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[Update: Now Available] Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 private DNS app is getting a free VPN
Popular DNS resolver app 1.1.1.1 will be getting an inbuilt VPN service called "Warp" along with premium version "Warp+" soon.
Web security company, Cloudflare turned its focus towards the public with the announcement of its DNS resolver service, 1.1.1.1, to users worldwide on April 1st (4.1), last year. Then on November 11th (11.11), it launched an app on Android and iOS so that users don't have to manually configure their DNS settings on their smartphones. Cloudflare has always emphasized that it does not log any of your browsing data and its DNS resolver makes your internet connections faster. Now, it is extending the same philosophy and building a VPN service called Warp in the 1.1.1.1 apps on Android and iOS.
CloudFlare's new Android app lets you easily enable their fast DNS
CloudFlare has just launched an Android app to make connecting to their alternative DNS resolver, 1.1.1.1, easier than ever.
Earlier this year, CloudFlare launched its own DNS service to the public, called "1.1.1.1." CloudFlare's DNS resolver is different from your ISP's or other DNS alternatives like Google Public DNS and Cisco OpenDNS in that it's focused on privacy and speed first. Your IP address is never logged or saved on CloudFlare's servers, and with several optimizations in place, 1.1.1.1 is, according to CloudFlare, up to 28% faster than other DNS solutions out there. It also helps battle censorship--countries like Turkey and Venezuela have been known to censor and block news outlets, social networks, and adult websites, and an alternative DNS resolver helps overcome that restriction. 1.1.1.1 can also be used on Android phones, but it's not an exactly straightforward process for devices on Android Oreo and lower. Luckily, CloudFlare has launched an app to make it easy.
Android getting "DNS over TLS" support to stop ISPs from knowing what websites you visit
DNS over TLS is a new method of making DNS requests, stopping even your ISP from seeing the sites you visit. It's now coming to Android, maybe Android 8.1.
A DNS (Domain Name Server) is what translates a website address from a URL that you enter to an IP address which your computer actually connects to. For example, when you type "www.xda-developers.com" into your browser, your computer queries a DNS which looks up and returns the IP address "209.58.128.90" to the client. This process is hidden from the user, but every website you visit (so long as it has a human-readable URL) will go through this same process. The problem for those security conscious out there is that these requests are done in plain text through UDP or TCP protocols which are readable by anyone that can see your connection, including your ISP. This is where DNS over TLS comes in.