In a nutshell or tldr
summary:
For android 9 or later:
- open settings
- search for
dns
- touch the
Private DNS
** a dialog box opens with three options**
- select the last option called
Priavte DNS provider hostname
- fill in
one.one.one.one
- test by going to address
https://1.1.1.1/help
warning: any wifi network that uses a Captive Portal
will stop all your internet. when you are on a wifi network that uses Captive Portal
, you have to go back to settings/Private DNS
and set it to off
then follow the Captive Portal
instructions then go back to settings/Private DNS
back on.
for the full story keep reading here:
follow the docs:
Cloudflare has some really good documentation that is short and understandable (Google also has good documentation but I had trouble following their documentation).
- The Cloudflare help starts at:
https://1.1.1.1/help
- click at the bottom for
FAQ
then look for the developer docs link which is: https://developers.cloudflare.com/1.1.1.1/
(this has docs for pretty much any computer (android, windows, mac, linux, etc, etc))
- click on
android
. follow the directions given or use my summary directions.
follow the summary of the docs:
Option 1: For android 9 or later:
- open settings
- search for
dns
- touch the
Private DNS
** a dialog box opens with three options**
- select the last option called
Priavte DNS provider hostname
- fill in
one.one.one.one
- test by going to address
https://1.1.1.1/help
Option 2: For android 8 or earlier (FYI i have not personally these instructions because I do not have an older android phone):
- settings --> wifi --> modify network --> show advanced options
- using your on screen keyboard copy the current text to somewhere (in case something goes wrong)
- type in or copy and paste the following
1.1.1.1
1.0.0.1
2606:4700:4700::1111
2606:4700:4700::1001
- save
- test by going to address
https://1.1.1.1/help
Option 3: Lastly you can download their app but I have not tried it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cloudflare.onedotonedotonedotone&hl=en_US&gl=US
warning: any wifi network that uses a Captive Portal
will stop all your internet. when you are on a wifi network that uses Captive Portal
, you have to go back to settings/Private DNS
and set it to off
then follow the Captive Portal
instructions then go back to settings/Private DNS
back on.
Addendum
important note: some internet providers block secure DNS
- i used to use
dns.google
in my android phone but it stopped working in 2022-01 for unknown reasons
- same behavior for when you connect to a wifi network that uses captive portal and your android phone says it can not connect to the internet because the wifi network is blocking your internet
- i did a google search and found others had similar issues (private DNS not working on their cellular internet)
- for a brief like week i was able to use the alternative Cloudflare hostname
1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com
but that also stopped working
- i wrote this because it took me so long to get this working so i wanted to document it all and make it easier for others
if you do not like Cloudflare there are other providers of Secure DNS