What is Cloudflare DNS?
There are a lot of different DNS services and providers out there, and one of the best is, without any doubts, CloudFlare. What makes this DNS provider so popular? How good is it compared to other DNS providers? What features does it offer? Let's take a look at all and this and more.
What is Cloudflare public DNS 1.1.1.1?
CloudFlare public DNS is a service that was launched just a few months ago, on April 1st, 2018. One of CloudFlare main objectives is to make a better Internet, and for that is important to have a good DNS resolver, that is why they have launched a public DNS service of their own.
CloudFlare's public DNS resolver is the following: 1.1.1.1, and it's available for anyone who wants to use it, and is 100% free of course. The IPv4 addresses that this new CloudFlare DNS uses are 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1. Those IPs were provided to CloudFlare by the APNIC (that is the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre).
Cloudflare DNS settings configuration
Is great that CloudFlare has launched its own public DNS, but how can you use it?
Like we said, the service is free and anyone can use it, so all you need is a device with an Internet connection. What CloudFlare's public DNS does is translate domain names into IP addresses. The service uses two IPv4 addresses and also two IPv6 addresses, though most users will be fine by just using the IPv4:
1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1 2606:4700:4700::1111 2606:4700:4700::1001
So, how can you configure your device to use CloudFlare's DNS services? That depends on your operative system, so let's take a look at the most popular ones.
Windows
Open your computer's Control Panel and go to Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center. Pick the "Change Adapter Settings" option, select the network you are connected to and click its Properties button. Now click on Internet Protocol Version 4 > Properties > Use The Following DNS Server Addresses. Now use 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 to replace the current setting, now just click Ok and Close. That's it!
Mac
Open the System Preferences and search "DNS servers", click the + symbol to add CloudFlare's DNS.
Linux
Edit the /etc/resolv.conf with your favorite text editor, replace your current nameservers for the following:
nameserver 1.1.1.1 nameserver 1.0.0.1
Android
Start by going to Settings > Wi-Fi. Long press on the network you are using right now and hit the Modify Network option. Now add the primary and secondary DNS (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1) to the following fields: DNS1 and DNS2.
iOS
Like Android, go to Settings and then to WiFi. Tap on the little "i" next to your current network, and then tap on Configure DNS, set it to manual. Delete any current entries under DNS and then select "Add Server", use that option to add both 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1.
Cloudflare DNS vs Google DNS: which one is better?
You have probably heard that there are other public DNS services out there, and one of the most popular ones is Google's. How good is the CloudFlare DNS compared to the Google DNS? Short answer: it's better.
And why is CloudFlare's service better? First off, CloudFlare's service is three times faster compared to Google DNS. But that's not all, because CloudFlare will not store any kind of data in their logs that could identify any end user, and all logs will be kept for no more than 24 hours, this is important to make sure the information is not sold to advertisers for example.
There's more: CloudFlare has requested code auditions from KPMG, which will do an annual audit and publish a record to confirm that CloudFlare's service only does what it is supposed to do.
Cloudflare DNS ipv6 benefits
We said that CloudFlare's DNS also provides two IPv6, for users who want to use those instead of the usual IPv4.
IPv6 is actually more secure than IPv4 because CloudFlare uses the IPSec protocol, which contains many security protocols like AH, ESP, and IKE.
Also, there's no IP header complexity, which makes packet forwarding faster.
Cloudflare DNS Android setup step by step
Due to the many different versions of Android out there, the procedure to configure your device to use CloudFlare public DNS can be a little different.
For Android 9 Pie:
Android Pie is great because it allows you to use a Private DNS, that's is a DNS over TSL, so your queries will be more secure. Now to configure your Android Pie device to use CloudFlare's DNS do this:
First go to Settings, then to Network & internet, now move to Advanced and finally tap on Private DNS. Pick the provider option and enter the following:
1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com
Then simply hit Save, and that's it.
For previous Android versions:
Just check our previous instructions regarding Android configuration on this same article, they should work fine for Android 8 and older. Still, if it's not 100% clear, you need to do this:
Start by opening your device's Settings app, it should be available on the main screen where the rest of your apps are located.
Once the Settings app is open, search for the Settings option and tap on it. After that, look for the Wi-Fi option. Now you should be able to see a list of Wi-Fi networks available. You have to do a long tap on the network that you are currently using, this should display an option called Modify Network.
In this new window delete the old primary and secondary DNS (if you have two), or just the primary (if you have only one), and then add CloudFlare's primary and secondary DNS, which as previously stated are 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1.
How can I detect if DNS 1.1 1.1 is down?
This is something that probably will never happen because CloudFlare has made a redundant service, which means that if some DNS crash or are down, others will still be online and be able to resolve your requests.
In the case that you still suspect that the service is completely down, you can change it to other DNS service (like Google DNS) and then check on CloudFlare status page or on related social media for any news regarding a possible crash in the CloudFlare public DNS.