How to Change Your IP Address: 7 Methods That Work

Your device usually has two kinds of addresses. The private IP (for example 192.168.1.23 or 10.0.0.5) identifies it inside your home or office network and is assigned by your router. The public IP is assigned by your internet provider to the router itself and is the address every website sees. All devices behind one router share the same public IP.

If your goal is how websites see you, focus on the public IP. Check it first so you can compare later: open any IP lookup page, or run curl https://api.ipify.org in a terminal.

Most home broadband plans use dynamic public IPs. When the router reconnects, the provider may assign a different address from its pool. Whether it actually changes depends on the provider: some keep the same address for days through long DHCP leases, some tie it to your modem's MAC address.

1. 01

   Note the current public IP

   Run curl https://api.ipify.org or open an IP check page and write the address down.

2. 02

   Power off the router and modem

   Unplug them, not just restart from the menu. If you have a separate modem, turn it off too.

3. 03

   Wait

   Give it a few minutes. On many networks a longer pause, sometimes an hour or more, raises the chance that the lease expires and you get a new address.

4. 04

   Power on and check again

   Compare the new address with the old one. If it did not change, your plan may have a static IP or a sticky lease.

The simplest way to get a different public IP is to connect through a different network: mobile data, a hotspot from your phone, another Wi-Fi network. Each network has its own provider and address.

On a phone, toggling airplane mode for a few seconds usually gets you a new address. Mobile carriers use carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT): many subscribers share each public IP, and reconnecting typically assigns you a different one from the pool. This is also why mobile proxies can change IP on demand.

Renewing the DHCP lease changes your private IP, not the public one. It is useful when you have a local address conflict or a network problem, and it is what many guides mean by "change your IP" on Windows.

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns

# show connections
nmcli connection show

# reconnect a connection to get a fresh lease
nmcli connection down "Wired connection 1" && nmcli connection up "Wired connection 1"

On macOS, open System Settings, Network, select your connection, click Details, open the TCP/IP tab and press Renew DHCP Lease. On iPhone, open Settings, Wi-Fi, tap the info icon next to the network and choose Renew Lease. On Android, the simplest option is to forget the network and reconnect.

A VPN routes all traffic from your device through a VPN server, so every app gets the server's IP. Install the client, choose a location, connect, then check your IP. This is the easiest method when you want the whole device to appear from one location, for example on public Wi-Fi.

The limit is that a VPN gives the device one IP at a time. If you need several browser profiles or scripts to use different addresses at once, a VPN cannot do it. The full comparison is in proxy vs VPN.

A proxy changes the IP only for the application that uses it. That makes it the right tool when you need control: one IP per browser profile, a fixed IP in a specific country, or a new IP for every request in a scraper. You get the proxy details as host, port, login and password, and enter them in the app or browser.

In a browser

Chrome and Edge use the system proxy settings: on Windows open Settings, Network and internet, Proxy, and enter the address and port under Manual proxy setup. Firefox has its own settings: Settings, General, Network Settings, Manual proxy configuration, and a checkbox to send DNS through a SOCKS5 proxy. For multiple profiles with different IPs, an antidetect browser is more convenient: see the antidetect browser proxy setup.

In the command line and scripts

# curl through an HTTP proxy
curl -x http://login:[email protected]:8000 https://api.ipify.org

# Python requests
import requests
proxy = 'http://login:[email protected]:8000'
print(requests.get('https://api.ipify.org', proxies={'http': proxy, 'https': proxy}, timeout=15).text)

• If you need

  One fixed IP for an account

  Pick

  A static ISP or dedicated IPv4 proxy that stays the same for the whole rental.

  View: One fixed IP for an account
• If you need

  A new IP for each request

  Pick

  A rotating residential pool, billed by traffic.

  View: A new IP for each request
• If you need

  A carrier IP you can refresh on demand

  Pick

  A mobile 4G/5G proxy.

  View: A carrier IP you can refresh on demand
• If you need

  Many cheap IPs for data collection

  Pick

  Datacenter IPv4 or IPv6 proxies.

  View: Many cheap IPs for data collection

Not sure whether you need a fixed or changing address? Read rotating vs static proxies.

Ask your internet provider. If you have a static IP, or your dynamic IP never changes, support can usually assign a new address. Some providers charge for static IPs and changes. This is the only way to change a static public IP on your own connection.

Tor Browser sends traffic through several volunteer relays, and the site sees the exit relay's IP. It is free and focused on privacy, but slow, and the list of exit relays is public, so many sites show CAPTCHAs or limit features for Tor traffic. It is not suitable for account work or automation.

1. 01

   Check the public IP

   Run curl https://api.ipify.org or open an IP lookup page in the same browser or profile and compare with the address you noted.

2. 02

   Check the location

   Look the new IP up in two or three geolocation services. They use different databases, so small disagreements on the city are normal.

3. 03

   Check for leaks in the browser

   Open a WebRTC and DNS leak test. Your real IP must not appear, and DNS resolvers should not belong to your home provider.

4. 04

   Match timezone and language

   A US IP with a browser set to another timezone is inconsistent. Antidetect browsers can set these from the proxy IP.

The full procedure, including speed and anonymity checks, is in how to test a proxy. If you got proxies as a list, paste it into the free proxy checker first: it validates and converts formats such as ip:port:login:password and socks5:// URLs.