How to Hide or Change Your IP Address

Why people hide their IP

Your IP address broadcasts your approximate location and provider to every site you visit (see what yours reveals), and it ties your activity together. The usual reasons for hiding it:

• Privacy — separating your browsing from your household's single public address.
• Public Wi-Fi — avoiding location leakage on café and airport networks.
• Geo-restrictions — accessing services priced or blocked by region (where their terms allow).
• Testing — developers checking how a site behaves for foreign visitors.

Six ways that work

1. VPN — the standard choice

A VPN tunnels all your device's traffic through a server elsewhere, so websites see the VPN server's IP instead of yours. It's system-wide, works for every app, and typically also encrypts traffic on hostile Wi-Fi. Costs a few euros/dollars a month for a reputable service; expect slightly lower speeds, and know that sites can usually still tell it's a VPN (harmlessly). Best all-rounder.

2. Proxy server — quick and partial

Proxies relay traffic for one app (often just your browser) and swap your visible IP. Free web proxies exist but are slow, frequently inject ads, and see your unencrypted traffic — treat them as disposable. Fine for quick, non-sensitive tasks.

3. Tor — maximum anonymity

The Tor browser routes traffic through three volunteer relays, so no single point knows both who you are and what you access. It's free and genuinely anonymous against network observers, but noticeably slow — overkill for streaming, ideal for sensitive browsing. Note that many sites block or restrict Tor exit nodes.

4. Switch networks — mobile data

Your IP belongs to the network, not you: switching from home Wi-Fi to mobile data instantly changes your public address to your carrier's. Zero setup, perfect for "one request from a different address". The new address is still tied to your phone account, though.

5. Reboot your router — new dynamic IP

If your ISP uses dynamic addressing, disconnecting the router for a while (ideally overnight) often hands you a fresh address on reconnect. Free and effective for shaking an accidental ban — but not guaranteed, and your ISP keeps records linking old and new.

6. Ask your ISP — static replacement

For a permanent change, request a new dynamic address or a paid static IP from your provider. This is the route for hosting servers at home rather than privacy — a static IP is the opposite of hiding.

What does not hide your IP

• Incognito / private mode — hides history from your own browser, not your IP from websites. The most common misconception there is.
• Clearing cookies — cookies remember visits; your IP is visible regardless.
• "IP hider" browser extensions — most route traffic through a shared proxy of unknown trust, or do nothing at all. Prefer a real VPN.
• Changing your device's local IP (192.168.x.x) — that address never leaves your home network; the internet still sees your public IP.

Verify it worked

Before and after any change, check your IP on our homepage — the big number is what the outside world sees. Then go one level deeper with the Proxy & VPN Check: it tells you whether your new address is flagged as an anonymising network and its risk score, plus the blacklist check to make sure your fresh address isn't already on a spam list.

New to the topic? Start with what an IP address is, or answer the original question at What is my IP address?.