"What's my IP address?" usually has two different correct answers, depending on which device you ask. The number a website sees is your public IP address — the one address your entire home or office presents to the outside internet. The number your phone or laptop reports for itself is a private, local address that only means something inside your own network.
Two addresses, two jobs
Your router sits at the boundary. On the outside, your internet provider assigns it one public IP address, shared by every device behind it. On the inside, the router hands out private addresses — typically starting with 192.168. or 10. — to each device individually, using a translation process called NAT (Network Address Translation) to route traffic between the two. A website you visit only ever sees the router's one public address, no matter how many devices are behind it.
Why this matters
This is why "what's my IP" tools always report the same address for every device on your home Wi-Fi, even though your phone and laptop clearly have different local addresses on your own network settings screen. It's also why an IP-based risk or reputation check — like NetRiskScan's IP Risk Check — is really evaluating your network's shared exit point, not any one specific device.
What your public IP actually reveals
A public IP address is tied to an ISP or hosting network, not to you personally. From it, a service can generally determine your approximate location (usually reliable at the country level, less so for city), your ISP or network owner, and whether the address falls into categories like VPN, proxy, hosting, or mobile carrier ranges. It does not, on its own, identify a specific person or device.
FAQ
Why does my IP address change sometimes?
Most home connections use dynamic IP addresses that your ISP can reassign periodically — after a router restart, a modem reset, or just on the ISP's own schedule. See Static IP vs Dynamic IP for what determines whether yours changes.
Is my public IP address the same on Wi-Fi and mobile data?
No — they're entirely different networks with different address assignments. Switching from Wi-Fi to cellular data (or connecting a VPN) will generally change the public IP a website sees.
Can two people have the same public IP address?
Yes, commonly. Everyone behind the same home router shares one public IP, and some ISPs (particularly mobile carriers) use carrier-grade NAT to share one public address across many customers at once.