Every device on your home network has two addresses at the same time. Your laptop has a private address, something like 192.168.1.23, that only your router knows about. Your whole household shares one public address, which is the one every website sees. Most confusion about IP addresses comes from mixing the two up: people look up “my IP” in their network settings, find a 192.168 number, and wonder why it doesn’t match what a website shows.
This guide explains what each one is, how your router turns one into the other, which ranges are private, and who can see which address.
Key Takeaway:
Your public IP identifies your whole network to the internet. Your private IP identifies one device inside your home and never leaves it. Websites see the public one; only devices on your own network see the private one.
The Difference in One Table
| Public IP | Private IP | |
|---|---|---|
| Who assigns it | Your internet provider | Your router |
| Who can see it | Every website and service you connect to | Only devices on the same local network |
| Unique? | Yes, across the whole internet | No — millions of homes use 192.168.1.23 at once |
| How many you have | Usually one per household | One per device |
| Example | 203.0.113.45 | 192.168.1.23 |
| Where to find it | An IP checker website | Your device’s network settings |
What Is a Public IP Address?
Your public IP is the address your internet provider gives your connection. It is how the rest of the internet finds you: when you open a web page, the server sends its reply to this address. It has to be unique worldwide, for the same reason two houses can’t share a postal address.
Because every site you visit receives it, the public IP is the one that matters for privacy. From it, anyone can look up your internet provider and an estimate of your city. They can’t get your name or street address — only your provider can link the address to an account. What your IP address reveals covers exactly how much it gives away.
Most home connections have a dynamic public IP that your provider changes from time to time; businesses often pay for a static one that never changes. Dynamic vs static IP addresses explains the difference.
What Is a Private IP Address?
A private IP is an address from a set of ranges reserved for use inside local networks. Your router hands them out to your laptop, phone, TV and printer so they can talk to each other and to the router. Internet routers are configured never to forward traffic addressed to these ranges, which is why the same addresses can be reused in every home and office in the world without clashing.
The private ranges are defined in RFC 1918:
| Range | In CIDR | Where you usually see it |
|---|---|---|
| 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 | 192.168.0.0/16 | Almost every home router |
| 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 | 10.0.0.0/8 | Offices, some home routers, mobile networks |
| 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 | 172.16.0.0/12 | Offices, Docker and virtual machines |
Note that only 172.16 to 172.31 is private. An address like 172.64.x.x is an ordinary public address — a common mix-up. The subnet calculator will tell you which range any address falls in.
Addresses That Are Neither
A few other ranges turn up in network settings and cause confusion:
- 100.64.0.0 – 100.127.255.255 (CGNAT). Reserved for internet providers who share one public address between many customers. If your router’s own internet-facing address is in this range, you are behind carrier-grade NAT, which breaks port forwarding. What CGNAT is and how to get around it.
- 169.254.x.x (link-local). A device gives itself one of these when it asked the router for an address and got no answer. Seeing it on your laptop almost always means a Wi-Fi or DHCP problem, not a real address.
- 127.0.0.1 (loopback). Means “this device itself”. Traffic sent there never leaves your machine.
How the Two Work Together: NAT
Your router sits on both networks at once: one side faces your devices with a private address such as 192.168.1.1, the other faces the internet with your public address. The job of translating between them is called Network Address Translation (NAT).
- Your laptop (192.168.1.23) asks a website for a page.
- The router swaps the laptop’s private address for your public one, notes which device made the request, and sends it on.
- The website replies to your public address. It never learns 192.168.1.23 exists.
- The router checks its notes, sees the reply belongs to the laptop, and passes it inside.
That is how ten devices share one address. It also has a useful side effect: a connection that nobody inside asked for has no entry in the router’s notes, so it is dropped. What a NAT firewall is explains why that protects you, and where it doesn’t. When you do want an outside connection to reach a device — a game server, a camera — that is what port forwarding sets up.
🔍 How to Find Each One
Your public IP
Your own device doesn’t know its public address — only the router and the outside world do. The quickest way is to ask a website: the ExamineIP IP checker shows it along with your provider and approximate location. Your router’s admin page usually shows it too, under a heading like “WAN” or “Internet”.
Your private IP
- Windows: open Command Prompt, type
ipconfig, and read the “IPv4 Address” line. - macOS: System Settings → Wi-Fi → Details next to your network; or in Terminal,
ipconfig getifaddr en0. - Linux:
ip addr, and look for the address on your Wi-Fi or Ethernet interface. - iPhone: Settings → Wi-Fi → tap the ⓘ next to your network.
- Android: Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi → tap your network (menu names vary by manufacturer).
The “Default Gateway” or “Router” line in the same place is your router’s private address, and typing it into a browser usually opens its admin page.
Who Can See Your Private IP?
Normally, only devices on your own network. Websites receive your public address; the private one is replaced by NAT before your traffic leaves the house.
There used to be one notable exception. Browsers use a technology called WebRTC for video calls, and it could reveal a device’s private address to any website that asked. Modern browsers now hide it behind a random placeholder name ending in .local, so a site no longer sees the real number. A VPN leak test shows what WebRTC reports on your own browser.
Even when a private address does leak, it reveals very little. It is shared by millions of other homes, it says nothing about your location, and it can’t be reached from outside. The address worth protecting is the public one.
What About IPv6?
IPv6 works differently. There are so many IPv6 addresses that there is no need to share one between a whole household, so each device usually gets its own globally reachable address alongside a local one (starting fe80:). Your router’s firewall, rather than NAT, is what blocks unsolicited connections.
To stop websites from following one device by its address, modern operating systems use temporary IPv6 addresses that rotate regularly. IPv6 also has its own private-style range for internal networks (addresses starting fd). What IPv6 is and whether you should use it covers the privacy side in more detail.
Hiding Your Public IP
Your private IP needs no hiding. If you would rather websites didn’t see your public one, the options are a VPN, a proxy or Tor; each replaces your public address with someone else’s for the sites you visit. How to hide your IP address compares them. If you choose a VPN, PureVPN is the provider this site works with.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 192.168.1.1 my IP address?
It is usually your router’s private address on your home network. Your own device will have a neighbouring one, such as 192.168.1.23, and your public address is something else entirely.
Why is my IP different on my phone and laptop?
On the same Wi-Fi, their private addresses differ but their public address is the same. On mobile data, the phone uses your mobile operator’s network, so it gets a completely different public address.
Can two devices have the same private IP?
Not on the same network — that causes an address conflict and one of them loses its connection. On different networks, yes, all the time. Can two devices have the same IP address? covers the conflict case.
Is it dangerous if someone knows my public IP?
Less than most people fear. It shows your provider and rough area, and it is the starting point for a nuisance traffic flood, but it doesn’t give anyone access to your devices. What someone can do with your IP goes through the real risks.
Does restarting my router change my public IP?
Sometimes. It depends on how long your provider holds your address for you; with many providers you get the same one back. How to change your IP address lists the methods that work reliably.