How do people get your IP address?

One rule explains every method: your IP is visible to whatever your device connects to. Nobody "pulls" your IP from thin air — they get you to connect to something they control, or they're on the connection path already. That rule sorts the scare stories from the real channels quickly, because the interesting question is never can someone see an IP (every server you touch does) but who's on the other end, and did you choose them. Here's the honest inventory.

Maintained by the ipconfig.io team · Reviewed 1 July 2026

The channels that actually work

Logging links. Any URL leads to a server, and every server sees its visitors' IPs — that's just how HTTP works (ipconfig.io is showing you exactly what any site sees). "IP grabber" services industrialize this: they wrap a shortened link around a redirect, log the click, and show the sender your IP, user agent, and rough location. Defense is behavioral, not technical: an unexpected shortened link from someone who wants to know where you are is the whole attack.

Peer-to-peer connections. When your device talks directly to another person's device, each end sees the other's IP by necessity:

• Torrents are the loudest case — every peer in a swarm sees every other peer's address; monitoring firms join swarms precisely to collect them.
• Direct-connect gaming — older titles and some console session-hosting connect players directly.
• Legacy calling apps — early Skype-era software connected calls peer-to-peer.

Servers you join. The operator of any game server, community VPS, or self-hosted service sees every connecting IP — that's their logs working as intended. Trustworthy operators and moderation exist for a reason.

Being on the path. Whoever runs the network you're using — public Wi-Fi, an employer, your ISP — sees your traffic without any trick required.

The channels that mostly don't work anymore

The folklore is a decade stale on these:

• Discord, WhatsApp, modern games: traffic relays through the platform's servers — other users see the platform's IPs, not yours. (Voice/video on major platforms included.)
• Sending email: Gmail/Outlook stamp their own servers into headers, not your home address.
• Tracking pixels in received mail: major webmail proxies remote images through their own fetchers now, blunting the classic trick.
• Social media profiles: other users can't see your IP; only the platform can.

What can they actually do with it?

Less than the scare content implies, more than nothing: estimate your city, identify your ISP, aim a DDoS at your connection, scan for services you've exposed, and correlate your activity across places that saw the same address. The full, honest breakdown — including what an IP can't do — is in what can someone do with your IP address.

If your threat model includes hostile peers — competitive gaming, torrenting, communities with doxxing habits — the structural fix is making the visible address not yours: a VPN replaces it with the server's, verified end-to-end with the leak test (browsers add one more path worth checking: WebRTC).

Frequently asked questions

How do people get an IP address? By getting your device to connect to something they control (links, servers, P2P) or by being on your network path. Every connection shows your IP to its other end.

From a link? Yes — the most common method. Any server sees who visits; IP-logger links just report it to the sender.

From Discord or games? Not on modern relayed platforms. Only true peer-to-peer connections (torrents, direct-connect games) expose peers to each other.

From my emails? Major providers send via their own servers, so no. Loading remote images in old clients was the receiving-side risk, and webmail proxies have mostly closed it.

Next steps

• What can someone do with your IP address? — the honest stakes, myths included.
• What is a WebRTC leak? — the browser channel that can bypass a proxy.
• Check if your VPN is leaking — verifying the fix actually covers you.