How to Trace an IP Address

Written by Yaffet Meshesha | Edited by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: March 15, 2023 Tested

Tracing an IP address will give you its approximate geographic location, and it’s actually pretty easy to do. There are several online IP trackers that allow you to search for an IP address, including WolframAlpha and the Spiceworks IP Lookup tool. This wikiHow tutorial will guide you through tracing an IP address's origin in a few simple steps.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Using WolframAlpha

1
Find the IP address that you want to trace. You can find a website's IP address on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android platforms.
- You can also find a Skype user's IP address if necessary.
2
Open the WolframAlpha website. Go to https://www.wolframalpha.com/ in your web browser.

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3
Click the search bar. It's at the top of the page.
4
Enter the IP address that you found. For example, if you wanted to trace Facebook's IP address, you would type 157.240.18.35 into the search bar.
5
Press ↵ Enter. Doing so will search for the IP address' geographical details.
6
Review the results. WolframAlpha will typically show things like the type of IP address, the address' Internet Service Provider (e.g., Comcast), and the city in which the IP address is currently active.
- You can click More to the right of the "IP address registrant:" heading to view information about the registered city.
- If WolframAlpha doesn't display the IP address' information, try using IP Lookup instead.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using IP Lookup

1
Find the IP address that you want to trace. You can find a website's IP address on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android platforms.
- You can also find a Skype user's IP address if necessary.
2
Open the IP Lookup website. Go to https://community.spiceworks.com/tools/ip-lookup/ in your web browser.
3
Click the search bar. This is the white box below the "IP Address or Hostname" heading.
4
Type in the IP address that you found. For example, you'd type in 172.217.7.206 to search for one of Google's addresses.
5
Click Lookup IP. This blue button is to the right of the text field. Doing so will search for your entered IP address.
6
Review the results. IP Lookup provides you with basic information about the IP address' location (e.g., city and state) along with a map and a location pin.
- To ensure your Windows desktop computer or laptop is safe from viruses, use the Windows Defender. It is an anti-virus software built into a Windows operating system.
- You can use this software instead of other paid and tested software because they may try to clean up programs and software on your computer that are not bad.
- Email providers like MSN, Gmail, or Yahoo have different filter systems. To know if the email is legit or not is to look at the domain of the email.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I find a person's location right away?

Community Answer

The fastest way is finding the ip address.
Question

How do I find out someone's IP address when they're connected to my WiFi network?

Community Answer

If someone is on your WiFi network, then they'll have the same IP address as everyone else on that network since your router is what gives you that external IP. (Every individual device does have its own IP address, but when connected to WiFi, an external address is given via the router.)
Question

Somebody hacked my Instagram and then told me my address and stuff about me. What do I do?

Community Answer

Report it to the police and Instagram and they will sort it from there.