Commons:Temporary account IP viewer

This page is a proposed Commons guideline, policy, or process.

The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. References or links to this page should not describe it as "policy".

This page in a nutshell: The ability to view the IP addresses used by temporary accounts can be granted to non-admins who meet certain criteria. This tool is only for combatting policy violations and each use is logged.

Temporary account IP viewer is the user group that permits accounts to view certain IP information associated with a temporary account (formerly called IP Masking). Admins do not need this permission. They will be able to access temporary account IP information once they opt-in through Special:Preferences. Checkusers and Oversighters can automatically access temporary account IP information, without need to opt-in through Preferences. Admins, Checkusers, and Oversighters can enable auto-reveal mode, to reveal temporary account IP information without clicking Show IP button for predefined period of time.^{[Note 1]}

Qualified non-admins may request the temporary account IP viewer permission, which allows selective viewing of temporary account IP information. They cannot enable auto-reveal mode.

Access to temporary account IP address information is logged. This log is viewable by checkusers only.

There are currently 56 users with temporary account IP viewer rights, which together with Commons administrators makes for a total of 230 users with this permission.

Criteria for granting

To be eligible for the permission, an editor must:

Make a request for the permission (admins are not permitted to assign the right without a request)^{[Note 2]}
Have a registered account for six months^{[Note 2]}
Have made at least 300 edits to Commons^{[Note 2]}
Have patroller right or license reviewer right in Commons^{[Note 3]}
Agree to use the IP addresses in accordance with Foundation policy, solely for the investigation or prevention of vandalism, abuse, or other violations of Wikimedia Foundation or community policies, and understand the risks and responsibilities associated with this privilege ^{[Note 2]}^{[Note 4]}

Admins are permitted to decline applicants who meet these criteria but are otherwise unsuitable for access to this tool. Stewards are authorized to make exceptions to the Foundation requirements (criteria 1–3 and 5) if someone needs access for a purpose that cannot be reasonably addressed by users who already have this access.

Once the permission is granted, editors must visit their preferences and enable "Preferences → User profile → Enable revealing IP addresses for temporary accounts". This is not necessary for CheckUsers and Oversighters.

Requests for the permission may be made at Commons:Requests for rights#Temporary account IP viewer.

Criteria for use

Use of the temporary account IP viewer tool must follow the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy. Use of the tool is logged at Special:Log/checkuser-temporary-account.^{[Note 2]}

Editors must be extremely careful with how they publicly discuss conclusions drawn from the temporary account IP viewer tool. Avoid disclosing more information than necessary, less specific is always the better.

What can and can't be said

[OK] Publicly linking a temporary account to another temporary account is allowed.
Publicly linking a temporary account to an IP (including old IP edits) is not allowed unless though behavioral evidence.
Publicly linking a temporary account to a regular account is not allowed unless through behavioral evidence.
[OK] Publicly describing temporary accounts in relation to each other (e.g. "they both have the same ISP, proxy use, geolocation") is allowed.
Publicly describing a temporary account in absolute terms (e.g. "this account geolocates to X") is not allowed.
Checkusers should not publicly link regular accounts to temporary accounts (since temporary account IP viewers and admins can see the IP behind a temporary account, this is equivalent to IP information disclosure).

Criteria for revocation

Admins are permitted to remove the temporary account IP viewer permission for the misuse of the right, including the disclosure of temporary account IP addresses in violation of the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy.

Additionally, the permission will automatically be removed from editors after 365 days of inactivity (no edits or logged actions).^{[Note 2]}^{[Note 5]}

Instructional videos

How to reveal IP addresses
How automatic reveal works (for admins)
New special page: IPContributions
How to use IP Info
How to use the User Info card

Notes

↑ As of December 2025, one can choose from 1 hour, 1 day, and 90 days.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f This is a requirement from the Wikimedia Foundation policy governing the permission.
↑ This criteria is from the consensus made at Commons:Village pump/Proposals/Archive/2025/09#Temporary account IP viewer policy.
↑ This requirement is satisfied by editors checking a box in their preferences, stating they have read and agree to this condition. Because this is enforced by the software before editors can make use of the permission, editors are not required to state their agreement in their request.
↑ This process has been implemented at phab:T375115.

[autoreveal_period-1] As of December 2025, one can choose from 1 hour, 1 day, and 90 days.

[WMF-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f This is a requirement from the Wikimedia Foundation policy governing the permission.

[VPP-3] This criteria is from the consensus made at Commons:Village pump/Proposals/Archive/2025/09#Temporary account IP viewer policy.

[TAIV_agreement-4] This requirement is satisfied by editors checking a box in their preferences, stating they have read and agree to this condition. Because this is enforced by the software before editors can make use of the permission, editors are not required to state their agreement in their request.

[revoke-5] This process has been implemented at phab:T375115.

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[Note 4]

[Note 5]