IPv6 test
Does your connection speak the internet’s newer protocol? The check runs automatically, and either answer is fine, here is what each means.
Guide
How to use it
- If the IPv6 tile shows an address (long, hexadecimal, colons), your connection is dual-stack: it speaks both protocols and prefers v6 where sites offer it.
- "Not detected" means v4-only, still completely functional, as the IPv4 tile above it demonstrates.
- On a VPN, the result describes the tunnel: many VPNs disable v6 deliberately to prevent leaks, so "not detected" while connected is often correct behaviour.
Examples
The two normal results
A real IPv6 address, yours alone rather than shared: v6 is generous enough that every device gets a public address (firewalled by your router, not hidden by NAT).
Roughly half of UK connections still run v4-only, it depends on your ISP and sometimes your router settings. Nothing you use today requires v6.
VPN users: if your VPN claims full tunnelling but this page shows your ISP’s IPv6 address while connected, v6 traffic is escaping the tunnel, turn on the VPN’s IPv6 protection or disable v6.
Method
How it works
The test queries ipify’s dual-stack endpoint, which answers over IPv6 when your connection can and falls back to IPv4 when it cannot, an address containing colons is a v6 answer. It is a connectivity test, not a speed or quality benchmark.
Why v6 exists: IPv4’s four billion addresses ran out years ago, hence the sharing (NAT) that defines home networks. IPv6’s address space is practically unlimited, adoption is simply slow because NAT made v4 survivable.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do I need IPv6?
Today, no, every mainstream service still answers on v4. It arrives quietly when your ISP enables it, and things simply keep working.
Why does my ISP not provide it?
Carrier inertia: NAT keeps v4 workable, so v6 rollout is a cost with invisible benefits. UK ISPs vary, Sky and BT largely have it, others lag.
Is IPv6 faster?
Marginally, sometimes: fewer NAT layers can shave latency slightly. It is not an upgrade you would feel, parity is the honest claim.
Is IPv6 less private?
It removes shared-address anonymity, but privacy extensions (on by default in modern OSes) rotate the device part of the address regularly, in practice the difference is small.
My result changes between networks, why?
The test describes the connection, not the device: home WiFi, phone data and the office will each answer per their own ISP’s rollout.
Can I turn IPv6 on myself?
Only if your ISP supports it: check their help pages, then enable v6 in your router. Without ISP support there is nothing to switch on (tunnels exist, but they are hobbyist territory).
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