In certain cases it can be useful to know which IP address your iPhone, iPad or Mac uses. This includes assigning a fixed IP address or setting restrictions.
You may also need the IP address when using (S)FTP to transfer files, connect accessories or connect to a media server. The IP address your device uses is quite easy to find. Below you can read how to view the IP address on a Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Check which IP address your iPhone or iPad uses
- Open the Settings app under iOS or iPadOS.
- Select WiFi.
- Tap the info symbol (i) behind the network name you have connected to.
- Swipe down until you see IPV4 address.

The IP address shown under ‘IP Address’ is the IPv4 address that your Mac uses to communicate with your other network devices and your router locally. Local IP addresses always start with 192.168.xx or 10.xxx In the example above, the local IP address is 192.168.2.129.
In addition to an IPv4 address, you may also see IPv6 addresses, you can read more about this later in this article.
Check which IP address your Mac is using
Naturally, you can also check on the Mac which IP address is being used. You can find this out as follows.
- Open the Settings app under macOS.
- Select ‘Network’ and select the network connection you are currently connecting to, which can be recognized by the green dot and the text ‘Connected’.
- Click the Details button.
- In the overview that now appears, click on ‘TCP/IP’ in the column on the left.

The IP address shown under ‘Configure IPv4’ is the IPv4 address that your Mac uses to communicate with your other network devices and your router locally. With IPv4, the router controls external internet traffic with an external IP address that is assigned to the router by your provider. Local IP addresses always start with 192.168.xx or 10.xxx
Why are multiple IPv6 addresses used?
It is also possible that in addition to an IPv4, you also use an IPv6 address under both macOS and iOS. This depends on your internet provider and whether your router supports IPv6. If this is the case, see under IPv6 addresses that multiple IPv6 addresses are used.

The first IPv6 address is the main address, which consists partly of the range assigned to you by your provider plus a part that is derived from your hardware MAC address.
The second IPv6 address is a temporary address with which you can actually access the internet. This address is based on your main address and is regularly replaced by a new address. This prevents tracking of your IPv6 address.
Finally, you can find an IPv6 address here that starts in the series fe80: or fd00:. These are a link-local and unique local address respectively, both addresses are only used locally on your own network because they are not routable.
Check which IP address you use to connect to the internet
Using a simple Terminal command, you can quickly find out under macOS which IP address you use to connect to the internet.
$curl ifconfig.me
After executing the command, the IP address will be displayed in the Terminal window. This can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address, depending on your internet provider.

To check which IP addresses you use to access the internet, you can also use a website such as watzijnmijnips.nl visits. This website shows the IPv4 and possibly IPv6 address with which you are currently visiting the internet. With IPv4 this is the IP address that your provider has assigned to your router, with IPv6 it is the rotating IPv6 address of the device itself.