What is my IP? Public vs private IP addresses explained
Your IP address is the number the internet uses to reach your connection. To see it right now, open IP Info — your public IP appears instantly with your city, ISP and timezone. Free, no sign-up, and no VPN banner warning that you are "exposed". For most people, that is the whole answer.
The confusion starts because you actually have several addresses at once: a public IP the whole internet sees, a private IP inside your home network, and usually both an IPv4 and an IPv6 address. Here is how they fit together — plus honest answers to what your IP really reveals and how to change it.
See your public IP instantly — city, ISP and timezone
Checking your IP takes one click and zero typing:
- Open IP Info — the lookup runs automatically as the page loads.
- Read your public IPv4 address (and IPv6, when your network has one) in the main result card.
- Below it, see what networks can see about you: city and country, ISP or organization, timezone and approximate coordinates.
How the lookup works — and what we don't keep
Expect the location to be approximate by design: it points at your ISP's routing region, not your street. If the city shown is a neighbouring one, that is normal — the geolocation database maps address blocks to where the provider announces them, not to buildings.
One honesty note most "what is my IP" pages skip: this question cannot be answered locally on your device. Your browser sends a request, and an IP data service reports back the address the request arrived from — that request is the lookup. Carbide shows you the live result and does not log or store it: no account, no lookup history, no list of addresses sitting in a database. And when the answer appears, that is the end of it — there is no "your IP is exposed, buy a VPN" screen waiting behind the result.
Public vs private IP — the difference in plain words
Your ISP assigns one public IP to your router. Every phone, laptop and TV behind that router then gets a private IP from ranges reserved for local networks: 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x or 172.16.x.x–172.31.x.x. When your phone loads a page, the router swaps the private address for the public one on the way out — a mechanism called NAT (network address translation). That is why every device in your home shows the same public IP to the internet.
The quick test: an address starting with 192.168 or 10. is private and only means something inside your own network; anything else is routable on the public internet. If you want the math behind those ranges — masks, CIDR blocks and host counts — the Subnet Calculator works it out as you type, the CIDR cheat sheet explains the notation, and who is on my Wi-Fi shows which devices hold private IPs on your network right now.
IPv4 vs IPv6 — why you have both
IPv4 is the classic format: four numbers from 0 to 255, like 203.0.113.42. It allows about 4.3 billion addresses, and the internet outgrew that long ago. IPv6 is the successor — a longer hexadecimal format such as 2001:db8::1 — with enough addresses for every device on Earth many times over, no NAT tricks required.
Because the transition is gradual, most networks run "dual stack": your connection carries an IPv4 and an IPv6 address at the same time, and each connection quietly picks one. That is why IP Info can show you two different addresses — both are genuinely yours, and neither is "better" for everyday use. A related quirk: many mobile carriers use CGNAT, where thousands of customers share one public IPv4. It saves scarce addresses — and it is one more reason an IP is a weak identifier of you personally.
Can someone find me from my IP address?
Not your home address — and pages claiming otherwise are usually selling something. An IP lookup reveals roughly what IP Info shows you about yourself: the ISP's name and an approximate city, often just the region where the provider routes traffic. It contains no name, no street, no flat number. The only party that can map an IP to a specific subscriber is the ISP itself, and it does that under legal process, not for strangers.
The realistic risks are narrower: someone holding your IP can aim junk traffic at it (a nuisance mostly relevant to competitive gamers) or combine the city hint with other details you post publicly. Curious about the other direction — who owns the network behind an address or a domain? A WHOIS Lookup shows the registered organization and dates, and the DNS and WHOIS guide walks through reading those records.
How to change your IP address
Three honest options, none of which requires buying anything:
- Restart your router. Most home connections use dynamic IPs, so powering the router off for a few minutes often — not always — brings back a new address. Some ISPs hold the same one for weeks.
- Switch networks. Hop from Wi-Fi to mobile data and you are instantly on your carrier's IP instead of your home one; mobile addresses also rotate frequently on their own.
- Use a VPN or proxy. Websites then see the VPN server's IP instead of yours — the only option that also hides your address from the sites you visit. Whether you need that is your call; many people genuinely don't.
Know your IP? Check the rest of your connection
After any change, re-run IP Info to confirm the address actually moved — if it never does, your plan may include a static IP. Then look at the other half of the picture: your IP says who you are on the network, not how well the network performs. Measure real download and upload with the Speed Test, responsiveness and jitter with Ping, and your browser-reported connection type and round-trip time with Network Info — the speed, ping and jitter guide explains what good numbers look like, and the network tools guide ties the whole kit together.
Some checks need more than a browser: tracing the hops to a server with Traceroute or reading raw signal strength are jobs for the Carbide mobile apps — coming soon, previewed in the pro network apps post. Every web tool above is free, with no sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to share my IP address?
Usually, yes — every website you visit already sees it, because that is how the internet delivers pages to you. It reveals your ISP and rough city, not your identity or home address. Sensible caution still applies: avoid posting it publicly, since gamers in particular can attract targeted junk traffic.
Why does my IP address keep changing?
Most home and mobile connections use dynamic addressing: your ISP leases you an IP for a while and may hand you a different one after a router restart or a lease renewal. Mobile networks rotate addresses even more often, and CGNAT can shuffle you between shared ones. A fixed address is a paid extra (a static IP) on most plans.
Is my IP lookup logged or uploaded anywhere?
The lookup itself is a small request to an IP data service — that is the only way any site can tell you your public address, since the answer lives on the network, not on your device. Carbide displays the live result and does not log or store it: no account, no history, no stored list of addresses.
Is the IP checker free? Is there a limit?
Yes — IP Info is free with no sign-up, no daily cap and no feature paywall. Check once or a hundred times; the answer costs nothing either way.
Does a VPN really hide my IP?
From the websites you visit, yes — they see the VPN server's address instead of yours. Be clear about the trade: the VPN provider now sees your real IP and traffic metadata instead, and your ISP still sees that you connect to a VPN. It relocates trust; it does not remove it.
Your public IP is one click away in IP Info — city, ISP and timezone included, scare marketing not. When the address checks out but the connection still feels off, the Speed Test and Ping are the next stops.