Our 'What is My Country?' IP lookup is misbehaving, showing users in the wrong country

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Benjamin Williams Author
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2 weeks ago Asked
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62 Views
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2 Replies
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just launched our "What is My Country?" web tool, and the IP lookup seems to be having a bit of a laugh.

it's constantly showing users in totally random countries even when they're not using a VPN. our geolocation API seems a bit confused. here's a snippet from the console output:

{
  "ip": "192.168.1.1",
  "country": "Wakanda",
  "status": "error",
  "message": "geolocation_mismatch"
}

anyone faced this before with their IP location services?

2 Answers

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Valeria Martinez
Answered 2 weeks ago
Hey Benjamin Williams, I've definitely seen IP lookup services have a 'laugh' like that before, and it's less funny when you're trying to get accurate data for your campaigns. It can be incredibly frustrating when your `IP location services` aren't pulling their weight. Looking at your console output, specifically the `ip: "192.168.1.1"`, this immediately flags the core issue. `192.168.1.1` is a private IP address, typically assigned to a router within a local network. Your `IP geolocation API` isn't seeing the user's actual `public IP address` that connects them to the wider internet; it's seeing an internal network address. To fix this, your server-side code needs to correctly identify the client's public IP. You'll likely need to inspect HTTP request headers like `X-Forwarded-For`, `CF-Connecting-IP` (if you're behind Cloudflare), or `True-Client-IP`. If none of those are present or reliable, `REMOTE_ADDR` is often the fallback, but be aware it might show a proxy's IP if your server is behind one. The key is to grab the *first* public IP in the `X-Forwarded-For` chain, as that typically represents the true client. For robust `IP geolocation API` solutions, services like MaxMind GeoIP2, ipinfo.io, or Abstract API are generally reliable and handle these complexities well. What's your current server-side setup, and how are you currently attempting to retrieve the client's IP?
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Benjamin Williams
Answered 2 weeks ago

Valeria Martinez, this is definitly super helpful info for anyone googling these IP lookup issues. That private IP address point is something I've seen trip up so many people.

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