.168.0.2
both their IP. So it's not unique. And MAC addresses are not Internet things at all, they are Ethernet things.
If you explain your external problem in more detail, there might be a solution. But that sounds oddly out of tune from what you said already. The same person on two different devices must get the popup twice? But with two people in one car, the first person should get it only? It's hard to imagine a use case where you have to walk the path to be sure.
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