The result you get is a link-local ip for IPv6 (fe80::/64), in IPv4 the link-local ip would be in the 169.254.0.0/16 range.
These ranges are provided from the OS, if you have an automated way to setup IPs (DHCP or autoconf) and no IP has been provided yet.
If a device has an ip in those ranges then you should just use them the same way you used to use localhost (ie no conectivity).
Technically its not the same though since those are properly routable ranges.
Edit:
Just wanted to add that you may also see a ::1 this is the IPv6 equivalent of 127.0.0.1