What is My IP?

This article was last updated on 19 November 2024

What is my IP address?

What is an IP address?

So what is my IP address? You should see your true IP address above. An IP address, also known as an Internet Protocol address, is a label connected to your device and network. It is used to identify your device and its location. Numerous streaming services can use the IP address to determine your location and what content is available in that country. Some sites will not be available to you, either because it is only available in certain counties or if your country has censorship laws and that site is affected by said laws.

Your IP address is important, and a way for others to discover who you are online. So it is essential that you are not actively sharing your IP with strangers or going on sites such as Omegle, where a stranger could easily find your IP address. Now they may just do this to scare you and are harmless, however, you can never be sure what they will do with that information.

How to find my IP Address

What is my IP location and how do I check it? There are multiple ways to find your IP address when I check what is my IP, depending on what device you have and what routes you want to take to find it. Below we will list how to find your IP on different devices and how to find your public IP address.

Public IP

What is my IP location for public IPs? Before we dive into this section of the ‘what is my IP address article’, what is a public IP? A public IP is a global IP utilised to use the internet. This is given by your ISP (internet service provider), and they can be routed online. They can be used to set up game servers or to look at surveillance cameras from other devices, and more. It is also what can be changed by a VPN service to access other sites worldwide.

Windows

What is my IP location on Windows? How to find your IP address on Windows; Firstly, we will check my IP on a Windows device. You will need to go into your Windows device’s settings first, then go into ‘Network and Internet. Then click Wi-Fi and select your current Wi-Fi network. Your IP address should be located under properties next to IPv4 address. Next in this section, we will tell you how to find out your IP address on macOS devices.

MacOS

What is my IP location on Mac? How to find your IP address on macOS; You will need to locate your Apple menu, usually in the top right corner. After you have located this, select Systems preferences, click on network, then choose to show TCP/IP to see your IP address. Next, we will tell you how to find your IP address on Android devices.

Android

What is my IP address on Android? How to find your IP address on Android: You will need to go to your settings, then Wireless & networks/WLAN, click network and internet, then WI-Fi. When you click on Wi-Fi, it will show you your IP address.

iOS

What is my IP address on IOS? here is how to find your IP address on IOS; You will need to locate the settings app on the home screen. Then scroll and tap on where it says Wi-Fi, then click the information icon. Now tap DHCP, and you should find your IP address below.

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How to find my public IP address

What is my IP location? You might be wondering, what is my public IP address? Here is how to find what my IP address is online. So firstly, you will need to open up whichever browser you use, such as Chrome or Firefox. Then you will need to find an IP finder website. We used WhatismyIPaddress.com, but you can use anything else similar to this. Once you click onto this website, it will show you your Public IP  address and also show what is my IP location.

IPv4 VS IPv6 addresses

What is my IPV4 and IPV6This section can be a little complicated, so let us simplify it for you. An IPv4 address is a 32-bit IP address, and an IPv6 address is a 128-bit IP address. IPv4 addresses can be reused by multiple users and masked; however, an IPv6-bit address is completely unique for all devices out in the world.

Therefore, there are more than 4 billion IPv4 addresses, whilst there are endless amounts when it comes to IPv6 addresses. Another difference between the two is that an IPv6 address is much longer and contains letters as well as numbers and hexadecimal, whereas an IPv4 contains only numbers and dot decimals.

Public VS Private IP

Next, in this ‘What is my IP address’ article, we will discuss the differences between public and private IP addresses. Firstly we are going to list all the features of a private IP address:

• Free
• Used for a private network, LAN (communicate on a private network)
• Not recognised through the internet
• Given by your router
• Unique on LAN
• It can’t be used to access the internet

Now let’s list the features of a public IP address.

• Are paid for
• Used over a public network, WAN (communicate over the internet)
• It can be recognised through the internet
• given by Network admin and ISP
• Unique worldwide
• It can be used to access the internet

Now we have listed both; you can see that the two IPs differ through how you can use them to communicate.

How to hide my IP Address

Now that I know what is my IP address, how do I hide it? Now that you know what an IP address is, how to find it, and what it is for, we will now tell you how to hide it. You can mask your IP address by using a VPN! So what is a VPN? It is a Virtual Private Network that allows you to hide your IP address online and change it to another address of your choice. VPNs will give you an extensive database of IP addresses in various locations that allows you to hide your true location from others and access content from other countries.

An example is if you wanted to watch a film that is available on UK Netflix and not yours, you can just change your IP address to one in the UK and refresh. A great VPN that helps you do this is ExpressVPN; they have thousands of servers in many locations worldwide. To know more about the best VPNs, visit our Best VPNs page.

FAQs

Lastly, in this article, we will answer a few FAQs you may have that will summarise this article.

• What is an IP address? It is a label connected to your device that identifies its model and location.
• Can I use my private IP address to access the internet? No, you can’t do this. However, you can use a public one to access the internet.
• Can I hide my IP address? Yes, you can do this using a VPN to mask your public IP.
• Is my public IP unique? Yes, it stays unique unless you mask it using a VPN which offers servers that other customers use too.
• What is my IP location? You can find that at the start of this article or by going to an IP locater website.

These are the most frequently asked questions when it comes to IP addresses, however, if there is one you have that we did not answer, please write it in the comments section below, and we will get back to you shortly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we find that it is most essential to mask your IP address not only to be able to access more content but also to stay safe online and not give away your actual location to strangers. We hope to have helped you learn more about IP addresses and how it works with you and your device. We highly recommend using a VPN to hide your IP address. If you would like to look at VPNs to mask your VPN change to other server locations and keep your online activities safer overall, please check out our page on VPNs and our separate VPN reviews. However, we highly recommend ExpressVPN.

If you liked this article have any queries or feedback, please do not hesitate to leave it down below, as we would be happy to hear your thoughts or questions.