What is my IP address, and what can it reveal?

The answer to "what is my IP?" is a number that identifies your connection on a network, a bit like a return address on a letter. You actually have two: a private one inside your home network and a public one the rest of the internet sees. The public one usually reveals your internet provider and a rough area, but not your name or street address.

What is an IP address?

IP stands for Internet Protocol. Every device on a network needs an address so data can find its way back to it. There are two formats:

IPv4: four numbers separated by dots, such as 192.168.1.20. This is the older and still most common format.
IPv6: a longer address written with letters and numbers separated by colons. It was created because the world was running out of IPv4 addresses.

Many connections now use both at once.

Private and public: why you have two

Your private IP is the address your router gives your phone inside your home. Private addresses usually start with 192.168, 10 or 172.16 to 172.31. They are only meaningful inside your network. Your neighbour can have exactly the same private address on their network.

Your public IP is the address your router uses on the internet. All the devices in your home share it. When a website sees a visitor, it sees this address.

Your router keeps track of which device asked for what, and passes replies to the right one. This is called network address translation, or NAT.

How to answer "what is my IP?"

Private IP: on most phones, open Settings, go to Wi-Fi, tap your connected network and look for "IP address".
Public IP: use an IP lookup tool or a website that shows the address it sees. Do this on the connection you are curious about.
On mobile data: your public IP comes from your carrier and changes often.
On a VPN: the public IP shown will be the VPN's, not yours.

What can your IP address reveal?

Here is what someone can usually learn from your public IP:

Your internet provider or mobile carrier. A Whois lookup shows which organisation holds the address.
A rough location. IP location databases often place an address in the right country and sometimes the right city or region. They are frequently wrong at street level, and on mobile data the location may be a different city entirely.
That a device was online at a certain time. Websites and servers log the addresses that visit them.

What your IP address does not reveal

Your name.
Your exact home address.
Your phone number.
What you are browsing. Most websites use encrypted connections, so the content is hidden.

Your provider does know which customer had which address at a given time. They normally only share that with authorities under a legal process, depending on local law.

Does your public IP change?

Often, yes. Most home connections have a dynamic IP, which the provider can change from time to time, for example after the router restarts. A static IP stays the same and is usually a paid extra for businesses or people who run servers at home.

On mobile data, the address can change many times a day. Many mobile networks, and some home providers, also use carrier-grade NAT, where many customers share one public address. That is one reason you may not be able to reach devices at home from outside. Our guide on what an open port is explains why.

Should you hide your IP address?

For most people, it is not necessary day to day. An IP address on its own is not a big secret. It is worth hiding when:

You use public Wi-Fi and want to keep traffic private from others on the network. See using hotel and café Wi-Fi safely.
You run something at home that you do not want to expose.
You simply prefer websites not to see your provider and region.

A trusted VPN replaces your public IP with the VPN's address. It moves trust from your provider to the VPN company, so choose carefully.

Why your IP matters for troubleshooting

Knowing the answer to "what is my IP?", for both addresses, helps with everyday problems:

If your phone has a private IP starting with 169.254, it did not get an address from the router. Restart the router.
If two devices fight over the same address, one may keep dropping off.
If you set up Wake-on-LAN or remote access, you need to know which address to use. See how to wake a computer with Wake-on-LAN.
Slow lookups can feel like a slow IP connection. See what DNS is and how a slow DNS feels.

How CellRadar helps

CellRadar includes network tools for an IP location lookup, Whois and an IP calculator. You can see what location databases suggest for an address, which organisation holds it, and how a local address range is laid out.

Frequently asked questions

Can someone find my house from my IP address?

Not usually. IP location databases often give a city or region, and are often wrong at street level. Only your provider can link an address to a customer.

Why does my IP location show the wrong city?

IP location is an estimate based on where the provider registers its addresses. On mobile data especially, it often shows a city where the carrier's equipment is.

Is my IP address the same on Wi-Fi and mobile data?

No. On Wi-Fi you share your home router's public IP, while on mobile data you get an address from your carrier.

Does restarting my router change my IP?

It may, if your provider gives you a dynamic IP. Some providers keep the same address for a long time even after a restart.