What Is An IP Address?

The world is rapidly adopting the digital approach, which has made various new concepts, terms, and phrases pop up. Even if you are not a techie, you would need to be aware of these terms to be able to function daily, be it for personal or professional reasons.

Therefore, in today’s article, we will talk of one such term, which might as well be a starter phrase. An IP address is an important phrase in today’s day and time, so you must be aware of what it is and how it can affect you. Therefore, if you are ready, let us get educated about what it is.

Have you ever had anyone come up to you and ask, ‘what is your IP?’ only for you to be completely flabbergasted because you don’t know what that is? Well, don’t worry as that is going to change soon. We will educate you about what an IP address is and how you can find yours as well.

An IP address stands for Internet Protocol Address. It is a unique identification number given to a device on the internet or one connected to a local network. IP is a set of rules and regulations set for the kind of data and information that you can send to another device over the internet or a network.

As that kind of thing is important, the internet needs a unique way of identifying who is sending what over the networks. Therefore, having an identification number for every device that can send information over the internet allows authorities to make sure that all comply with the Internet Protocols. This allows the internet to work seamlessly while abiding by the rules.

IP format

Now that we understand what an IP address is, let us focus on the format of IP and how you can recognize one. An IP address contains four sets of numbers separated by periods. The set of numbers can range from 0 to 255. For example, a possible IP address can be 0.0.0.0 as well as 255.255.255.255.

However, do keep in mind that IP addresses are not random and have mathematical reasoning behind them. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is responsible for allocating IP addresses to every device. This body of authority is part of the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is a non-profit organization created in 1998 in the US. It is responsible for ensuring that security is maintained in the usage of the internet.

What is your IP?

There are other aspects of IP, such as how it works and how many types there are. However, those are for another article. Right now, we will focus on how you can know about your IP address. There are various ways of knowing so:

Google it
For Windows: Type cmd in the Windows Search and type ipconfig
For Mac: Select Network under System Preferences
For iPhone: Under settings, select the i within the circle next to the network you are connected to under Wi-Fi