Your connection only has an older (IPv4) address, so every website sees this one. What's the newer kind? →
Your IP also ties your visits together: sites and ad networks can recognize you across pages and over time, even without cookies.
These are the main stops. In between, your traffic passes a chain of routers that each move it one step closer. See every step →
Built from your graphics chip, processor, screen, fonts and more. It stays the same in a private window.
See how it works →curl ip5.io 216.73.216.86 curl ipfive.io # always your older (IPv4) address curl ip5.io/all # the five things, readable curl ip5.io/json # everything as JSON curl ip5.io/city # also /region /country /asn /org curl ip5.io/network # also /hostname /timezone /headers
The address your device uses on the internet, usually assigned by your provider. Every website you visit needs it to send the page back to you, so every site sees it. Most home and mobile addresses change from time to time, for example when your router restarts.
No. IP location is approximate: usually the right country, often the nearest city or where your provider is based, and sometimes hundreds of kilometres off. It never shows your street or house.
A VPN, iCloud Private Relay, Cloudflare WARP or Tor route your traffic through someone else's server, so websites see that server's IP and location instead of yours. Reload this page with one turned on to see the difference.
IPv4 addresses look like 203.0.113.42 and are running out. IPv6 addresses like 2001:db8::1 are the newer, much bigger format. Many connections now have both, and the website you visit decides which one gets used.
Mostly, but treat it as semi-private, not secret. Every website you visit already sees it. With it, someone can guess your rough area and provider, scan for services you've exposed (such as port forwarding or a router admin page), or flood your connection with traffic. They can't get into your devices through the IP alone if nothing is exposed and your router and devices are up to date.