Find your public IP, private IP, IPv4, and IPv6 on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, and Android. What your IP reveals about you and how to change it with a proxy.
Daniel K.
Apr 12, 2026
Every device connected to the internet has two IP addresses, and they do completely different things. Understanding the difference is the key to knowing which one you need to find.
Your public IP address is the address the rest of the internet sees when you visit a website, send an email, or connect to any online service. It's assigned by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and shared by every device on your home or office network. When someone says "what's my IP address?", they almost always mean the public IP. It looks like 203.0.113.42 (IPv4) or 2001:0db8:85a3::8a2e:0370:7334 (IPv6).
Your private IP address is the address your router assigns to your specific device on your local network. It's only visible inside your home or office — the internet can't see it. Every device on your WiFi gets a different private IP: your laptop might be 192.168.1.5, your phone 192.168.1.8, your smart TV 192.168.1.12. Private IPs always start with 192.168., 10., or 172.16.–172.31..
When you need your IP for troubleshooting network issues, configuring a firewall, setting up a server, filing an abuse report, or checking if your proxy or VPN is working, you usually need the public one. When you need your IP for connecting devices on the same network (printer, NAS, smart home hub), you need the private one.
The fastest method works on every device, every operating system, and takes 3 seconds:
That's it. Bookmark it for future reference. If you want alternatives, Google "what is my IP" and Google shows it directly in the search results. Or use the command line methods below for scripting and automation.
Command line (any OS):
curl ifconfig.me — returns your public IPv4 address, nothing else. Works on Windows (with curl installed), macOS, and Linux.curl ipinfo.io — returns your public IP plus ISP, city, country, and coordinates in JSON format.curl icanhazip.com — returns your public IP. Owned by Cloudflare, extremely reliable.curl -6 ifconfig.me — forces IPv6 and returns your public IPv6 address if your ISP supports it.These command-line methods are what developers use in scripts, cron jobs, and automation pipelines to check or log the current IP of a server or proxy connection.
Open any browser and go to spyderproxy.com/tools/ip-lookup. Or open Command Prompt and run:
curl ifconfig.me
Windows 10 and 11 both ship with curl pre-installed since 2018.
192.168.1.5).Open Command Prompt and run:
ipconfig
Look for the IPv4 Address line under your active adapter (WiFi or Ethernet). The number next to it (e.g. 192.168.1.5) is your private IP. The Default Gateway (e.g. 192.168.1.1) is your router.
Get-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 | Where-Object { $_.InterfaceAlias -notlike "*Loopback*" } | Select-Object IPAddress, InterfaceAlias
This shows the private IP for every active network adapter on your machine.
Open Terminal and run:
curl ifconfig.me
Or open Safari and go to spyderproxy.com/tools/ip-lookup.
192.168.1.8).ipconfig getifaddr en0 — WiFi adapter.
ipconfig getifaddr en1 — Ethernet adapter (if connected via cable).
Or for all adapters at once:
ifconfig | grep "inet " | grep -v 127.0.0.1
curl ifconfig.me
Or wget -qO- ifconfig.me if curl is not installed.
ip addr show | grep "inet " | grep -v 127.0.0.1
This shows the private IP for every active network interface. On most desktop Linux systems, the WiFi adapter is wlan0 or wlp3s0, and the Ethernet adapter is eth0 or enp0s3.
For just the IP with no extra output:
hostname -I | awk '{print $1}'
Open Safari and go to spyderproxy.com/tools/ip-lookup. Your public IP is shown instantly.
192.168.1.12).Note: if you're on cellular data (not WiFi), the IP shown here is your carrier-assigned IP. This is the same type of IP that LTE mobile proxies use — a carrier-grade NAT IP from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc.
Open Chrome and go to spyderproxy.com/tools/ip-lookup.
On some Android versions, you can also go to Settings → About Phone → Status → IP Address.
Your router has two IPs: its public IP (the one your ISP assigned) and its private IP (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1). To find the public IP:
192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 in the address bar.This is the same IP that curl ifconfig.me returns from any device on the same network. All devices on your WiFi share this one public IP.
In 2026, most connections still use IPv4 (the 203.0.113.42 format). But IPv6 adoption is now above 45% globally, and many ISPs assign both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address to every customer.
IPv4 addresses are 32 bits long, written as four numbers separated by dots: 192.168.1.1, 8.8.8.8, 203.0.113.42. There are only 4.3 billion possible IPv4 addresses, and they ran out in 2011. ISPs now share them using a technique called CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT), which means multiple customers can have the same public IPv4 address.
IPv6 addresses are 128 bits long, written as eight groups of hex digits: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 (usually shortened to 2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7334). There are 340 undecillion possible IPv6 addresses — enough for every atom on Earth to have its own IP.
To check which one your connection uses, visit our IP lookup tool — it shows both your IPv4 and IPv6 addresses if your ISP supports dual-stack.
For proxy users: most proxy providers (including SpyderProxy) primarily offer IPv4 proxies because that's what 99% of websites still check for geo-location and access control. IPv6 proxies exist but are niche and mainly used for high-volume automation where you need millions of unique IPs.
Your public IP address is not as private as most people think. Here's what anyone who has your IP can find out:
What your IP does NOT reveal:
There are four reasons people want to hide their IP: privacy (don't want websites tracking your location), access (unblock content that's geo-restricted), security (prevent targeted attacks on your IP), and multi-accounting (run multiple accounts without linking them).
The methods, ranked by effectiveness:
For most users who want to change their IP for a specific purpose (scraping, multi-accounting, unblocking content), a residential proxy is the correct choice because it's the only IP type that passes detection systems without being flagged.
After setting up a proxy or VPN, you need to verify your IP actually changed. Here's the 3-step check:
Common leak sources:
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique number assigned to every device connected to a network. It's how devices find each other on the internet — the digital equivalent of a mailing address. Without an IP, websites wouldn't know where to send the web page you requested.
Two devices on the same local network will have different private IPs but share the same public IP. Two devices on different networks can't normally have the same public IP, although ISPs using CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT) can assign the same public IP to multiple customers simultaneously.
Most home internet connections have a dynamic IP that changes every few days to few weeks when your router reconnects to the ISP. Business connections and servers usually have a static IP that never changes. Mobile connections change IP frequently — sometimes every few minutes — because carriers rotate IPs across their cell towers.
No. An IP address alone doesn't give anyone access to your device, files, or accounts. What it does allow is targeted port scanning (checking if any services on your network are exposed) and DDoS attacks (flooding your connection with traffic). Both are illegal, and the risk is low for typical home users behind a router with a firewall.
GeoIP databases map IPs to locations based on ISP registration data, not GPS. If your ISP's regional hub is in a different city than where you physically are, GeoIP will show the hub's city. This is especially common with mobile connections and smaller ISPs. It's not an error — it's a limitation of IP-based geolocation.
No. When you're on WiFi, your public IP is assigned by your home ISP (Comcast, BT, Vodafone Broadband, etc.). When you switch to mobile data, your public IP is assigned by your cellular carrier (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc.). They're completely different IPs from different networks.
IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numbers with 4.3 billion possible addresses (running out). IPv6 addresses are 128-bit numbers with 340 undecillion possible addresses (essentially infinite). Most websites still run on IPv4, so most proxy traffic uses IPv4. IPv6 adoption is growing but remains secondary for proxy use cases.
You can see the IP of anyone who connects to a server you control (via server logs). You can also use services like Grabify to generate tracking links that log the visitor's IP. However, using someone's IP to harass, stalk, or attack them is illegal in most jurisdictions.
The Tor Browser hides your IP for free by routing traffic through three volunteer nodes. It's slow (2–10 Mbps) and blocked by most commercial sites. Free VPNs exist but are unreliable, often sell your data, and their IPs are blocklisted by most services. For reliable IP hiding, a residential proxy or paid VPN is the practical minimum.
Common reasons: troubleshooting network problems (your ISP will ask for it), configuring a firewall or port forwarding, setting up a home server or remote desktop, verifying your proxy or VPN is working, checking if your IP is blacklisted, filing an abuse report, and configuring allow-lists for APIs or admin panels.