Five Easy Ways to Hide Your IP Address

Want to stop websites, apps, and snoopy networks from tracking your device?  Hiding your IP address is one of the simplest, most effective steps you can take to protect your online privacy, access region-restricted content, and reduce targeted tracking. The good news: you don’t need to be a hacker or pay a fortune. In this guide, I’ll explain how to hide your IP address, detail the pros and cons of each method, and provide clear, actionable advice to help you choose the best option for you.

What is an IP address?

You can think of an IP address as your device’s “mailing address” on the internet. When you visit a website, the site sees this address so it can send the webpage back to you. That’s convenient—but it also means your approximate location and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) are visible to the websites and services you access. There are two types of IP addresses: IPv4 and IPv6. They typically look like this:

• IPv4: 191.0.13.17

• IPv6: 2001:0db8:85a3::8a2e:0370:7334

When you visit a website using your own IP, that site can log information linked to your IP address, such as:

• Approximate geographic location

• Time and frequency of visits

• Pages you view and actions you take

• Details about your device, browser, and operating system (via headers and scripts)

Why should I hide my IP address?

The most common reason to hide my IP address is that it helps reduce how much others can learn from my online activity, thereby protecting my privacy and cybersecurity.

Protect privacy and limit tracking

Websites, advertisers use IP addresses to link visits, build behavior profiles, and estimate location. Masking the IP makes it harder to tie all activity to one household or device.

Add security on public or untrusted networks

On café, hotel, or airport Wi‑Fi, IP-based traffic can sometimes be monitored or targeted. Using a VPN or similar tool to hide the real IP adds a layer of protection.

Avoid basic IP-based blocks or throttling

Some services block or rate‑limit specific IP addresses. Changing or hiding the IP can help regain access in legitimate scenarios (for example, when a shared office IP is blocked by mistake).

Test and research from different locations

Developers, QA engineers, and SEO specialists often need to see how sites behave in other countries or networks. Hiding the real IP and using another location makes this possible.

It is important to remember that hiding an IP does not provide complete anonymity or justify illegal activity, but it is a meaningful step for improving privacy and control online.

Is It Legal to Hide an IP Address?

In most countries, using tools such as VPNs, proxies, or the Tor network is legal. Businesses use them extensively for:

Remote access  

Network security  

Performance optimization  

Quality assurance and monitoring

However, legality depends on how these tools are used:

• Illegal activities remain illegal regardless of whether an IP address is hidden.

• Some streaming platforms, gaming services, and websites may restrict or forbid access through VPNs or proxies in their terms of service.

• A few countries have strict regulations on VPNs or anonymity tools and may require the use of government‑approved providers.

We recommend that you ensure the following when hiding your IP address:

• Review local laws where they live or work.

• Respect the policies of the websites and services they access.

• Avoid using IP‑hiding tools for fraud, harassment, or other harmful activities.

Within this context, the following sections outline five legitimate methods for hiding an IP address and describe what each method offers.

Method 1: Use a Proxy Server

Proxies act as intermediaries: you send a request to a proxy, and the proxy forwards it to the destination site, returning the response to you. From the site’s perspective, the request came from the proxy IP.

Common proxy types

HTTP/HTTPS proxies: Work at the browser or application level (good for web traffic).

SOCKS proxies: Lower-level and more flexible, supporting different kinds of traffic.

Residential proxies: Use IPs assigned to real home devices — less likely to be blocked.

Datacenter proxies: Fast and cheap, but easier for sites to flag.

How to use a proxy

Configure your browser or app to use the proxy’s IP and port, or use an extension that manages proxy settings.

For scraping or automation, configure your HTTP client to route requests through the proxy.

Best for: targeted use cases such as web scraping, multi-account management, or routing a single app without affecting your entire device.

Method 2: Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel from your device to a remote server. From the outside, your traffic looks like it’s coming from the VPN server — not from your home IP.

Why people like VPNs

Strong privacy for normal browsing: Encryption protects your traffic from local snooping (like on public Wi-Fi).

Easy to use: Most VPN apps are one-click on/off and support Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and routers.

Geo-unblocking: You can choose servers in other countries to access region-locked content.

Consistent IP masking: Your IP stays hidden while the VPN is active.

Limitations & downsides

Speed trade-off: Encryption and routing can add latency; high-quality providers minimize this, but expect some slowdown.

Trust model: Your VPN provider can see your traffic if it isn’t encrypted end-to-end, so pick one with a strong privacy policy.

Cost: Good VPNs often require a fee — free ones may log your activity or have bandwidth limitations.

Best for: everyday privacy, streaming geo-restricted content, public Wi-Fi protection, and most users who want a simple solution.

Method 3: Use the Tor Network

Tor (The Onion Router) is a volunteer-run network designed specifically for anonymity. Your traffic hops through several relays before exiting the network — and the exit node’s IP is what the destination sees.

Why use Tor

High anonymity: Designed to hide who is talking to whom on the internet.

Free: Anyone can download the Tor Browser and use it.

Good for sensitive research: Ideal when you need strong privacy and resistance to correlation.

How to use Tor

Download and run the Tor Browser for web browsing.

For other apps, specialized configurations are required (and not all apps work well over Tor).

Drawbacks

Slow: Multiple hops and volunteer servers make Tor much slower than VPNs or proxies. Not suitable for streaming or large downloads.

Exit node visibility: The exit node can see your unencrypted traffic, so always use HTTPS.

Blocked by some sites: Many services block Tor exit nodes or present captchas.

Best for: journalists, activists, or anyone who needs high levels of anonymity and is willing to accept slower speeds.

Method 4: Use a Mobile Hotspot or Different Network

Changing networks is one of the quickest — and least technical — ways to present a different external IP.

Options

Mobile hotspot: Your phone’s cellular network gives you a different IP address than your home broadband.

Public Wi-Fi: Coffee shops, libraries, and co-working spaces provide temporary IPs.

Work or friend’s network: Any legitimately different ISP connection will show a different IP.

Why this works

Each ISP or carrier assigns its own IP ranges, so switching networks instantly changes your apparent IP.

Caveats

Public Wi-Fi security: Unsecured networks can be risky; use a VPN even when connected to public Wi-Fi.

No control: You can’t pick a specific country or server.

Temporary: This is not a scalable or persistent solution.

Best for: quick tests, troubleshooting, or emergency access when you need a different IP immediately.

Method 5: Restart Your Router to Get a New IP from Your ISP

Here’s a surprisingly simple trick: restarting your home router can often force your ISP to assign a new public IP address. It’s not glamorous, but it’s quick and useful when you just need a different IP for a short time.

How to do it:

Check your current public IP at a site like “whatismyip” so you have a before/after comparison.

Power off your router (and modem, if you have one) for 30–60 seconds.

Power it back on, wait for it to reconnect, then check your public IP again.

If the IP didn’t change, try leaving it off for a longer period (several minutes to an hour) or contact your ISP — some ISPs use long DHCP leases or Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT), which won’t change your address.

Pros:

Instant, no extra tools, great for quick troubleshooting or short-term IP changes.

Cons:

Not reliable for persistent anonymity; ISPs may reassign the same IP; it breaks connections for all devices on your network while the router is down.

Best Practices

Below is a practical, first-hand walkthrough showing how to hide your IP address using proxies, based on real testing with Thordata residential proxies in a standard desktop environment.

Test environment

OS: Windows 10

Browser: Chrome (latest version)

Proxy type: Thordata Residential Proxy

Last test date: 2025-12-30

1. Create a proxy endpoint in the Thordata dashboard

After signing in to the Thordata dashboard, navigate to the Residential Proxies section and generate a new proxy endpoint.

During testing, Thordata provided the following connection details:

Proxy host: `thordata.net`

Port:`8000`

Authentication: Username + password

These credentials are required for any browser, scraper, or automation tool you connect.

2. Configure the proxy in your browser (Chrome / Edge test)

Steps used in testing:

(1) Open System Network Settings → Proxy

(2) Enable Manual proxy setup

(3) Enter:

HTTP / HTTPS Proxy: `t.pr.thordata.net`

Port: `9999`

(4) Save settings

(5) When prompted by the browser, enter your Thordata username and password

Once authenticated, Chrome immediately routed traffic through the Thordata residential network.

3. Verify that your IP address is hidden

To confirm the proxy was working, open an IP-checking website such as:

`whatismyipaddress.com`

Test result:

The detected IP was not the local ISP IP

The IP matched a residential IP location provided by Thordata

This confirmed that the original home/office IP was fully masked.

4. IP rotation settings

Thordata allows flexible control over how your IP behaves:

Geo-targeting: country or city-level targeting

Session control: sticky sessions or timed rotation

Rotation frequency: automatic IP changes per request or per session

Final thoughts

Hiding your IP is one of the fastest ways to gain control over your online footprint, but remember, it’s only one layer of good digital hygiene. Combine it with strong passwords, two-factor authentication, careful cookie management, and mindful browsing to get real protection.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at support@thordata.com.