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Google Chrome for Android Picks Up Secure DNS

By Laura Tucker
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There are many ways to improve your safety and privacy while browsing the Internet, for no other reason that there are many ways to possibly risk your safety and privacy. While Google added more security to the desktop version of Chrome earlier this year, now it’s adding the same feature, Secure DNS, to Google Chrome for Android.

Adding Secure DNS to Google Chrome for Android

Secure DNS was introduced back in May to Chrome 83 on the desktop. Support for the feature is now being extended to Google Chrome for Android with Chrome 85.

Secure DNS is built on DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), a secure DNS protocol. Its goal is to make browsing the Internet safer and to protect your privacy. The Android version of Secure DNS shares the same design as the desktop version. This means you won’t have to change the DNS settings much, as Google Chrome will maintain an internal list of DNS servers that are DoH-capable.

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Secure DNS Features

The following is an overview of how the Secure DNS feature will work on Google Chrome for Android as laid out on the Google blog.

1. “Chrome will automatically switch to DNS-over-HTTPS if your current DNS provider is known to support it.” If you have configured an Android Private DNS, it will apply to that as well. This will allow Google to preserve extra functions that your DNS service provider offers, so you won’t have to make a choice between having your favorite services and being safe.

Chrome will also default to the regular DNS service of your provider to avoid disruption while continuing to try to secure the DNS.

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2. “In case this default behavior isn’t suitable to your needs, Chrome also provides manual configuration options.” This ability will allow you to use a specific provider without concern while also being able to completely disable it if desired.

3. “If you are an IT administrator, Chrome will disable Secure DNS if it detects a managed environment via the presence of one or more enterprise policies.” New DoH enterprise policies have been added to allow Secure DNS to be manually configured and to encourage IT admins to consider using DoH for their users.

Google stressed in its announcement that even though this change shows much progress toward making the browsing experience safer and more private, it’s really just the beginning of the process. The company is open to feedback as well so that it can continue to make progress in this front.

Secure DNS will be rolled out slowly, just as Google did with Chrome for desktop, ensuring stability and performance are retained. There has been no mention of when DoH will be available for IoS Chrome users, but it’s believed it won’t be soon, as Apple only recently started supporting the DoH protocols.

Read on to learn how to enable DNS over HTTPS on various browsers, including Chrome.

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Laura Tucker Avatar
Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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