6 Easy Ways to See Your IP Address on PC, Mac, Android & iOS

Do you need to find your computer, phone, or tablet's IP address? When it comes to your home or office computer, phone, or tablet, you'll typically have two IP addresses—a public IP address that's visible to other people on the internet, and a private IP address that's used to identify your device on your local network. This wikiHow article will show you the easiest ways to find both your public and private IP addresses on any device, including your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer, and your Android, iPhone, or iPad.

Things You Should Know

To quickly view your public IP address, go to https://www.google.com, type "What's my IP address?" and click the search button.
Your public IP address is visible to other people on the internet, while your private IP address is only used on your local network.
If you're using Windows, you can use the "ipconfig" command at Command Prompt to quickly view your IP address.

Section 1 of 7:

Public Vs. Private IP Addresses

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Your public IP address is visible to people outside of your home or office network. When you browse the internet, download files, or stream music, remote servers can see your public IP address. Because of how most home and office networks are set up, all of the devices (computers, printers, phones, etc.) connected to the internet through the same router will appear to have the same public IP address to the outside world.^{[1]
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- Other people on the internet can see your public IP address. For example, if you connect to a friend's Minecraft server from your PC, your friend will see the connection coming from your public IP address.
- Some reasons you might need your public IP address: Hosting a game or media server, you want to allow someone to connect to your computer remotely, or you're just curious about the address that identifies you on the internet.
- If you're concerned about your public IP address identifying you on the internet, you can use a VPN to be more anonymous.
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Your device's private IP address identifies it on your local network. A private IP address is assigned to each device by your router and is not visible to or reachable from outside of the network.^{[2]
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Expert Source

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Interview. 10 June 2020.} Each device (such as your phone, computer, and printer) has its own unique private IP address on the network, even though they'll all appear to have the same IP address to the outside world.^{[3]
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- Some reasons you might need your private IP address: Setting up file sharing, port forwarding on a router, and adding devices to your home network.
- Your router also has its own private IP address, which is called the default gateway. Check out our guide on finding your router's IP address if you need to make changes to your router.

Section 2 of 7:

Find Your Public IP Address on Any Device

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Go to https://www.google.com in any web browser. The easiest way to see your public IP address on any device, such as on your computer, Android, iPhone, or iPad, is to use this handy web browser trick.
and press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. You can also type a different variation of that phrase, such as "my IP address" or "What's my IP?"
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Find your public IP address at the top of the page. At the top of the page, you'll see your IPv4 or IPv6 IP address.
- An IPv4 IP address is a 4-octet number address, which will look something like this: 107.178.192.0
- An iPv6 IP address is longer and may contain both letters and numbers. For example: 2001:0db8:3c4d:0015:0000:0000:1a2f:1a2b
- If you're checking your public IP address on a phone that's connected to the internet through your mobile provider's data plan, you'll see the public IP address assigned to you by your mobile phone provider. If you're connected to Wi-Fi, you'll see the public IP address of your Wi-Fi network.

Section 3 of 7:

Find Private IP Address on Windows

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Press the Windows key on your keyboard. This will open the Start menu or screen on Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8.^{[4]
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Expert Source

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Interview. 10 June 2020.}
- On Windows 7 and earlier, you can select the Command Prompt from the Start menu and then skip to Step 3.
This opens a Command Prompt window.^{[5]
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Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Interview. 10 June 2020.}
This will display all of your networking information.^{[6]
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Research source} You may have to expand the Command Prompt window to see it all.^{[7]
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Expert Source

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Interview. 10 June 2020.}
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Find your private IP address under your wireless or ethernet adapter. If you're connected to the internet using Wi-Fi, you'll find your IP address under the "Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi" heading. If you have a wired ethernet connection, you'll find the IP address under the "Ethernet adapter" heading.
- If your network is using IPv4, which is most common, you'll see the IP address next to "IPv4 Address."
- If your network is using IPv6, your IPv6 address will appear next to "Link-local IPv6 Address."
- If you have both an IPv4 and IPv6 IP address listed, the address you're looking for is likely the IPv4 address.
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Other ways to find your private IP address on Windows. While the previous steps will work on all versions of Windows, you can also use these operating system-specific steps to quickly view your IP address:
- Windows 11:
  - Click the Windows Start menu, go to Settings > Network & internet, choose either Wi-Fi or Ethernet, and find your IP address under "Properties."^{[8]
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    Microsoft Support
    Technical support and product information from Microsoft.
    
    Go to source}
- Windows 10:
  - Click the network icon on your taskbar—it'll be the Wi-Fi bar symbol or a small computer.^{[9]
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    Microsoft Support
    Technical support and product information from Microsoft.
    
    Go to source}
  - Click your connection. If you're connected to Wi-Fi, select the Wi-Fi network name. For ethernet, choose your ethernet network.
  - Find your IP address under "Properties."

Section 4 of 7:

Find Private IP Address on Mac

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Depending on your version of macOS, you'll find one of these two options in the Apple menu at the top-left corner of your screen.^{[10]
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On macOS Ventura, you'll see this in the left panel. On Monterey and earlier, it'll be an icon in the System Preferences window.^{[11]
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For example, if you're connected to Wi-Fi, choose that option.^{[12]
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Find your IP address. If you're using macOS Monterey or earlier, you'll see your IP address in the right panel. On Ventura or later, click Details under your connection in the right panel to display your IP address.
- On much older versions of OS X, you'll need to click the "TCP/IP" tab at the top of the window to see the "IP Address" entry.

Section 5 of 7:

Find Private IP Address on Linux

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Open a Terminal window. You can easily view your Linux computer's IP address with simple commands. Start by opening a Terminal, which you can usually do by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T.^{[13]
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- If you're using Ubuntu Linux, you can also pull up your IP address without having to type commands. Just go to Activities overview, type settings, click Settings, select your connection type (e.g., Wi-Fi or Network > PCI Ethernet), and then click the gear icon next to your connection.^{[14]
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Type hostname -i and press ↵ Enter. This displays the private IP address on your Linux desktop or server.^{[15]
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- While the ifconfig command used to be used to display IP info, the command is now deprecated.

Section 6 of 7:

Find Your Private IP Address on Android

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You'll find this in your app list, as well as in your quick settings.
Because all Android interfaces are a little different, the name of the Settings option you're looking for may vary. This section may also be called Wireless & Networks.
If you don't see this option, tap Internet instead.^{[16]
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On some Androids, you'll now see the IP address. If you don't see it, continue to the next step.^{[17]
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If you don't see one of these options, tap the three dots at the top-right corner first.
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Find your IP address next to "IP Address." You might have to scroll down to see it.^{[18]
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- If these steps don't work for your Android, try opening Settings, and then tap About phone > Status.
- You can also try System > About phone > Status.

Section 7 of 7:

Find Private IP Address on iPhone/iPad

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You'll find this app on your Home screen or in your app library.^{[19]
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You'll see it near the top of the menu.^{[20]
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It's the small "i" inside of a circle.^{[21]
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This will display your iPhone's IP address on your local Wi-Fi network.

Expert Q&A

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Question

How do I locate my IP address?

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

Luigi Oppido

Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Answer

The easiest way to do this is to go to canyouseeme.org, which will show you your public IP address when the page loads.

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I can access any website from my laptop except one. When I try to login it says "403 forbidden access." How can I fix this so that I can login?

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If this is someone else's website, that is their issue. A 403 error means you are not allowed to view the folder's contents. If it is your server, you can change the .htaccess files to allow viewing of a folder. Typically index.html or home.html automatically load at the root of the website, and you typically don't have to type them out if it is in a folder.

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Can I change my IP address for a one time message?

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You can, and it's very easy. All you need to do is download a VPN. Run the app or program, and it will change your IP to one wherever the VPN server is located. However, this will not make you completely invisible or untraceable.

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While your device's IP address may change every time you turn it on, your router's IP address, or "default gateway," usually stays the same and determines the IP addresses of the other devices on your network.

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If you disconnect from and reconnect to the internet, you may be assigned a new IP address.

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