How to hide your IP address

Before changing anything, note what you are starting from. The homepage shows the public IPv4 and IPv6 address every website currently sees, the provider it belongs to and the city it resolves to. Write it down or keep the tab open: after you turn on a VPN, proxy or Tor, every one of those values should change. If any of them stays the same, that part of your connection is not hidden.

The pattern in the table is the whole subject in one sentence: somebody always sees your real address, and the choice is who. A VPN moves that trust to one company; Tor spreads it across volunteers so no single one has the full picture; a proxy moves it to an operator you usually know nothing about.

1. VPN (the default answer for most people)

A VPN app encrypts everything leaving your device and sends it to the provider's server; websites see the server's address. Choose a provider with a published no-logs policy that has been independently audited, apps for every device you own, and servers in the countries you need.

1. Install the provider's app from its website or the app store, sign in, and connect to a server. On Windows 11 the connection also appears under Settings, Network & internet, VPN; on macOS under System Settings, VPN; on iPhone under Settings, General, VPN & Device Management; on Android under Settings, Network & internet, VPN.
2. Turn on the kill switch (sometimes called network lock) so that nothing leaves your device if the tunnel drops.
3. Prefer the WireGuard protocol when offered; it is faster and simpler than OpenVPN and IKEv2.
4. Open the homepage: the address, provider and location must now be the server's.

To cover devices that cannot run an app (smart TVs, consoles), most routers with custom firmware, and many stock ones, can run the VPN for the whole house.

2. Tor Browser (free, strongest, slowest)

Tor routes each connection through three volunteer relays. The first knows your IP but not where you are going; the last knows the destination but not who you are. Download Tor Browser for Windows, macOS, Linux or Android only from the Tor Project's site; on iPhone the Tor Project recommends Onion Browser, since Apple's rules prevent a full Tor Browser there. Use it as installed, do not add extensions or resize the window, and do not sign in to accounts tied to your name. Expect slower pages, more captchas and a few sites that block Tor exits outright.

3. Proxy (one app, quick location change)

A proxy forwards traffic for a single application, most often the browser, and typically does not encrypt it. Browser extensions that promise to hide your IP are proxies. Set one in the extension, or system-wide under Settings, Network & internet, Proxy on Windows and System Settings, Wi-Fi, Details…, Proxies on macOS. Fine for testing how a site looks from another country; not a privacy tool, because the proxy operator sees everything and websites detect most proxy ranges on sight. The proxy server guide covers the types.

4. iCloud Private Relay (Apple devices)

With an iCloud+ subscription, turn it on under Settings, your name, iCloud, Private Relay on iPhone and iPad, or System Settings, your name, iCloud, Private Relay on a Mac. It hides your address from websites in Safari, encrypts your DNS lookups and covers unencrypted app traffic, using two relays so that neither Apple nor its partner sees both who you are and where you go. Under IP Address Location you can choose whether sites see your general area or only your country and time zone. It does nothing for other browsers or for most app traffic, and it is not available in every country.

5. Switch to mobile data

Turning off Wi-Fi puts you on your carrier's network with a completely different address, usually one shared with thousands of other subscribers behind carrier-grade NAT. That is useful when a site has blocked your home address, but it hides nothing: the carrier knows exactly who you are, and the address still resolves to your country.

6. Public Wi-Fi

A café network hides your home address from the sites you visit and replaces it with the venue's. In exchange, the venue's router sees every site you connect to, and so can anyone else on the network who cares to look. If you use public Wi-Fi, use a VPN on top of it; the public Wi-Fi safety guide explains why.

No. Incognito, InPrivate and Private Browsing windows stop the browser from saving history, cookies and form data on your own device after the window closes. Every request still leaves your device from your normal IP address, your ISP still sees every domain you visit, and websites still see the same address they would see in a normal window. Chrome's own incognito screen says as much: your activity may still be visible to the websites you visit, your employer or school, and your internet service provider. Private mode protects you from the next person who uses your computer, not from the network.

Turning a VPN on is not the same as being hidden. Three separate paths can expose your real address while the main tunnel looks fine, and each has its own test:

1. IP address. Reload the homepage. Both the IPv4 and the IPv6 address must belong to the VPN. Many VPNs tunnel IPv4 only; if your IPv6 address is still your ISP's, every IPv6-capable site sees your real network. Fix: enable IPv6 support in the VPN app, or disable IPv6 on the device.
2. DNS. Run the DNS leak test. If the resolvers answering your lookups belong to your ISP rather than the VPN, your ISP still sees every site name you request. Fix: turn on the VPN's DNS protection or set the VPN's resolvers manually. The DNS leak guide explains the mechanics.
3. WebRTC. Run the WebRTC leak test. Browsers can reveal your real address to a page through WebRTC even with a VPN active. Fix: a VPN app or extension that blocks the leak, or the browser's WebRTC policy setting.

The VPN test runs all three at once and gives one verdict. Finally, run the proxy and VPN checker to see what detection systems conclude about your new address; being hidden and being obviously on a VPN are different things, and some sites block the latter.

Phones have the same options with the same trade-offs, plus one twist: apps bypass browser-only tools. A VPN app covers everything, including the apps; Private Relay covers Safari and unencrypted app traffic only; a proxy configured in Wi-Fi settings covers only apps that honor it, which many do not.

• iPhone: install a VPN app and allow it to add its configuration when asked (it appears under Settings, General, VPN & Device Management). For Safari alone, Private Relay is the lighter option. Onion Browser provides Tor.
• Android: install a VPN app, or add a manual connection under Settings, Network & internet, VPN. Turn on Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN in that screen's settings so that nothing leaks when the app restarts. Tor Browser for Android is an official app.
• Both: the per-network setting that randomizes your Wi-Fi hardware address (Private Wi-Fi Address on iPhone, randomized MAC on Android) hides your device from the local network, not your IP from websites. It is a different kind of hiding and worth leaving on.

Test on the phone exactly as on a computer: open the homepage and the VPN test in the phone's browser with mobile data off and on, because the two networks behave differently.