How to Find Your IP Address on Any Device: A Universal Guide (2026)

Two Addresses, Two Purposes

Every internet-connected device actually has at least two IP addresses, and the one you need depends entirely on what you are trying to accomplish. Asking for your IP address without specifying which kind is like asking for your address without specifying whether you mean your house number or your city.

Your public IP address is assigned by your Internet Service Provider and is attached to your entire household's internet connection. It is the address the rest of the internet sees when any device in your home makes a request. It identifies your connection at the ISP level, and it is the same regardless of whether the request came from your laptop, your phone, or your smart TV.

Your private IP address (also called a local or internal IP) is assigned by your home router and is unique to each device on your local network. Your laptop has one, your phone has another, and your printer has a third. These addresses exist only inside your network and are invisible to the outside internet.

Use your public IP when you need to set up a server others can reach, check what location a website sees for you, or configure a DNS record. Use your private IP when you need to connect to a device inside your own network — a printer, a NAS, a game server, a remote desktop target — from another device on the same network.

The Fastest Method: Find Your Public IP in Two Seconds

For your public IP, skip all the settings menus. The quickest approach on any device with a browser is simply to visit an IP lookup tool. The tool reports the IP address your request arrived from, which is your current public IP. You will also see your approximate geographic location, your ISP name, and whether the connection is classified as residential, mobile, or data center.

If you prefer the command line, the following one-liners work on any platform:

• Windows Command Prompt: curl ifconfig.me
• macOS / Linux Terminal: curl ifconfig.me or curl icanhazip.com

How to Find Your IP Address on Windows 10 and 11

Using Command Prompt (Fastest)

1. Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter.
2. Type ipconfig and press Enter.
3. Find the section for your active adapter: Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi if you are on Wi-Fi, or Ethernet adapter for a wired connection.
4. Your private IP is listed next to IPv4 Address. Your router's IP (the default gateway) is listed next to Default Gateway.

Using Settings (No Command Line)

1. Open Settings > Network & Internet.
2. Click your active connection type (Wi-Fi or Ethernet).
3. Click Hardware properties (Windows 11) or scroll down to see IP details (Windows 10).
4. Your IPv4 address is displayed in the properties section.

How to Find Your IP Address on macOS

Using Terminal (Fastest)

Open Terminal and type ipconfig getifaddr en0 for Wi-Fi (en0) or ipconfig getifaddr en1 for Ethernet (en1). This returns only the IP, with no additional output to parse.

Alternatively, ifconfig | grep inet lists all IPv4 and IPv6 addresses on all interfaces simultaneously.

Using System Settings

1. Click the Apple menu > System Settings.
2. Click Network in the sidebar.
3. Select your active connection and click Details.
4. Your IP address appears on the main tab under the TCP/IP section.

How to Find Your IP Address on iPhone and iPad

1. Open Settings and tap Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the blue information (i) icon to the right of your connected network name.
3. Scroll to the IPv4 Address section. Your private IP is listed there.

Note that this shows your local IP on the Wi-Fi network. To find your public IP from an iPhone, visit an IP lookup tool in Safari or run the curl ifconfig.me command in the Shortcuts app if you have a terminal shortcut configured.

How to Find Your IP Address on Android

The exact path varies slightly by manufacturer, but the general steps are:

1. Go to Settings > Network & Internet (or Connections on Samsung devices).
2. Tap Wi-Fi and then tap the name of your connected network or the gear icon next to it.
3. Tap Advanced or scroll to the details section.
4. Your IP address is listed under the connection details.

On Android 12 and later, some devices show IP information directly on the Wi-Fi network detail screen without requiring an Advanced tap.

How to Find Your IP Address on Linux

Using the Terminal

The standard command depends on which tools are installed:

• ip addr show — Modern systems. Lists all interfaces with their IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Look for inet lines on the active interface (typically eth0, ens3, or wlan0).
• ifconfig — Older systems or those with net-tools installed. Find the inet value next to your active interface.
• hostname -I — Returns all IP addresses assigned to the host, one per line, with no other output.

How to Find Your Router's IP Address

Your router's IP is the default gateway, and you need it to access the router's admin interface. From ipconfig output on Windows, it is listed as Default Gateway. On macOS it appears in System Settings > Network > Details > TCP/IP > Router. Most home routers use 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1, but some ISP-provided routers use different ranges.

Comparison: Finding IP by Platform and Method

Real-World Use Cases

Setting Up a Home Server: To host a Minecraft server, a game server, or a self-hosted application accessible to people outside your home, you need your public IP (to give to external users) and your private IP (to configure the server software to bind to the correct local interface). You also need to set up port forwarding on your router using both addresses.

Connecting to a Remote Desktop: Remote Desktop on Windows requires the private IP of the target machine to connect from inside your network, or the public IP of your router (plus a forwarded port) to connect from outside. Knowing which you need and how to find both is essential for successful configuration.

Troubleshooting Printer Connectivity: Network printers are accessed by their private IP address. If a printer stops being detected by your computer, accessing the printer's IP directly in a browser often surfaces a configuration interface to diagnose the issue.

Checking Whether a VPN Is Working: After connecting a VPN, your public IP as reported by an IP lookup tool should change to the VPN server's address. If your original ISP-assigned IP is still showing, the VPN tunnel is not correctly routing your traffic.

Common Misconceptions

Your IP Address Reveals Your Home Address

Public IP geolocation is based on ISP allocation records and network routing data. It typically resolves to the city or postal district where your ISP's network operations center is located, not to your specific street address. Only your ISP has the records linking an IP assignment to a physical service address, and they require a legal process before disclosing that information.

Your Private IP Is Visible to Websites You Visit

Private IPs are not routable on the internet. When your traffic leaves your home router, the router performs NAT (Network Address Translation) and substitutes your private IP with the public IP before the packet travels out to the internet. The destination server only ever sees the public IP of your router, not the private IPs of individual devices behind it.

Your Public IP Is the Same Everywhere

Your public IP belongs to your current network connection. When you connect to a coffee shop's Wi-Fi, your public IP is that network's IP — entirely different from your home IP. When you switch to cellular data, you get your carrier's mobile IP. Your public IP changes every time you change networks.

A VPN Hides Your Private IP Too

A VPN tunnels your traffic so that external servers see the VPN server's IP rather than your home router's public IP. Your private IP — the address your router assigned to your laptop — is never transmitted to external servers in the first place, regardless of whether a VPN is active. The distinction between the two types of IP is architectural, not a result of VPN routing.

Pro Tips

• Bookmark an IP lookup tool. Checking your public IP is something that comes up regularly — before configuring port forwarding, after connecting a VPN, when troubleshooting access issues. A bookmarked tool makes it a two-second check rather than a search each time.
• Use ipconfig /all on Windows for complete network details. The basic ipconfig shows IP, subnet, and gateway. The /all flag adds MAC address, DHCP server IP, lease times, and DNS server addresses — everything you need for thorough troubleshooting in one command.
• On Linux, prefer ip addr over ifconfig. The ifconfig command is deprecated in favor of the ip suite on modern Linux distributions. Get familiar with ip addr, ip route, and ip link as they provide more accurate and complete information on current kernels.
• For home servers, set a DHCP reservation on your router. If you are hosting any service on a home device, configure the router to always assign the same private IP to that device's MAC address. This prevents the local IP from changing and breaking your port forwarding rules.
• Know your IPv6 address too. Many ISPs now assign IPv6 prefixes to customers. Check whether your devices have public IPv6 addresses (they will not start with fc or fd, which are private ranges), because IPv6 addresses often bypass NAT and are directly reachable from the internet.
• Use traceroute or tracert to understand your path. When troubleshooting connectivity issues, tracing the path to a destination IP reveals where packets are dropping or encountering high latency — far more useful than just knowing what your local IP is.

Skip the settings menus entirely for your current public IP — see your full IP details instantly here.