Your connection, seen from outside
Before any cookie, before any form, a site already knows this much about you. Not because it asked, but because a connection cannot be made without it.
Asking our server what it sees…
What does an IP address actually reveal?
It identifies your connection on the network, and it is unavoidable: without it, no server could send you anything back. On its own it does not give your name or your street. It does give your internet provider, usually your region, and above all a stable handle for the duration of your session, which is enough to link together everything you do. The reverse DNS name attached to it often names the provider outright.
Why can this page not run offline?
Because everything shown here is what a remote server sees, and only that server can report it. Your browser cannot know its own public address. This is the one tool on this site that necessarily makes a request, and it is worth saying plainly rather than hiding it behind a reassuring badge.
Why no geolocation service is used
Most sites showing this information call a third-party API, which means handing your IP address to a company you never chose, on a page that claims to be showing you what leaks. That would be absurd. Everything here comes from your own request headers, or from a reverse DNS lookup our server performs itself. Which is also why the location shown is coarse or absent: precision would have cost you exactly what the page is about.
What this tool does not tell you
It does not tell you which DNS resolver you use. Establishing that requires an authoritative nameserver watching which machine comes to resolve a unique name, which is infrastructure rather than a web page. Anyone claiming otherwise from a simple page is guessing. If that is your question, use a dedicated DNS leak test.
What actually changes it
- A VPN or Tor replaces your address with theirs. Your provider then sees that you use one, and the destination sees the exit point instead of you.
- Mobile data usually gives a shared, changing address, which is why the reverse name is often missing.
- Private browsing changes nothing here: your address does not depend on your browser.
Frequently asked questions
Is my IP address stored?
No. It is read from your request, sent straight back to you, and never written down. Our audience measurement runs without cookies, and this page adds no logging of its own.
Does my IP address give away my home address?
Not on its own. It gives your provider and usually your region. Only your provider can link it to a subscriber, and only on a legal request. What it does give, immediately, is a stable handle that ties together everything you do during a session.
Why does this page make a request when the others do not?
Because your browser does not know its own public address: only the server you contact can see it. That is unavoidable, so the page says so rather than pretending otherwise.
Does this tool tell me which DNS resolver I use?
No, and no page can honestly do so. It requires an authoritative nameserver observing which machine resolves a unique name, which is infrastructure rather than a web page. For that question, use a dedicated DNS leak test.
Does a VPN hide all of this?
It replaces your address with the VPN's, so the site sees the exit point instead of you. Everything your browser announces on its own, languages, system, capabilities, does not change, which is what the browser fingerprint tool shows.
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