Guide
How to check your IP address on a phone
Find your phone's public and local IP address on iPhone and Android — the quick website method, the settings method, and why the two numbers differ.
On this page
The one-visit method
The fastest way is the same on iPhone and Android: open your browser and visit the PublicIPChecker home page. The big number is your public IP — the exact address every website sees when you browse from that phone. It also shows the ISP, approximate location and whether you are behind a VPN or proxy, all in a few kilobytes of data.
If you are checking a friend's phone or a second device, the IP lookup tool does the same analysis for any address you paste in.
Find the local IP in settings
Phones can also show their local (Wi-Fi) address, which is only visible inside your own network:
- iPhone: Settings → Wi-Fi → tap the (i) next to the connected network → IP Address. You will see something like
192.168.1.24. - Android: Settings → Network & internet (or Connections) → Wi-Fi → tap the connected network → IP address. The exact path varies by manufacturer.
- Terminal apps (Termux on Android, jailbroken iOS) can run
ip addrorifconfigto list every interface.
If the value starts with 192.168., 10. or 172.16–172.31, it is a private local address — see what a local IP address is for the full explanation.
Why you get two different numbers
| Where you look | What it shows | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Website (this site) | Public IP, e.g. 203.0.113.45 | Every website you visit |
| Phone settings | Local IP, e.g. 192.168.1.24 | Only devices on your Wi-Fi |
Your router hands the phone a local address and forwards its traffic out through the single public address — that is NAT in one sentence. If the two numbers do not seem to add up, public vs private IP covers the model.
Mobile-specific quirks
- Wi-Fi and mobile data give different public IPs. On Wi-Fi the address belongs to your home connection; on mobile data it is a carrier address, often a shared one behind CGNAT.
- Mobile addresses change more often — when you reconnect, move towers or the carrier renews your session.
- Hotspot testing: if you share your phone as a hotspot, your laptop will show the phone's carrier IP, not your Wi-Fi's.
- Data cost is negligible — a check transfers a few kilobytes, well under one picture's worth.
VPN check from the phone: connect your VPN, then reload this page. The address, ISP and country should all change. If the IPv6 row still shows your real carrier's prefix, you have an IPv6 leak — more in how to hide your IP.
Frequently asked questions
Does checking my IP on a phone use a lot of data?
No. The check sends a couple of small requests and reads the answer locally; it typically uses less than 50 KB — a fraction of what a single song stream consumes.
Why does my phone's IP keep changing?
Mobile networks re-assign addresses when you reconnect or move between towers, and many carriers run CGNAT, which re-shuffles customers between shared addresses. That is normal.
Why is my phone's public IP different from my laptop's on the same Wi-Fi?
They should be the same. If they differ, one of the devices is on mobile data, or has a VPN, proxy or router-level tunnel that the other does not.
Keep reading
- What is an IP address?
- Public vs private IP addresses
- IPv4 vs IPv6
- How to hide your IP address
- What is CGNAT?
- How to change your IP address
- Why does my IP address keep changing?
- How to find a website's IP address
- What is a datacenter IP?
- IPv6 privacy extensions
- What is an ASN?
- How IP geolocation works
- What is a local IP address?
- Why am I getting blocked or stuck on CAPTCHAs?
- What is IP reputation?
- How websites detect VPNs and proxies
- What is a DNS leak?
- What is a WebRTC leak?
- Proxy vs VPN
- How to check if your VPN actually works
- Static vs dynamic public IP
- How to find out who owns an IP address
- IPv6 in 2026
- Check my public IP address
Check any other IP address
Investigating a suspicious login, a spam email header or a server log entry? Run any IPv4 or IPv6 address through the same geolocation and proxy checks.