How to Hide Your IP Address Online Easily in 2022
How can you hide your IP address online?
Well, with all the threats that come with an IP address online, it’s understandable if you are looking for ways to hide your private IP address.
You are not alone, in fact, according to Dataprot, 31% of internet users worldwide have used a VPN service to hide their IP addresses before.
Your IP address is basically a unique string of numbers that identifies your device and your geolocation. Everyone on the internet has one which is also visible on the websites that they visit daily.
On the other hand, government bodies, your ISP, and marketers are also competing to find your IP address for their own benefit.
For these reasons, in this article, I will take through how to hide your IP address online easily in 2022.
But first, let’s look at a few reasons why you may want to hide your IP address.
Why Hide Your IP?
The most obvious reason is to definitely mask your location.
But we all agree that you can do more than that. Here are three benefits you can reap with a hidden IP address.
1. Protection against marketers
Evidently, you have spotted ads that directly resemble your internet journey. Well, marketers use your IP address to track your digital footprint to know what you are most interested in. After which they can target you with ads and offers.
2. Access to geo-restricted content
With geo-blocks, you will not have access to some of your favorite content, especially on streaming platforms. But with a hidden IP, you can access your favorite content from anywhere.
3. Bypass network restrictions
You can sidestep network restrictions like the ones in libraries and schools with a hidden IP address.
Admittedly, you should protect your IP address from prying eyes. With plenty of resources online, it’s devastating trying to find out how to hide your IP address from websites.
But don’t fret, here are seven ways to hide your IP address easily.
1. Use a Proxy Server
Using a proxy is one of the best ways to hide your IP address while enjoying security and privacy.
A proxy server comes with its own IP address which acts as an intermediary between your devices and the internet.
Now, when you use a proxy, all your internet requests pass through the proxy server first, after which it connects to the internet.
Concurrently, after all the responses have been collected from the web servers, it passes them back to you, making sure that your level of anonymity is enhanced.
In addition, each residential proxy is tied to a specific location and provides access to geo-restricted content. In a nutshell, to enhance your privacy and security online, you should set up a proxy in your browser.
Since proxies act as man-in-the-middle servers, they are efficient at low-profile necessities like sidestepping geo-blocked content and IP restrictions.
2. Use a VPN Service
Candidly, a VPN is the most common way to hide your IP address.
Today, VPNs are the best way to hide your IP address. According to Security.org, this has increased the usage of VPNs from 72% in 2020 to 88% in 2022.
A virtual private network, VPN, is software that encrypts all the data you send to and from the web, and channels it back through a VPN server in another location.
The VPN server acts as a medium between the web and your device. This masks your IP address by replacing it with the server’s IP address.
Well, a no logs VPN, that employs tamper proof encryption technologies, can protect you from being hacked and having your information leaked on the internet.
What’s more, suppose you are looking for how to hide your IP address on websites for free, there are VPNs that are free. Plus, there are premium VPNs that will charge you monthly subscriptions to use.
3. Request a New IP
Undoubtedly, your ISP is the entity that allocates IP addresses.
It’s as simple as picking up your phone and calling your ISP. But first, you have to ensure that you have your account information at hand.
Typically, getting a different IP address is not hard but they don’t stay the same forever. IP addresses are constantly on recycling to preserve the limited number of available IP addresses. So expect your IP address to change once in a while.
These temporary IP addresses are known as dynamic IP addresses. But there are also permanent IP addresses called static IP addresses.
4. Use a Tor Browser
Have you ever wondered how to hide your IP address from websites?
Tor browser is a decentralized worldwide anonymity network that is operated by thousands of volunteers.
Tor, also known as The Onion Router encrypts and reroutes your data through a random sequence of volunteers (nodes), which act as proxy servers.
Now, when you connect to Tor, the node sequence changes every time you visit a website. Obviously, nobody can trace any activity you do on the internet back to your original IP address.
Using Tor is easy, you simply download and install the browser. Once installed, it works just like other browsers. And suppose you are looking for how to hide your IP address for free, this is the tool for you.
However, it is slow and not preferable for streaming or torrenting.
5. Use a NAT Firewall
Are you using a wireless router to connect to the internet?
If your answer is yes, there are chances that you have already interacted with a NAT firewall.
A network address translation firewall ensures that multiple devices on the same network share a single public address. Concurrently, the devices will have unique private addresses.
What’s more, they channel your information and requests from your private IP addresses to your online destination under the router’s public address. In return, the address space is conserved.
Besides, unprompted inbound communication with potential threat computers on the internet is also prevented.
However, it has its drawbacks, a NAT firewall will not hide your public IP address but only your private IP address. Moreover, all your connected devices to a NAT-enabled router will share a public IP address.
In a nutshell, NAT firewalls only change your private IP address.
6. Switch your Network
Whenever you change to a new network, your IP address also changes.
This happens especially because most IP addresses are dynamic IP addresses that are temporary.
So, if you think that your IP address has been tracked, blocked, or compromised, you can easily change your IP by simply switching networks. On the other hand, you can connect to a public wifi network. But there are risks involved.
For instance, public WiFi has many unchecked connections all at the same time. These connections have different people with no good intentions for your privacy.
Another way to hide your IP address is by using a smartphone’s mobile data connection. This is one of the fastest ways to hide your IP address. Usually, anytime you turn on your mobile data, your IP address changes.
Using your mobile data will however slow down your connection while also exposing your data, but it’s one of the best ways to hide your IP address.
7. Reset your Router
Do you need a new IP address assigned to your router?
Routers are being used worldwide by millions of people to connect to the internet. In fact, according to Statista, the global Wi-Fi router market share will be valued at over $20 billion by 2027.
Well with this increase, cybercrime is expected to also spike. But you can avoid being a victim by hiding or getting a new IP address. So how can you do this?
Simply unplug or reset your router. This will do the trick although you will have to leave the router unplugged for a few minutes.
Most of the time routers come with dynamic IP addresses, which are temporary IP addresses.
Note that, the longer you leave your router unplugged, the more likely it will have a new IP address.
Conclusion
Evidently, you can’t hide your IP address from everyone, but you can hide your device’s private IP address and mask your geolocation.
In this age of ever-developing technology, privacy is a big topic to focus on. In this article, I have disclosed tips on how to hide your IP address online easily in 2022.
Whether you want to mask your location or stream geo-restricted content, while also avoiding tracking, make sure you use the tips I have mentioned above for better privacy online.
Surely, you should hide your IP address if you want to stay private on the web.
