diff --git a/src/index.html b/src/index.html
index 44d81b4..1d5e8d6 100644
--- a/src/index.html
+++ b/src/index.html
@@ -459,14 +459,24 @@ <h2>
 
           <div class="row" data-collapse="state.ip.register">
             <div class="col-md-offset-3 col-md-9">
-              <div class="form-group">
+              <div class="form-group hasFeedback" ng-class="formFeedback('ipv6Prefix')">
                 <label for="ipv6Prefix" class="col-md-3 control-label" translate>
                   .v6Prefix.label
                 </label>
                 <div class="col-md-9">
-                  <input type="text" class="form-control" id="ipv6Prefix"
+                  <input type="text" class="form-control" name="ipv6Prefix" id="ipv6Prefix"
                     placeholder="{{'ip.v6Prefix.placeholder' | translate}}"
-                    data-ng-model="wizard.ip.v6Prefix">
+                    data-ng-model="wizard.ip.v6Prefix"
+                    data-ng-required="!state.ip.register"
+                    data-ip-address data-ip-version="6" data-ip-type="subnet">
+                  <div class="help-block" ng-show="hasError('ipv6Prefix')">
+                    <div ng-show="wizardForm['ipv6Prefix'].$error.required" translate>
+                      .error.required
+                    </div>
+                    <div ng-show="wizardForm['ipv6Prefix'].$error.ipv6Subnet" translate>
+                      .v6Prefix.error.subnet
+                    </div>
+                  </div>
                 </div>
               </div>
 
@@ -481,13 +491,14 @@ <h2>
                   <input type="text" class="form-control" id="ipv4Wifi_{{$index}}" name="ipv4Wifi_{{$index}}"
                     translate translate-attr-placeholder=".v4.placeholder"
                     translate-values="{index: $index + 1}"
-                    data-ng-model="wizard.ip.v4[name]" data-ipv4-address
-                    data-ng-required="!state.ip.register">
+                    data-ng-model="wizard.ip.v4[name]"
+                    data-ng-required="!state.ip.register"
+                    data-ip-address data-ip-version="4">
                   <span class="fa form-control-feedback"
                     ng-class="formControlFeedback('ipv4Wifi_' + $index)"></span>
                   <div class="help-block" ng-show="hasError('ipv4Wifi_' + $index)">
                     <div ng-show="wizardForm['ipv4Wifi_' + $index].$error.required" translate>
-                      .v4.error.required
+                      .error.required
                     </div>
                     <div ng-show="wizardForm['ipv4Wifi_' + $index].$error.ipv4Address" translate>
                       .v4.error.ipv4Address
@@ -523,13 +534,15 @@ <h2>
                     name="ipv4Lan"
                     translate translate-attr-placeholder=".v4.placeholder"
                     translate-values="{index: (state.wifi.devices | objectLength) + 1}"
-                    data-ng-model="wizard.ip.v4.lan" data-ipv4-address
-                    data-ng-required="wizard.ip.meshLan && !state.ip.generate">
+                    data-ng-model="wizard.ip.v4.lan"
+                    data-ng-required="wizard.ip.meshLan && !state.ip.generate"
+                    data-ip-address
+                    data-ip-version="4">
                   <span class="fa form-control-feedback"
                     ng-class="formControlFeedback('ipv4Lan')"></span>
                   <div class="help-block" ng-show="hasError('ipv4Lan')">
                     <div ng-show="wizardForm.ipv4Lan.$error.required" translate>
-                      .v4.error.required
+                      .error.required
                     </div>
                     <div ng-show="wizardForm.ipv4Lan.$error.ipv4Address" translate>
                       .v4.error.ipv4Address
@@ -568,7 +581,9 @@ <h2>
                       placeholder="{{'ip.distribute.subnet.placeholder' | translate}}"
                       data-ng-model="wizard.ip.v4ClientSubnet"
 											data-ng-required="wizard.ip.distribute && !state.ip.register"
-                      data-ng-pattern="ipv4Pattern+'\/(25|26|27|28)'">
+                      data-ip-address
+                      data-ip-version="4"
+                      data-ip-type="subnet">
                     <p class="text-muted" data-ng-hide="hasError('ipv4ClientSubnet')" translate>
                       .distribute.subnet.help
                     </p>
@@ -576,7 +591,7 @@ <h2>
                       <div data-ng-show="wizardForm.ipv4ClientSubnet.$error.required" translate>
                         .error.required
                       </div>
-                      <div data-ng-show="wizardForm.ipv4ClientSubnet.$error.pattern" translate>
+                      <div data-ng-show="wizardForm.ipv4ClientSubnet.$error.ipv4Subnet" translate>
                         .distribute.subnet.error.pattern
                       </div>
                     </div>
diff --git a/src/js/controllers/wizard.js b/src/js/controllers/wizard.js
index d461f8b..2f7e5c3 100644
--- a/src/js/controllers/wizard.js
+++ b/src/js/controllers/wizard.js
@@ -263,22 +263,6 @@ module.exports = function(app) {
         });
       };
 
-      // helpers for validation
-      $scope.ipv4Pattern = '(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)' +
-        '\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)' +
-        '\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)' +
-        '\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)';
-
-      //I really hate v6 regex patterns >:(
-
-      //http://home.deds.nl/~aeron/regex/
-      //$scope.ipv6Pattern = '((?=.*::)(?!.*::.+::)(::)?([\\dA-F]{1,4}:(:|ß\b)|){5}|([\\dA-F]{1,4}:){6})(((\[\dA-F]{1,4}((?!\\3)::|:\\b|$))|(?! \\2\\3)){2})';
-
-      //TODO more test and prefix addition
-      $scope.ipv6PrefixPattern = '((?:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}))((?::[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}))*::((?:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}))((?::[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}))*|((?:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}))((?::[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4})){7}';
-
-      //http://regexlib.com/Search.aspx?k=ipv6&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
-
       $scope.hasError = function(field) {
         var form = $scope.wizardForm;
         return (form.$submitted || form[field].$dirty) && form[field].$invalid;
diff --git a/src/js/directives/ipv4Address.js b/src/js/directives/ipv4Address.js
index 4fda37a..3de9aa7 100644
--- a/src/js/directives/ipv4Address.js
+++ b/src/js/directives/ipv4Address.js
@@ -4,21 +4,32 @@ var ip = require('ip');
 
 module.exports = function(app) {
   // check if the provided value is a valid ipv4 address
-  app.directive('ipv4Address', function() {
+  app.directive('ipAddress', function() {
     return {
       require: 'ngModel',
       link: function(scope, element, attributes, ngModel) {
-        ngModel.$validators.ipv4Address = function(modelValue) {
+
+        var ipv4Pattern = '(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.){3}' +
+          '(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)';
+        var ipv4SubnetPattern = ipv4Pattern + '\/(25|26|27|28)';
+
+        // there are a lot of regex for ipv6
+        // http://regexlib.com/Search.aspx?k=ipv6
+        // this one matches the expanded ipv6 pattern
+        var ipv6Pattern = '([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){7}[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}';
+        var ipv6SubnetPattern = ipv6Pattern + '\/(64|65)';
+
+        var ipv4AddressValidator = function(modelValue) {
           //validation for required should be done via ng-required directive
           //or the validation even fails if the field is not required
-          if (typeof modelValue == 'undefined' || modelValue === '') {
+          if (isEmpty(modelValue)) {
             return true;
           }
 
           // we run an additional regular expression against the model
           // because the 'ip' module does not catch all cases
-          var ipRegex = /^(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)$/;
-          if (!ipRegex.exec(modelValue)) {
+          if (!regexMatches(ipv4Pattern, modelValue)) {
+            console.log('ipv4 pattern does not match');
             return false;
           }
 
@@ -32,6 +43,99 @@ module.exports = function(app) {
           return true;
         };
 
+        var ipv4SubnetValidator = function(modelValue) {
+          //validation for required should be done via ng-required directive
+          //or the validation even fails if the field is not required
+          if (isEmpty(modelValue)) {
+            return true;
+          }
+          return regexMatches(ipv4SubnetPattern, modelValue);
+        };
+
+        var ipv6AddressValidator = function(modelValue) {
+          if (isEmpty(modelValue)) {
+            return true;
+          }
+          modelValue = expandV6Address(modelValue);
+          return regexMatches(ipv6Pattern, modelValue);
+        };
+
+        var ipv6SubnetValidator = function(modelValue) {
+          if (isEmpty(modelValue)) {
+            return true;
+          }
+
+          var splitted = modelValue.split('/');
+          modelValue = expandV6Address(splitted[0]) + '/' + splitted[1];
+          var valid = regexMatches(ipv6SubnetPattern, modelValue);
+          return valid;
+        };
+
+        //expands an ipv6 address
+        var expandV6Address = function(modelValue) {
+          var collapsedV6 = modelValue.split(':');
+          modelValue = '';
+          for (var i = 0; i < collapsedV6.length; i++) {
+            if (isEmpty(collapsedV6[i]) && isEmpty(collapsedV6[i + 1])) {
+              //if there are two empty array items in a row
+              //it means the pattern :: has to be replaced with :0
+              for (var j = 8; j > collapsedV6.length - 2; j--) {
+                modelValue = modelValue + ':0';
+              }
+              //skip next entry
+              i++;
+            } else {
+              modelValue = modelValue + ':' + collapsedV6[i];
+            }
+          }
+          return modelValue.substr(1);
+        };
+
+        var regexMatches = function(pattern, modelValue) {
+          var ipRegex = new RegExp('^' + pattern + '$');
+          if (ipRegex.exec(modelValue)) {
+            return true;
+          }
+          return false;
+        };
+
+        var isEmpty = function(modelValue) {
+          if (typeof modelValue == 'undefined' || modelValue === '') {
+            return true;
+          }
+          return false;
+        };
+
+        //add validators
+        if (typeof attributes.ipVersion == 'undefined' ||
+            attributes.ipVersion == '4') {
+          if (typeof attributes.ipType == 'undefined') {
+            ngModel.$validators.ipv4Address = ipv4AddressValidator;
+          } else if (attributes.ipType == 'subnet') {
+            ngModel.$validators.ipv4Subnet = ipv4SubnetValidator;
+          } else {
+            if (console) {
+              console.error('ip type >' + attributes.ipType +
+                  '< is not supported');
+            }
+          }
+        } else if (attributes.ipVersion == '6') {
+          if (typeof attributes.ipType == 'undefined') {
+            ngModel.$validators.ipv6Address = ipv6AddressValidator;
+          } else if (attributes.ipType == 'subnet') {
+            ngModel.$validators.ipv6Subnet = ipv6SubnetValidator;
+          } else {
+            if (console) {
+              console.error('ip type >' + attributes.ipType +
+                  '< is not supported');
+            }
+          }
+        } else {
+          if (console) {
+            console.error('ip version >' + attributes.ipVersion +
+                '< is not supported');
+          }
+        }
       }
     };
   });
diff --git a/src/nls/locale-en.json b/src/nls/locale-en.json
index 8dc8655..938708b 100644
--- a/src/nls/locale-en.json
+++ b/src/nls/locale-en.json
@@ -91,11 +91,11 @@
     },
     "v6Prefix": {
       "label": "IPv6 prefix",
+      "error.subnet": "This is not a valid IPv6 prefix.",
       "placeholder": "looks like 2001:bf7:c4ff:3300::/56"
     },
     "v4": {
       "placeholder": "looks like 10.31.133.{{40+index}}",
-      "error.required": "This field is required.",
       "error.ipv4Address": "Not a valid IPv4 address.",
       "wifi": {
         "label": "Wifi ({{name}}) Mesh-IPv4"