How to find your IP address (public & private)

Acutis · plain-English network help · updated June 2026

Two IPs, not one

The quickest answer first: you actually have two IP addresses, and which one you need depends on the task. Your public IP is the single address the whole internet sees for your home — it's assigned by your provider and shared by every device behind your router. Your private IP (also called local IP) is the address your router hands to each individual device inside your home, like 192.168.1.42. This guide shows how to find both, and when you'd want each.

Public vs private — the difference

• Public IP — your home's address on the open internet. Looks like 203.0.113.25. Everyone outside your network sees this one, and it's the same for your laptop, phone, and TV. It can change when your provider reassigns it.
• Private IP — each device's address inside your home network. Almost always starts with 192.168., 10., or 172.16–31. These are reused in every home worldwide and mean nothing outside your own network.

Think of it like an apartment building: the public IP is the street address everyone uses to find the building, and the private IP is your apartment number inside it. Your router is the front desk that routes mail to the right apartment.

How to find your public IP (instantly)

This is the easy one. Because your public IP is what websites see, any site can read it back to you the moment you visit. The fastest way is to open a tool that simply displays it — no commands, no settings.

If you'd rather not use a tool, searching "what is my IP" in any search engine usually shows it at the top too — but a dedicated tool is cleaner and also shows details like whether you're on IPv4 or IPv6.

How to find your private (local) IP

Your private IP lives only inside your home, so a website can't see it — you have to ask your own device. Here's how on each platform.

Windows

1. Press the Windows key, type cmd, and open Command Prompt.
2. Type ipconfig and press Enter.
3. Find your active connection (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) and read the IPv4 Address line — that's your private IP, e.g. 192.168.1.42.

Mac

1. Open System Settings → Network.
2. Click your active connection (Wi-Fi or Ethernet); the IP address is shown in the details.
3. Or hold Option and click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar to see the IP address instantly.

iPhone & Android

1. iPhone: Settings → Wi-Fi → tap the (i) next to your network → read the IP Address field.
2. Android: Settings → Network & internet (or Connections) → Wi-Fi → tap your network → view the IP address. The exact path varies slightly by phone.

When you need each one

• Use your public IP when something outside your home needs to reach you or identify your connection: setting up a game server, allowing remote access, whitelisting your address for a work tool, or giving it to a support agent diagnosing your line.
• Use your private IP for anything inside your home: logging into your router's settings page, connecting to a home printer or NAS, casting to a TV, or setting up port forwarding (where you map the public address to a specific device's private one).

A quick rule of thumb: if the other end is on the internet, you want your public IP. If it's another gadget in your house, you want the private one.

A note on privacy

Your public IP reveals roughly where you are (city-level region and your provider) but not your exact home address or your name. A VPN replaces your public IP with the VPN server's, which is why your "what's my IP" result changes when one is on. Your private IP, by contrast, isn't sensitive — it's meaningless outside your own network.