Google supports DNS-over-HTTP/3 from Android 11

Google gives recent versions of Android support for DNS-over-HTTP/3 on ‘servers that support it’. DoH3 is now a standard part of Android 11 and higher versions.

At first, Android 13 seemed to get native support for the latest standard of DNS-over-HTTPS, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Google has now released an update to the DNS Resolver module, a mandatory Android module that applies to all devices running Android 11 and newer. Some Android 10 smartphones also use this module, writes Espers Mishaal Rahman.

Users can set in the Internet settings of compatible Android devices under ‘Private DNS’ to visit websites that support DNS-over-HTTP/3. In the accompanying blog post, Google mentions two prominent DNS servers that are supported by default. These are Cloudflares resolver and Google’s own public DNS service.

Android has been supporting private DNS connections since the ninth major version of the operating system. Initially, this mainly worked via DNS-over-TLS, but DNS-over-HTTPS has been gaining popularity in recent years. DNS-over-HTTP/3 connects, as the name implies, to the HTTP/3 standard. It supports QUIC, which supports multiple UDP streams. DNS-over-HTTP/3 should therefore provide faster connections, according to Google, although the company does not say how much profit is involved.

In recent years, most of the DNS resolvers offer an encrypted version of DNS queries. This means that a provider or network interceptor has no visibility into the DNS requests that a user makes. Not everyone is happy about that; critics worry that users will move their DNS traffic from ISPs to commercial companies like Google or Cloudflare.