How to Change DNS Servers on iOS?

Last modified: March 1, 2019

In this article, we will guide you on how to change DNS servers on your iOS device with alternative ones but first, below are some frequently asked questions (FAQ).

What is DNS?

The Domain Name Systems (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. We access information online through domain names as it’s easier to remember words than numbers. i.e. Facebook.com IP address is 157.240.10.35. It is difficult to remember the IP addresses and therefore, a DNS service translates domain names to IP addresses so web browser can load the website that you wanted to access.

Think about your phone. Do you remember all the numbers of your contacts? No? But you do remember their names and you can easily search for them on your device to get their phone numbers.

Why do I need to change my DNS servers?

If you’re using our VPN Client app, you don’t have to change your DNS Servers. You only need to the changes if you configured the VPN connection on your device manually.

With a manual VPN set up, your Internet service provider (ISP) might have been redirecting your DNS queries over the Internet to a wrong IP address which can lead your device vulnerable to Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack and also leak it’s DNS.

Which Public DNS addresses would you recommend?

We recommend that you use either Google’s or Cloudfare’s public DNS addresses as they have been reliable free DNS service providers. In this article, we will be using both Cloudfare’s and Google’s DNS addresses an example.

Now that you’ve read and understood about DNS, please follow the steps below to make changes on your device.

Choose Settings from Main Screen. Tap on Wi-Fi. Find your Wireless connection which has the tick or checked mark and tap on the blue ‘i’ icon.

You should now be in your Wi-Fi details page. Scroll to the bottom and, at the Configure DNS section, tap on Automatic.

At the DNS configuration screen, you will see your default DNS server address, which will usually be your router IP address. I would suggest that you jot down the DNS servers for future reference. Next, tap on Manual.