Hiding your IP with a VPN
The safest and fastest way to hide your IP and replace it with a new one is by using a VPN. A reputable provider will not only give you a new IP address but also encrypt all the data you send and receive. Besides, connecting through a VPN will slow your internet connection significantly less than other methods.
The best part? It’s as easy as 1-2-3:
1
Download the app
2
Buy a subscription
3
Connect!
Different ways to hide your IP
Tor
Tor is a free browser that encrypts your internet traffic and reroutes it through a few random nodes before connecting to the website you want. This process hides your real IP. Every time you visit a new website, you go through different nodes, making it difficult to track your actions online.
While Tor is a free tool that will hide your IP, it has some issues. It’s unstable, slow, and because it’s often associated with criminal activities, some websites block connections coming through Tor.
Proxies
Proxies are similar to VPNs in that they are the middleman between you and the internet. You get the IP address of the proxy server you connect through, but your traffic is not encrypted, there’s no authentication, and your internet connection is significantly slowed down. It’s not the best tool if you’re looking for privacy, but it will hide your real IP.
Using public Wi-Fi
Connecting to any network that’s other than your home Wi-Fi will temporarily change your IP. However, public Wi-Fi hotspots don’t offer any encryption, are easy to spoof, and often suffer from Man-in-the-middle attacks. So it’s best to avoid connecting to one if you can.
4 reasons to mask your IP address
You might wonder why you need to hide your IP address in the first place. Here are the main reasons to do it:
Hiding your location
If you don’t want online services and random people to know where you live, hiding your IP will do the trick.
Free internet
Avoid censorship and surveillance. A new IP in another country will help you enjoy complete internet freedom.
Better online experience
Stay private on the web: if your ISP doesn’t know where you go online, it can’t throttle your bandwidth.
Online privacy
Whether it’s your ISP, network administrator, or marketers — no one should know which websites you visit or what information you search for.
Frequently asked questions
Is my IP hidden?
Is hiding your IP address illegal?
Does a VPN change your IP?
The more servers a VPN service has, the more IPs you can choose from. In addition, you change your virtual location to that of the country you connect to.
What happens when you hide your IP address?
In practice, when you hide your IP address:
1) Your ISP can’t see what’s in your data, where it’s ultimately going, and where it’s coming back from — in short, it doesn’t know what you’re doing;
2) If someone intercepts your data, it reads like gibberish;
3) The site you’re visiting doesn’t know your real location and lets you safely access local content.
Can I hide my IP address for free?
NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and you can cancel your subscription any time if you’re not satisfied with the service. Avoid free VPNs and proxies to hide your IP address, as they’re neither secure nor private.
What does a VPN hide?
If a hacker were to try and find you, all they’ll see is the IP address and physical location of the server you chose to connect to.