How to use it
- Open the page. The check runs by itself and shows Your public IP address is at the top.
- Read the lines under it: IPv4 address, IPv6 address, Internet provider and Approximate location.
- Switched from Wi-Fi to mobile data, or turned a VPN on? Press Refresh to read the new address.
- Press Copy as text to paste the result into a support ticket, or Share to send it.
What each line means
The big address at the top is your IPv4 address if you have one, otherwise your IPv6 address.
- IPv4 address and IPv6 address: a page load uses only one of the two, so your browser also asks
api4.ipify.organdapi6.ipify.org. Each answers over one address family only, which reveals both. - Internet provider: the organisation that owns the network your address belongs to, with its AS number. An AS (autonomous system) is one network on the internet that routes its own blocks of addresses.
- Approximate location and Time zone of this IP: Cloudflare's estimate for your address. If your device's clock uses a different zone, Your device says appears next to it.
- Cloudflare data centre: the three-letter airport code of the Cloudflare location that served the page, such as DFW for Dallas–Fort Worth.
- Connection: the HTTP and TLS versions your browser used, for example
HTTP/2 · TLSv1.3.
Why the location is often wrong
An IP address carries no GPS position. Location databases map whole blocks of addresses to the place where a provider registers or routes them, so the city shown is usually where your ISP's equipment sits, not your street. A VPN moves it to the VPN's exit server.
If the page warns Your device's time zone doesn't match this IP's location, that's expected on a VPN, a proxy or while travelling. To check that the VPN covers everything, run the WebRTC leak test.
IPv4 and IPv6 side by side
| IPv4 | IPv6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 32 bits | 128 bits |
| Written as | Four numbers from 0 to 255: 192.0.2.44 | Eight groups of hex digits, runs of zeros shortened to ::: 2001:db8::8a2e:370:7334 |
| Broadcast address | Yes, the last address of each subnet | None: multicast does that job |
Public IP, router IP and carrier-grade NAT
Your router has two addresses. Inside your home it uses a private one such as 192.168.1.1. The private ranges 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12 and 192.168.0.0/16 are reserved by RFC 1918 and never appear on the internet. Outside, the router uses the public address shown on this page.
Compare this page with the WAN or internet address on your router's status page. If the router shows an address between 100.64.0.0 and 100.127.255.255, your ISP uses carrier-grade NAT: RFC 6598 reserved 100.64.0.0/10 as shared address space for exactly that, and many customers share the public address you see here. Port forwarding can't work then, and the port checker will report closed ports.
What this page keeps
Nothing. Your address is read from your request and sent straight back. The only outside service is ipify, which your browser contacts directly, so ipify sees your address too; ipify's own site states that no visitor information is logged. The details are on the privacy page.
Questions
- Why does the page say my connection uses IPv4 only?
- IPv6 needs support from your ISP, your router and your device. If IPv6 address shows None, one of them doesn't provide it. Websites still work over IPv4.
- Why does my IP address change?
- Most connections get an address from the ISP's pool, and it can change after the router restarts. Moving from Wi-Fi to mobile data always changes it: that's a different network.
- Can someone find my home from my IP address?
- Not from public data. The address leads to your ISP and roughly its region. Only the ISP can match an address and a time to a customer.
- Is 192.168.x.x my IP address?
- That's your device's address on your home network. Every home router uses the same private ranges, so those addresses mean nothing outside your network.
- Why does another site show a different IP?
- It may have reached you over the other address family: a site loaded over IPv6 sees your IPv6 address.