Reserved & Private IP Checker
Check any IPv4 or IPv6 address against the IANA special-purpose registries. You get the exact block it falls in, the RFC that reserved it, what the range is for, and whether it can be routed on the internet.
A website can only see your public IP address, the one your router shows the internet. Your private address, the one your laptop or phone uses on your own Wi-Fi, is visible only on the device itself. The steps below show where to find it.
How to find your private IP address
Your private address almost always starts with 192.168., 10. or 172.16. to 172.31.. It is assigned by your router and it changes if you switch networks. Here is where each system keeps it.
Windows 10 and 11
Press the Windows key, type cmd, open Command Prompt and run ipconfig. The number next to IPv4 Address under your active Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter is your private IP. Without the command line: Settings › Network & internet › Wi-Fi, click your network name, then scroll to IPv4 address.
macOS
Open System Settings › Network, select the connection you are using, then click Details. The private address is on the TCP/IP tab as IP Address. Holding Option while clicking the Wi-Fi menu shows the same number instantly.
iPhone and iPad
Go to Settings › Wi-Fi and tap the small (i) button beside the network you are joined to. The private address appears under IPV4 ADDRESS, next to the router address and subnet mask.
Android
Open Settings › Network & internet › Wi-Fi, tap your connected network, then open the advanced or network details section. Look for IP address. Wording varies by manufacturer, so Samsung, Pixel and OnePlus each place it slightly differently.
Linux
Run ip addr in a terminal and read the inet line under your active interface, usually wlan0 or eth0. The address before the slash is your private IP; the number after it is the prefix length.
Default router IP addresses
Your router's own address is the gateway your device points at. Type it into a browser to reach the admin page. These six cover most home equipment.
| Address | Typically used by |
|---|---|
192.168.0.1 | TP-Link, D-Link, Netgear, Zyxel, many ISP-supplied modems |
192.168.1.1 | Linksys, ASUS, TP-Link, Huawei, Netgear, most European ISP routers |
192.168.1.254 | BT, TalkTalk, Plusnet, 3Com, some Arris and Thomson units |
10.0.0.1 | Comcast Xfinity, Motorola, some Apple and Cisco gear |
192.168.2.1 | Belkin, SMC, some Linksys and Edimax models |
192.168.100.1 | Cable modems in bridge mode, Arris, Technicolor, Virgin Media hubs |
Not sure which one is yours? It is the Default Gateway line in ipconfig on Windows, the Router field on macOS and iPhone, or the output of ip route on Linux.
Reserved and private IP ranges, explained
Most of the internet's address space is handed out to network operators and routed worldwide. A small slice is not. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority keeps two registries of blocks that were pulled out for a specific job, and every entry names the RFC that created it. Those are the addresses this tool recognises. The practical consequence is simple: an address in one of these blocks does not belong to anyone in particular, so nobody can tell you who owns it or where it is.
Private ranges (RFC 1918)
Three IPv4 blocks are free for anyone to use inside their own network. Your router almost certainly hands you one of them right now.
| Range | Addresses | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
10.0.0.0/8 | 16.7 million | Corporate networks, cloud virtual networks, VPNs |
172.16.0.0/12 | 1 million | Enterprise LANs, Docker's default bridge |
192.168.0.0/16 | 65,536 | Home and small-office routers |
Because everyone reuses them, these addresses only make sense inside the network you are on. Your router performs network address translation so a whole household shares one public address on the way out.
Carrier-grade NAT, link-local and documentation
Carrier-grade NAT (100.64.0.0/10, RFC 6598) is what an internet provider gives you when it has run out of public IPv4 addresses. It looks private, but it sits in the provider's network rather than yours, which is why port forwarding and self-hosting stop working on a CGNAT connection. Link-local addresses (169.254.0.0/16 and IPv6 fe80::/10) are what a device assigns itself when nothing answers its request for a real address. On IPv4 that is a symptom of a failed DHCP server; on IPv6 it is completely normal and every interface has one. Documentation ranges (192.0.2.0/24, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24 and IPv6 2001:db8::/32) exist so that examples in manuals never point at somebody's real server. Finding one in a live configuration usually means a sample was pasted in and never edited.
Why a public tool cannot geolocate a private IP
IP geolocation works by looking up which organisation a block was allocated to and where that organisation operates. Reserved and private addresses were never allocated to anyone, and millions of separate networks use the same ones at the same time. There is no fact to look up. A tool that returns a city for 192.168.1.1 is guessing. The only device that knows what a private address refers to is the router on that specific network.
Quick reference
| Range | Type | RFC | Routable? |
|---|---|---|---|
127.0.0.0/8 / ::1 | Loopback | RFC 1122 / RFC 4291 | No, never leaves the device |
10/8, 172.16/12, 192.168/16 | Private | RFC 1918 | No, internal only |
100.64.0.0/10 | Carrier-grade NAT | RFC 6598 | No, provider network only |
169.254.0.0/16 / fe80::/10 | Link-local | RFC 3927 / RFC 4291 | No, one link only |
224.0.0.0/4 / ff00::/8 | Multicast | RFC 5771 / RFC 4291 | Group delivery, not a single host |
Understanding This Tool
What It Does
Identify whether an IP address falls within reserved ranges that have special purposes. Reserved IPs include private networks, loopback addresses, multicast ranges, and experimental blocks that are not routable on the public internet.
Understanding the Results
- Classification: the registry name of the block the address falls in, such as Private-Use or Shared Address Space, or Public if it is in no special-purpose block
- Range (CIDR): the exact block that matched, chosen by longest prefix
- RFC: the document that reserved the block, linked to the RFC Editor
- Purpose: what the block is set aside for, in one sentence
- Globally routable: whether the address can travel across the public internet
- Forwardable by routers: whether a router will pass the packet on to the next network
- Source: the IANA registry or RFC the row was taken from
Common Use Cases
- Network Validation: Verify IPs are in the correct address space for their purpose
- Firewall Rules: Properly handle special address ranges in network policies
- Device Configuration: Ensure devices don't use reserved IPs unintentionally
- Network Troubleshooting: Identify if routing issues involve reserved addresses
- Documentation: Validate IP assignments comply with standards
Pro Tips & Best Practices
- Common Reserved Ranges: 127.0.0.0/8 (loopback), 192.168.0.0/16 (private), 10.0.0.0/8 (private)
- IPv6 Equivalents: ::1 (loopback), fc00::/7 (private), ff00::/8 (multicast)
- Practical Impact: Reserved IPs cannot reach public internet without NAT or tunneling
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't this tool show the location of a private IP address?
My provider gave me an address starting 100.64. Is that private?
My computer has 169.254.x.x. What went wrong?
I found 192.0.2.1 or 2001:db8:: in a configuration file. Is that a real server?
What is the difference between "globally routable" and "forwardable"?
Is every reserved address unusable?
How this tool works: This tool makes no external lookups. Every answer is computed on our server from a local copy of the IANA IPv4 and IPv6 Special-Purpose Address Registries, plus the multicast reservations in RFC 5771, RFC 2365 and RFC 4291. The address you enter is classified and then discarded.