Hiding your IP address — via a VPN or proxy — is one of the more commonly discussed privacy measures, and it's worth being precise about exactly what it changes and what it leaves completely untouched.
What changes when you hide your IP
- The address a website logs alongside your visit.
- Your approximate geolocation as inferred from that address.
- Your ISP/network owner as visible to the site.
What stays exactly the same
- Account logins. If you're signed into a service, it knows it's you regardless of which IP you're connecting from.
- Browser fingerprint. Screen size, installed fonts, timezone, and other characteristics can identify your browser across sessions independent of IP — see Browser Fingerprinting.
- Cookies and tracking pixels. These identify your browser directly, unaffected by IP changes.
- Content of your activity — what you search for, what you type into forms — none of that is hidden by an IP change alone.
Why this distinction matters
Treating IP-hiding as a complete privacy solution overestimates what it actually does. It's a genuinely useful, specific measure against IP-based tracking and geolocation — best understood as one layer in a broader privacy approach (see Online Privacy: A Practical Threat Model), not a comprehensive fix on its own.
FAQ
If I hide my IP, can a site still know it's the same me across visits?
Yes, potentially — through cookies, account logins, or browser fingerprinting, all of which operate independently of your IP address.