Updated 6 hours ago
Every device on the Internet needs an address. Your phone has one. Your laptop has one. But here's what most people don't realize: when you're at home, your router has the address—the one the Internet sees—and everything behind it shares it.
Your public IP address is your network's identity to the outside world. Not the address your laptop uses to talk to your printer (that's private, internal). The address your ISP assigns to your router so the rest of the Internet knows where to send responses when you request a webpage, stream a video, or check your email.
The Direct Path: Ask the Internet What It Sees
The fastest method is simple: ask a server what address your request came from.
Visit Connected's What Is My IP Address tool. Done. You'll see your public IPv4 address, your IPv6 address if you have one, your ISP, and your approximate location.
Why does this work? When you request that page, the server sees where the request originated—your public IP—and tells you what it saw. You're asking the Internet to describe you.
Alternatives include icanhazip.com, ifconfig.me, or searching "what is my IP" in Google. They all work the same way: you make a request, the server reflects back the address it came from.
Command Line: Skip the Browser
If you live in the terminal, you can get your public IP without opening a browser.
curl queries web services directly:
dig asks DNS servers instead of web servers:
PowerShell for Windows users:
These commands return just the address as plain text. Perfect for scripts that need to log or react to IP changes.
Your Router Already Knows
Your router negotiates with your ISP to get a public IP. So it knows what it is.
Navigate to your router's admin interface (usually 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1), log in, and look for WAN, Internet, or Status sections. Your public IP will be listed there.
This method matters when you're already configuring port forwarding or remote access—you're in the place where you'd use that IP anyway.
What Makes This Tricky
Your IP probably changes. Most home connections use dynamic addressing. Reboot your router? New IP. ISP maintenance? New IP. Random Tuesday? Maybe new IP. If you need consistency, you'll need a static IP from your ISP (usually costs extra) or a dynamic DNS service that tracks the changes.
You might have two addresses. One IPv4 (like 123.45.67.89), one IPv6 (like 2001:0db8:85a3::8a2e:0370:7334). We ran out of IPv4 addresses, so the Internet is transitioning to IPv6. Most networks now support both.
Privacy tools hide it. VPNs, proxies, and browser privacy features make websites see a different IP than your actual one. That's their job. Command-line tools bypass browser privacy layers and show your true public IP.
Why This Matters
You can't troubleshoot what you can't see. When remote access fails, when a service blocks you, when you need to whitelist your connection—you need to know your public IP.
It's the return address on every packet you send. Without it, the Internet wouldn't know where to send responses.
Frequently Asked Questions About Finding Your Public IP Address
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