Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 is one of the most widely used public DNS resolvers, chosen for its performance and published privacy commitments — here's what setup actually involves and how to confirm it's working.
Setting it up
Cloudflare's resolver addresses are 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 for IPv4, with corresponding IPv6 addresses also available. You can configure these at the device level (in your OS network settings), the router level (applying to every device on your network), or the browser level (if your browser supports a per-application DNS setting). Cloudflare also publishes dedicated apps for mobile devices that handle configuration automatically.
Encrypted modes
Cloudflare supports both DNS over HTTPS and DNS over TLS, letting you encrypt the trip to their resolver rather than using plaintext DNS — see DNS over HTTPS and DNS over TLS for how these differ.
Family/content filtering options
Beyond the standard 1.1.1.1 address, Cloudflare offers variant resolver addresses with built-in malware or adult-content filtering as an opt-in choice — worth checking their current documentation for the specific addresses if this is something you want.
Verifying the switch actually took effect
Configuration changes don't always apply immediately or correctly on the first try — confirm your new resolver is actually active using NetRiskScan's DNS Leak Test, which shows exactly which resolver is answering your queries right now.
FAQ
Does using Cloudflare's DNS mean Cloudflare can see all my browsing?
It means Cloudflare's resolver sees your DNS queries specifically — review their published privacy policy for their retention and logging claims, the same due diligence worth doing for any resolver choice.