How to Find Your Router's IP Address (Default Gateway)

Here is how to find your router's IP address — the default gateway — on Windows, macOS, Linux, iPhone and Android, so you can open its admin page in a couple of minutes.

To change your Wi-Fi password, set up port forwarding, or tweak any home-network setting, you first need to find your router's IP address. This is the address you type into a browser to reach the router's admin page, and on almost every network it is the same thing as your default gateway. Below you will find the exact steps and commands for every device, plus what to do when the usual guesses don't work.

What "router IP" and "default gateway" mean

Your router sits between your home devices and the wider internet. Inside your home it hands out private IP addresses using DHCP, and it acts as the gateway that all your outbound traffic passes through on its way out. The address your devices use to reach that gateway is your router's IP address. That is why "default gateway" and "router IP" are, for a home network, the same number.

Most home routers use one of a small handful of addresses:

• 192.168.1.1 — extremely common
• 192.168.0.1 — also very common
• 10.0.0.1 or 10.0.0.138 — some cable providers
• 192.168.100.1 — some modems and gateways

These are guesses, though. The reliable method is to ask a connected device for the real gateway, which is what the steps below do.

Find your router IP on Windows

1. Press the Windows key, type cmd, and open Command Prompt.
2. Type the following and press Enter:

   ipconfig

3. Find your active connection (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) and read the Default Gateway line. That address — for example 192.168.1.1 — is your router.

Prefer menus? Open Settings → Network & Internet, click your active connection, and the gateway is listed among the IP details. In PowerShell, Get-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix 0.0.0.0/0 also shows the gateway.

Find your router IP on macOS

The Terminal way is quickest. Open Terminal and run either of these:

netstat -nr | grep default

route -n get default

Both print the gateway address; with route -n get default you want the gateway: line. The menu way: open System Settings → Network, select your connection, click Details, then the TCP/IP tab, and read the Router field.

Find your router IP on Linux

Open a terminal and use the modern ip command:

ip route | grep default

The output looks like default via 192.168.1.1 dev wlan0 — the address after via is your router. You can also run ip route show default for the same result, or check your desktop's graphical network settings, which list it as the gateway or router.

Find your router IP on iPhone (and iPad)

1. Open Settings and tap Wi-Fi.
2. Tap the info (i) button next to your connected network.
3. Scroll to the IPv4 Address section and read the Router line — that is your router's IP.

Find your router IP on Android

Paths vary slightly by manufacturer, but the idea is the same:

1. Open Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi (or Connections → Wi-Fi).
2. Tap your connected network, then Advanced or the gear icon.
3. Look for the Gateway field. If your Android version hides it, a free network-info app will display the gateway, or you can simply read it from another device on the same Wi-Fi.

Read it off the router itself

Many routers print their default address, along with the default username and password, on a sticker on the underside or back of the unit. If a device isn't handy, flip the router over and look for a line labelled something like "Default access", "Gateway", or a web address such as 192.168.1.1.

Open the router's admin page

1. Type the gateway address straight into a browser's address bar — for example http://192.168.1.1 — and press Enter.
2. Log in. Check the sticker for default credentials; common ones are admin/admin or admin/password.
3. If you have never changed the default password, do it now — it is one of the simplest security wins on a home network.

Quick reference table

What you can do once you're in

With the admin page open you can change your Wi-Fi name and password, set up port forwarding, reserve a fixed address for a device (see setting a static IP), switch DNS providers, or find the public "WAN" address your provider assigned. If your addresses seem to shift around, our guide to static versus dynamic IP addresses and the reasons your IP keeps changing explain what is normal. And when you just want to confirm your connection is up, a quick check on IP Animals does the job.