What Is My IP Address and What Can Others See From It?

Every device that goes online needs an address so data knows where to go. That's your IP address. But you actually have more than one, and what websites see isn't quite what's on your laptop.

Public vs private IP addresses

Your public IP is the address the rest of the internet sees. Your internet provider assigns it to your router, and every device in your home shares it. You can see it instantly with What Is My IP.

Your private IP is the address your router gives each device inside your home network, usually something like 192.168.1.5 or 10.0.0.12. These addresses only work inside your network; millions of homes use the same ones.

Your router translates between the two using NAT (network address translation), which is how a whole family can browse with a single public address.

What can someone learn from your IP?

From a public IP address, a website can usually find:

• Your internet provider, such as PTCL, Jazz or Etisalat.
• Your approximate location, typically your city or region, sometimes less accurately.
• Whether you use a VPN or data centre, from known address ranges.

They can't see your name, home address or browsing history from the IP alone. Only your provider can link an IP to an account, and normally only with a legal request.

Why your IP changes

Most home and mobile connections use dynamic IPs that change when your router restarts or your phone reconnects. A static IP never changes and is usually a paid extra for businesses running servers or remote access.

Mobile networks often use carrier-grade NAT, where many customers share one public IP. That's why websites sometimes show you a city you're not in.

IPv4 and IPv6

You might see an address like 203.0.113.45 (IPv4) or a longer one like 2001:db8::1 (IPv6). IPv6 was created because the world ran out of IPv4 addresses. Many connections have both, and your device picks whichever works best.

When you need to know your IP

• Adding your connection to a firewall or database allow-list
• Setting up remote desktop, CCTV or a game server
• Checking that your VPN is working: your IP should change when you connect
• Reporting a problem to your internet provider

Hiding your IP

A VPN routes your traffic through another server, so websites see the VPN's IP. A proxy does something similar for one app or browser. Tor bounces traffic through several volunteer servers for stronger anonymity, at the cost of speed. Refresh What Is My IP with the VPN on and off to confirm it's working.

Related tools

Look up the server behind a domain with DNS lookup, or plan network ranges with the subnet calculator.