How to hide your IP address

You cannot turn your IP address off, but you can replace it: send your traffic through another server, and websites see that server's address instead of yours. The realistic options are a VPN app or browser extension, a proxy, switching to mobile data, or asking your provider for a different address. None of them make you anonymous – your provider and whoever runs that server still know who you are.

Updated 11 August 2026

What it really means to hide your IP address

Every time you open a website, your device has to tell the other side where to send the answer back. That return address is your IP address, and every site you load can see it – along with the country it belongs to, the company that issued it and the network it sits in.

You cannot turn it off. What you can do is send your traffic through another computer first, so the site sees that computer's address instead of yours. That is a swap, not a disappearing act. Your own provider still sees that you connected to that computer, and whoever runs the computer still sees your real address. So the practical question is not how to become invisible – it is which of those two you would rather trust with your address.

Option 1: a VPN app or browser extension

A VPN sends your traffic to a server you pick, and the server passes it on. Websites see the server's address. An app on your computer or phone covers everything on the device; a browser extension covers only the browser.

What you get:

• Sites, ad networks and analytics scripts see the server's address instead of your home one.
• The connection between your device and the server is encrypted, so the local network – a cafe, a hotel, an office – sees far less about what you are loading.
• It takes one click and applies to every site at once.

What it costs you:

• You move your trust from your provider to whoever runs the VPN. Pick one that is clear about what it records.
• Speed usually drops a little, because your traffic takes a longer route.
• An extension leaves everything outside the browser alone – your other apps keep using your real address.
• A poorly built app can leak: an IPv6 address or a WebRTC request may still go out directly, past the VPN. That is worth checking rather than assuming.

Option 2: a proxy server

A proxy is a simpler relay. You point one browser or one program at it, and requests from that program go out with the proxy's address.

• Good: quick to set up, easy to attach to a single program, and you can swap it in seconds.
• Less good: a plain proxy usually encrypts nothing, so your local network still sees where you are going. Free public lists are run by people you know nothing about – they can log everything, insert their own content into pages, and most of them stop working within days.

A proxy is fine for a one-off task. As an everyday privacy tool it is a poor choice.

Option 3: switch networks or get a new address

You do not always need extra software. Two ordinary things change your address on their own:

1. Use mobile data. Your mobile carrier gives you a completely different address, usually one shared by a large pool of subscribers. Sharing that connection with a laptop does the same for the laptop.
2. Restart your router. Most home connections get a dynamic address, so after a reboot – or after a few hours offline – the provider often hands out a different one. If you pay for a static address, one that never changes, this will not work.

Both are free and take a minute, and both change only the number. Your provider still knows which address was yours and when, and mobile carriers keep the same records.

Option 4: ask your provider

The option people forget is the simplest one: call your internet provider and ask them to change your address, or to move you from a static address to a dynamic one. Many will do it on request, sometimes for a small fee.

This helps if your current address has picked up a bad reputation – for example, if sites keep making you solve captchas. It does nothing for day-to-day privacy: you get a new address from the same provider, in the same city, in the same network.

What none of these methods do

Changing your address is one narrow step. Plenty of other ways to recognize you stay exactly as they were:

• Accounts. If you are signed in, the service knows exactly who you are, whatever address you arrive from.
• Cookies and stored data. They sit in your browser until you clear them.
• Browser fingerprint. Your screen size, fonts, language settings and the way your graphics card draws images add up to a fairly distinctive combination.
• Mismatches. If your address points to one country and your clock is set to another, that gap is easy for a site to notice.

And to put it plainly: none of this makes you anonymous. Providers and server operators keep records, and they hand them over when the law requires it. Treat every method here as a way to limit who casually sees your address – not as a way to disappear.

Check what actually changed

Whatever you use, check the result instead of assuming it worked. In this order:

1. Open this page with everything turned off and note the address, country, provider and network.
2. Turn on the VPN, the proxy or the mobile connection.
3. Reload this page and compare. If the provider and network are still yours, your traffic is not going where you think it is.
4. Look at the leak checks. A WebRTC request or an IPv6 address that still shows your home address means part of your traffic is going out directly.
5. Check the time zone line. If your browser reports one country and your address points to another, sites can see the difference.

If a check does turn up your real address, the tool you are using is not covering everything. Moving to one that handles IPv6 and WebRTC properly usually fixes it – our own Chrome extension, AnonVPN, is one option if you want something that works inside the browser.

Everything on this page is measured on our own servers. We do not store visitor addresses, we run no ads and no third-party trackers, and if you want the same data in machine-readable form, api.ipgeo.ru answers without keys or sign-up.