Max Schmitt

March 28 2021

macOS: How to get your Local IP Address

If you're on macOS and you want to get the IP address within your local network, there are a few ways of doing this.

Option 1: Use ifconfig from the Terminal

You can get a lot of information about your network interfaces by running the ifconfig -a command from your macOS Terminal.

Run the following command to filter the output down to just your IP addresses:

$ ifconfig -a | grep "inet "
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet 192.168.188.21 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.188.255

Option 2: WiFi Menu in your Menu Bar

If you hold down the Option key when clicking the WiFi-icon in your macOS menu bar, it will show you a bunch of useful information along with your local IP address:

Screenshot of WiFi menu in macOS menu bar

Option 3: Use IP Friend

If you often find yourself looking up your local IP address and would like to be able to copy the IP address with just one click from your menu bar, check out my app IP Friend.

It's super-tiny and free app, give it a try!

Screenshot of the IP Friend app