What is IPv4?

IPv4 is like having a special address so your toy phone can talk to other toy phones across the neighborhood.

Imagine you're playing with toy phones in your block. Each toy phone needs a unique number, kind of like your house number, so when you call someone, the right person answers. That number is called an IP address, and IPv4 is the system that gives out these numbers.

Think of your neighborhood as a big group of houses. Each house has a number, like 123 Main Street. Your toy phone uses a similar idea, instead of street names, it uses numbers like 192.168.1.5. These numbers help messages find their way from one toy phone to another.

There are only so many house numbers in your neighborhood, and the same goes for IP addresses with IPv4. Right now, there are about 4 billion unique numbers, enough for every person on Earth to have a few! But as more people get toy phones, we might need a new system soon, like moving from house numbers to something even bigger.

IPv4 is just one way of helping toy phones (and real computers) find each other.