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What is my IP address?
Your IP address is the unique address that identifies your device on the internet, and the fastest way to see it is curl ipconfig.io. An IP (Internet Protocol) address is how networks route data to and from your device — every site you visit sees the public IP your internet service provider assigned you. That public IP reveals your approximate location and which network you are on, but not your name or exact street address. This guide shows how to find your IP address and explains exactly what it does and does not expose.
Maintained by the ipconfig.io team · Reviewed 17 June 2026
What is an IP address?
An IP address is the address of your device on a network, used to route data to the right place. Just as a postal address tells the mail system where to deliver a letter, an IP address tells the internet where to send the web pages, messages, and files your device requests. Without one, your device cannot send or receive data online.
There are two versions in use:
- IPv4 — the older format, written as four numbers like
203.0.113.45. The supply of these addresses is limited. - IPv6 — the newer, much larger format, written as hex groups like
2001:db8::8a2e:370:7334. About half of all traffic reaching Google now arrives over IPv6 (Google, 2026).
Your device usually has one of each, and may use either depending on the network and destination.
How do I find my IP address?
Run curl ipconfig.io in your terminal to see your public IP as plain text. The bare endpoint returns just the address and a newline — nothing to parse, ideal for scripts:
bash
curl ipconfig.io
# 203.0.113.45To force a specific IP version, add the curl flag:
bash
curl -4 ipconfig.io # IPv4 only
curl -6 ipconfig.io # IPv6 onlyPrefer a browser? Open ipconfig.io and your IP appears at the top. For the complete picture — location, network, and more — use the JSON endpoint described below.
What can I learn about my own IP address?
Your IP address resolves to your approximate location, your network, and your IP version — and ipconfig.io's /json endpoint returns all of it in one record. This is the full lookup, the same data any website can derive from your address:
bash
curl ipconfig.io/jsonjson
{
"ip": "203.0.113.45",
"ip_decimal": 3405803821,
"country": "United States",
"country_iso": "US",
"country_eu": false,
"region_name": "California",
"city": "San Francisco",
"latitude": 37.7749,
"longitude": -122.4194,
"time_zone": "America/Los_Angeles",
"asn": "AS13335",
"asn_org": "Cloudflare, Inc.",
"user_agent": { "raw_value": "curl/8.0.0" }
}You can also request a single field instead of the whole record:
| Endpoint | Returns |
|---|---|
/ | Your public IP, plain text |
/ip | Your public IP |
/country | Country name |
/country-iso | Two-letter country code |
/city | Best-effort city estimate |
/coordinates | Approximate latitude and longitude |
/asn | The network's ASN |
/asn-org | The network operator's name |
Append ?ip=<address> to any endpoint to look up a different address — for example curl "ipconfig.io/json?ip=1.1.1.1".
What does my IP address reveal about me?
Your public IP reveals your approximate location, your ISP or network, and your IP version — but not your identity. Here is the honest breakdown of each:
- Approximate location. Geolocation maps your IP to a place. Country is reliable: commercial databases are accurate to the country roughly 99.8% of the time (MaxMind, 2026). City is a best-effort estimate — for US IPs, databases place you within 50 km of your actual location about 66% of the time (MaxMind, 2026). It is an approximation, often pointing to a nearby city or your ISP's regional hub.
- Your ISP or network. Every public IP belongs to a network identified by an ASN (Autonomous System Number), like
AS13335 · Cloudflare, Inc.. This names the operator — your home ISP, mobile carrier, or a hosting provider — but not your account. - Your IP version. Whether the connection is IPv4 or IPv6, visible from the address format itself.
What an IP does not reveal: your name, your exact street address, or your browsing history. Only your ISP — and lawful requests to it — can tie an IP to a specific subscriber.
What is the difference between a public and private IP address?
A public IP is the address the internet sees; a private IP is used only inside your local network and is never visible to the sites you visit. Your router has one public IP from your ISP, and it hands out private IPs to each device behind it.
Private addresses fall in three reserved ranges defined by RFC 1918:
10.0.0.0/8172.16.0.0/12192.168.0.0/16
If you check your IP inside your operating system's network settings, you will often see a 192.168.x.x address — that is your private IP. The one ipconfig.io reports is your public IP, the only one that matters to websites.
Can I hide what my IP reveals?
Yes — a VPN replaces your IP with the VPN server's, hiding your location and ISP from the sites you visit. Because every site you connect to sees your real public IP, it also sees your approximate location and which network you are on. A VPN routes your traffic through a server first, so sites see that server's IP and location instead of yours. Proton VPN is one solid option — Swiss-based, independently audited, and no-logs. (Affiliate link; it helps keep ipconfig.io free. Use any no-logs provider you trust.)
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my IP address? Run curl ipconfig.io for your public IP as plain text, or open ipconfig.io in a browser. Use curl ipconfig.io/json for the full record with country, city, and network.
What does my IP address reveal about me? Your approximate location (country reliably, city best-effort), your ISP or network via its ASN, and whether you are on IPv4 or IPv6. It does not reveal your name or exact street address.
What is the difference between a public and private IP address? A public IP is the address the internet sees, assigned by your ISP. A private IP is used only inside your local network and falls in the RFC 1918 ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16). Sites only ever see your public IP.
Next steps
- Find your public IP from the terminal — every one-liner for macOS, Linux, and Windows.
- Look up IP geolocation with curl — turn any IP into a location from the command line.
- Find your ISP from your IP address — read the ASN to name the network behind an address.