The DNS server on your Android device helps translate domain names into IP addresses, making it possible for DNS clients to reach the origin server.
To improve your online privacy and security, it’s advisable you use a custom DNS server on your Android device.
Although, your internet provider renders it own DNS server whenever you’re trying to connect to the internet but you can use a custom DNS instead on all your devices.
It comes with a lot of advantages to mention a few:
- Your Internet Service Providers can’t track your browsing activities
- It’s a lot faster compared to your ISPs DNS
- Most ISP DNS isn’t Private e.t.c
Now that you’re known what a DNS does and its merits, let’s see how to change our DNS server on our Android devices and enjoy greater security and speed.
How to Add Custom DNS server on Android devices
- Navigate to “Settings” on your device
- Locate “Network and Internet” or “Connections”
- Tap “More Connections” to proceed to advance connection features
- You’ll see “Private DNS” which is set to Automatic
- Click and change the option to “Private DNS provider Hostname”
Next, Input your preferred hostnames [Google: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. | Cloudflare: 1.1.1.1 or 1.0.0.1 | OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220] and click on “Save” when done.
NOTE: Changing the DNS server on your Android phone is slightly different than on other devices. You can’t just enter the string of numbers—Cloudflare is 1.1.1.1, for example. Instead, you’ll need the full TLS hostname. For Cloudflare, that’s 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com. You can find this for whichever DNS server you’d like to use.
You can also download the 1.1.1.1 app by Cloudflare which also does the same function of providing you more secured browsing through the Cloudflare DNS server.
That’s it.
You can now surf the net with a guarantee that your Android device is secured.
How to Add Custom DNS server on PC
You can also use this setting for your PC Device, let’s quickly skim over the steps.
- On your PC > Open Network and Sharing Centre > Click on “Change adapter settings” to see all your network connections.
- Right-click on any connection you’ll like to change the DNS and select “Properties” from the menu.
- Select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4)” from the list > click on the “Properties” button at the bottom of the right-hand side.
- Tick “Use the following IP address” and input any of the above DNS servers into the boxes, then “OK” to save.
That’s all.
At the time of writing this article; Google DNS, Cloudflare DNS and OpenDNS have proven to be the most secure and popular Public DNS providers.
NOTE: you might experience difficulty connnecting to a VPN service especially when accesing this private DNS server through the 1.1.1.1 app, it’s advisable to use the only the above settings if you’re using any VPN, it serves as additional security.
Did you get any errors while setting up your private DNS server on your Android device? Drop a comment below, let’s sort it out.
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