How to check your anonymous IP address while torrenting

Testing your system with an IP-tracking torrent is the most crucial step after setting up your proxy or VPN. This is considered one of the most reliable methods for seeing your torrent IP address as other people, such as trackers, would. 

You may keep the tracking torrent open forever to check your IP address each time you begin the torrent. The entire process is straightforward, as well as cost-free.

Reasons for keeping your IP address anonymous

An IP address is a unique identifying number that internet protocols assign to every computer equipment for communications over networks. 

Several devices linked to the same network (IP) share this particular string of random integers. Each user within the network and each public website you visit for the torrent may see your IP address, making it simple to identify you and your downloaded files.

As most users don’t use torrents without even considering copyright problems, doing so without privacy can become a significant headache for those concerned. 

It would be best to prevent the public from seeing your IP address for numerous reasons. 

• Firstly, if a person obtains your IP address, they may use it to estimate your location to know which city and country you reside in. 
• Although improbable, they may target your network with a DDoS attack, which would briefly prohibit you from accessing the internet.

People tend to conceal their IP addresses more frequently to avoid having their actions monitored. Our online or peer-to-peer activities produce a paper trail that copyright holders and government organizations may follow to find us. 

Copyright owners frequently keep an eye on torrents of their work and notify anybody who downloads the pirated file. They can send a copyright violation notice to your ISP, or you directly use information from your IP address and demand a hefty fine, while legal action in case you refuse. 

If you tend to torrent or stream frequently, your ISP could also limit your internet bandwidth using your IP address.

Checking the IP address of the Torrent Client

Running commands at a terminal will allow you to determine your present IP address, but verifying it online is quicker and simpler. Additionally, they are cross-platform, while manually checking would require using various commands for varying operating systems.

Requirements:

• A functioning proxy or VPN connection
• Any torrent software (such as uTorrent, Vuze, or BitTorrent)
• A torrent-IP tracker magnet link (checkmytorrentip.upcoil.com, checkmyip.torrentprivacy.com)

This method uses a magnet link torrent that would transmit your IP address to the tracker (like all torrents). The IP address reported by the torrent is shown on the tracker website. 

Your IP address is frequently displayed on the tracker status page of torrents that use IP tracking. Since it monitors the IP address that your torrent peers view, this approach is better.

Specific manuals advise you to visit a website and check whether your IP address indicates a new location. However, this looks at your browser’s IP address, which is useless if you are:

• Using a torrent proxy

By installing the tracker torrent, you may check your IP address whenever you need.

• Go to the website for torrent IP tracking.
• Any relevant website may be used for this purpose, such as ipleak.net or checkmytorrentip.upcoil.com.
• Download the tracker torrent.
• Find the “Torrent Address Detection” area on IPleak.net, and click “Activate.” 
• The magnet link would be immediately seen on other websites.
• Activate the website’s torrent detection
• Download the magnet link, which should launch your regular torrent client automatically. If it does not open immediately, you may manually copy-paste the link location into the client.
• Verify the torrent’s IP address.
• After ten seconds, the tracker page refreshes and shows the IP address identified by the torrent file.

Regardless of the torrent software, you are using; you can view the IP address listed on the “trackers” page for that particular torrent. 

All of the torrent IP tracking methods described function using this. You may view the IP address by checking the tracker status on your torrent client.

• Using a VPN only (no proxy)

The torrent’s IP address has to match your browser’s IP address. After disconnecting from the VPN, your torrent and browser’s IP address will change.

• Using a Proxy (no VPN)

You must ensure that your torrent client supports proxy-peer connections and that you are using a SOCKS5 proxy for security. 

Since HTTP proxies cannot transmit torrent data packets, peers would still establish a connection with your actual IP address, even if you employ an HTTP(S) proxy.

You should also ensure that your web browser’s IP address is not the same as your torrent’s. Since you aren’t using the proxy server to access the web, your torrent IP address wouldn’t match the IP address of your web browser. 

If the IP addresses are the same, the proxy is malfunctioning and has to be fixed. Moreover, when the proxy is disabled, your torrent IP will change.

• Using a Proxy with VPN

The following things can be noticed when you concurrently use a VPN and a proxy within your torrent client:

• Torrent IP is different from browser IP
• The torrent IP won’t change if you stop using the VPN.
• After disconnecting from the VPN, your browser’s IP address will change.

It would be best if you remembered to launch the VPN before launching your torrent client. Or, when your connection switches to the VPN, the proxy might experience a connection issue, such as a freeze or time out.

Points to Remember

Now that you know how to ensure your torrent client’s IP address is securely masked, here are a few more security recommendations for torrents to assist you.

• To avoid IP leaks, use a kill switch using a VPN.
• A VPN has more excellent torrent encryption and is more secure than a proxy.
• For torrents, only use SOCKS5 and never an HTTP proxy.

Final Words:

The ability to view and download any content of your choosing without restrictions is a huge benefit, and VPN services are a lifesaver in this case.