What is a public IP address?
A public IP address is used on the internet-facing path of a connection.
Website: https://zenshield.com/glossary/public-ip
Public IP address
A public IP address is used on the internet-facing path of a connection.
On this page
An external service can report the source address it sees for a request. That address may belong to a router, provider, proxy or VPN exit rather than uniquely identifying the device in your hand.
A practical example
Your laptop’s Wi-Fi settings and a browser IP checker may display different addresses. The first may describe the local network interface, while the second describes the request as seen outside that network. Compare like with like before treating the difference as an error.
What to check
Use the same external checker before and after changing a connection. Record the time, network, address family and selected VPN option where relevant. If you need to share a result with support, include only the information needed to investigate the task; do not publish a full connection history.
What it does not tell you
An IP address is not an exact home address or a complete identity. A changed browser IP does not prove coverage for every app, and a location label supplied by a database is not a precise device-location test. The public-IP guide explains how to interpret a before-and-after check.
Read the technical reference for the underlying definition. For a connection that is failing now, use the troubleshooting guide. To choose an app, follow the VPN selection worksheet.
Sources
What is my IP?Check your VPN is working
On this page
Keep exploring
What is my IP?Check your VPN is working
Keep exploring
What is IPv4? ↗
IPv4 is an Internet Protocol version that uses 32-bit addresses, commonly displayed as four numbers separated by dots.
What is IPv6? ↗
IPv6 is an Internet Protocol version with a much larger address space than IPv4.
Static vs dynamic IP addresses ↗
Distinguish a stable address from an automatically assigned one, and separate public, local, shared and dedicated addresses.