Question 1

What is my IP address?

Accepted Answer

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique number assigned to your device by your internet provider. It allows routers and servers to know where to send data. Your public IP is the address the outside world sees — not the private one assigned inside your home network.

Question 2

What's the difference between IPv4 and IPv6?

Accepted Answer

IPv4 addresses look like 192.168.1.1 — four numbers separated by dots, allowing about 4.3 billion unique addresses. IPv6 looks like 2001:db8::1 — a much longer format that allows 340 undecillion addresses, solving the global shortage of IPv4 addresses. Most devices today support both.

Question 3

What does my IP address reveal about me?

Accepted Answer

Your IP reveals your approximate city and region, your country, your internet service provider (ISP), and an AS number (Autonomous System Number). It does not reveal your exact street address, name, device type, or browsing history. Geolocation accuracy varies — it can be off by tens of kilometers.

Question 4

Why does my location show the wrong city?

Accepted Answer

IP geolocation is an approximation, not GPS. Databases map IP ranges to locations based on ISP data, which can be outdated or imprecise. Mobile networks often register IPs at regional hubs far from where you're physically located. VPNs and proxies will also show the server's location, not yours.

Question 5

Does whatsmy.fyi store my IP address?

Accepted Answer

No. We process your IP address only to display it to you in real time. Nothing is written to a database, no server logs are kept, and no data is shared with third parties. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics which is cookieless and does not log individual IPs.

Question 6

What is a VPN and does it hide my IP?

Accepted Answer

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) routes your traffic through a server in another location, replacing your real IP with the server's IP. Websites you visit see the VPN server's IP, not yours. However, a misconfigured browser can still leak your real IP through WebRTC — which whatsmy.fyi tests automatically.

Question 7

What is a WebRTC leak?

Accepted Answer

WebRTC is a browser API used for real-time communication (video calls, file sharing). It can expose your real local and public IP addresses directly, bypassing your VPN tunnel. This is called a WebRTC leak. whatsmy.fyi compares the IP your browser reports via WebRTC against your HTTP IP to detect leaks instantly.

Question 8

What is TLS and why does the version matter?

Accepted Answer

TLS (Transport Layer Security) is the encryption protocol that secures your connection — it's what the "S" in HTTPS stands for. TLS 1.3 is the current best version: faster and more secure than TLS 1.2. Older versions (1.0, 1.1) are deprecated and vulnerable to attacks.

Question 9

What is HTTP/3 and QUIC?

Accepted Answer

HTTP/3 is the latest version of the web protocol. Instead of TCP (used by HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2), it uses QUIC — a transport protocol built on UDP. QUIC dramatically reduces connection latency, especially on unreliable networks. If you see HTTP/3 on whatsmy.fyi, your browser and connection support the fastest web protocol available.

Question 10

How is my Privacy Score calculated?

Accepted Answer

The Privacy Score on whatsmy.fyi grades your connection on three factors: (1) HTTPS — always true if you can see this site, (2) TLS 1.3 — whether you are using the latest encryption standard, and (3) No WebRTC leak — whether your browser leaks your real IP. All three = A+. A WebRTC leak drops your score to C or D.

Question 11

What is an ASN (Autonomous System Number)?

Accepted Answer

An ASN is a globally unique identifier assigned to a network operator — such as an ISP, a company, or a cloud provider. For example, Cloudflare is AS13335. Your ASN tells whatsmy.fyi which organisation owns the IP block assigned to you, which is also used for VPN detection.

Question 12

How does whatsmy.fyi detect which Cloudflare datacenter handled my request?

Accepted Answer

Every request that reaches Cloudflare is tagged with a three-letter IATA airport code identifying the edge datacenter (e.g. IST for Istanbul, FRA for Frankfurt). whatsmy.fyi reads this tag directly from the Cloudflare request object — no external API needed. The RTT (Round-Trip Time) shown is the measured latency between your device and that datacenter.

Question 13

What is a short link and how is it different from a regular shared link?

Accepted Answer

When you click "Share Result", whatsmy.fyi creates a long URL that contains all your network data encoded directly in the URL itself — nothing is stored on our servers. When you click "Short link", we store your result in Cloudflare's edge storage and give you a short URL like whatsmy.fyi/r/xK9mP2a. Short links are stored indefinitely and are much easier to share. Regular shared links store nothing, but can be very long.

Question 14

Are short links stored permanently? What data is saved?

Accepted Answer

Short links are stored indefinitely in Cloudflare KV (edge storage). The stored data includes your IP address, location, browser info, and connection details — exactly what is shown on the result page. No additional data is collected. You can delete your short link at any time using the delete token shown when you created it, or by contacting us via the support page.

Question 15

How do I delete a shared short link?

Accepted Answer

When you create a short link, we show you a delete token — a unique code that lets you instantly delete the link yourself. Visit the Support page, enter your link ID and delete token, and the link is removed immediately. If you lost your delete token, use the support form on our Support page to request manual deletion. We process deletion requests within 2 business days.

Frequently Asked Questions