What is a private IP address, and why is mine 192.168.1.x?
Your phone says 192.168.1.23. A website says your IP is something else entirely. Both are correct, because they are describing different sides of your router.
A private IP address is one from a block reserved for local networks: 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255, and 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255. Routers on the public internet are required to discard traffic to and from these addresses, so thousands of homes can all use 192.168.1.x at once without conflict. Your router has one public address facing your internet provider and hands out private ones to your devices; it translates between them with NAT. That is why the address on your phone’s Wi-Fi settings never matches what a "what is my IP" page reports.
Worked out 2026-10-16 (IST) · IPv4 private ranges as defined in RFC 1918, with notes on IPv6The reserved ranges
| Block | Range | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| 10.0.0.0/8 | 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 | Large private networks, companies, cloud virtual networks (about 16.7 million addresses) |
| 172.16.0.0/12 | 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 | Mid-sized private networks; Docker’s default bridge uses 172.17.x.x (about 1 million addresses) |
| 192.168.0.0/16 | 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 | Homes and small offices (about 65,000 addresses) |
| 100.64.0.0/10 | 100.64.0.0 - 100.127.255.255 | Carrier-grade NAT, used by providers between you and the internet (RFC 6598) |
| 169.254.0.0/16 | 169.254.0.1 - 169.254.255.254 | Link-local, self-assigned when DHCP fails |
| 127.0.0.0/8 | 127.0.0.1 and the rest | Loopback: the device talking to itself |
How a private address reaches the internet
When your laptop at 192.168.1.23 opens a website, the router rewrites the source address to its own public address and remembers which internal device asked. When the reply arrives it reverses the swap. This is network address translation, and it is the main reason the internet kept working after the supply of public IPv4 addresses ran out; the shortage and its long-term answer are covered in IPv4 versus IPv6.
Private versus public at a glance
| Private address | Public address | |
|---|---|---|
| Reachable from the internet | No | Yes |
| Unique worldwide | No, reused everywhere | Yes |
| Assigned by | Your router (DHCP) | Your internet provider, from a regional registry’s allocation |
| Where you see it | Device Wi-Fi settings, router admin page | An IP lookup page or tool |
| Changes | When the router reassigns it | When the provider reassigns it - often rarely, sometimes daily |
When two private ranges collide
The shared ranges cause one practical problem. A VPN to an office network that also uses 192.168.1.0/24 sees the same addresses on both sides and cannot decide which is meant. Offices that expect remote workers tend to avoid 192.168.0.x and 192.168.1.x for this reason and pick something unusual inside 10.0.0.0/8. Cloud networks add the same issue when two virtual networks that need to connect were both created with the default 10.0.0.0/16.
IPv6 does it differently
IPv6 has so many addresses that devices normally get a globally unique address and NAT is not needed. It still reserves a private-style block, fc00::/7 (unique local addresses), and every interface also has a link-local address starting fe80::. A device that shows an IPv6 address beginning 2 or 3 is using a public one. To see which address family your connection actually uses, run the lookup below and compare it with what your device reports. If you are setting up DNS for a server, give it a public address and publish it in an A record; a private address in public DNS will fail for every visitor outside your network.
Sources: IETF RFC 1918 (address allocation for private internets), RFC 3927 (link-local addresses), RFC 6598 (shared address space for carrier-grade NAT), RFC 4193 (IPv6 unique local addresses) and RFC 4291 (IPv6 addressing architecture).
Check your own numbers
See the public address the internet sees for your connection.
Frequently asked
Is 192.168.1.1 a public or private IP address?
Private. It lies inside 192.168.0.0/16. It is the factory-default address of a very large number of home routers, which is why typing it into a browser opens the router’s settings page. Because it is only meaningful inside your own network, the same address works on a neighbour’s router too and reaches their device, not yours.
Can someone find me from my private IP address?
No. A private address on its own identifies nothing outside your network. What outsiders see is the router’s public address, which reveals roughly the city and the internet provider but not your street address or name. See what an address does reveal at <a href="/answers/what-does-my-ip-address-reveal/">what does my IP address reveal</a>.
Why do I have the same private IP as a friend?
Every home network is its own separate world. Routers commonly default to 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x, so identical private addresses appear in millions of homes. They never meet because the traffic is translated to a unique public address before it leaves.
What does 169.254.x.x mean?
It is a link-local address, which a device gives itself when it expected to receive an address from the router and got none. If you see it, the device is connected to the network but the DHCP service is not answering, so restart the router or check the cable before looking anywhere else.
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