IPv6 was once envisioned as the next great leap for the internet — a future-proof upgrade designed to solve IP address shortages, simplify networks, and make online connections faster and more secure. Yet, decades later, most of the world still runs on IPv4. So, what really happened?
Every device that connects to the internet needs a unique identifier known as an IP address — essentially a digital address that tells other devices where to send data. When you visit a website, your device sends a request to a server’s IP address, and that server sends information back to yours. Without IP addresses, the web simply wouldn’t function.
“IP” stands for Internet Protocol, and the numbers “v4” and “v6” refer to its versions. IPv4 has been the backbone of the internet since its early days, but it’s running out of space. The IPv4 system uses a 32-bit structure, allowing for about 4.3 billion unique addresses — a number that seemed vast in the 1980s but quickly fell short as smartphones, laptops, routers, and even smart home devices came online.
To solve this, IPv6 was introduced. Using a 128-bit system, IPv6 offers an almost limitless supply of addresses — around 340 undecillion (that’s 340 followed by 36 zeros). But IPv6 wasn’t just about more numbers. It also brought smarter features like automatic device configuration, stronger encryption, and improved routing efficiency.
However, switching from IPv4 to IPv6 was far from simple. The two systems can’t communicate directly, meaning the entire internet — from ISPs to data centers — needed new configurations and equipment capable of handling both versions in a setup called “dual-stack networking.” This approach allowed both protocols to run side by side, but it was costly and complex to implement.
Many organizations hesitated to upgrade. Since IPv4 still worked, and technologies like NAT (Network Address Translation) allowed multiple devices to share one address, there wasn’t an immediate need to move away from it. For years, IPv6 adoption remained stuck in the single digits.
That’s slowly changed. Today, according to Google’s IPv6 adoption statistics, nearly 45% of global users connect using IPv6, especially through mobile networks. Major companies like Google, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, and Cloudflare have been IPv6-ready for years, ensuring most users are already using it — often without realizing it.
In fact, IPv6 is quietly running in the background for most people. Modern smartphones, broadband connections, and cloud services already use it, managed automatically by routers and ISPs. Thanks to dual-stack networking, users rarely notice which version they’re on.
This has created a unique moment: we’re living in two internets at once. IPv4 continues to support older systems and legacy infrastructure, while IPv6 powers the growing digital world — silently, efficiently, and almost invisibly. IPv4 isn’t disappearing anytime soon, but IPv6 isn’t a failure either. It’s the quiet successor, steadily ensuring the internet keeps expanding for the billions of new devices still to come.
