How to enable DNS over HTTPS in Chrome, Edge and Firefox

DNS over HTTPS encrypts DNS lookup to increase privacy. Here's how to turn on DNS over HTTPS in Chrome, Edge and Firefox.

Whenever you try to access a website in the browser, the browser automatically translates the web page address that the user can read into an IP address. However, web browsers do not know which websites correspond to which IP addresses. Therefore, they require a DNS server (Domain Name System) to provide the actual IP address of the target website. Once you know the IP address, the browser will take you to the website you're looking for. All this happens in 1 / 1000th of a second.

The problem is, the communication between the web browser and the DNS server is not encrypted. So anyone can see what website you are visiting. This is not good for privacy. Therefore, most major web browsers such as Chrome, Edge and Firefox are implementing DNS over HTTPS. When DNS over HTTPS is enabled, all DNS requests will be made over the HTTPS connection. Because HTTPS connection is an encrypted connection, no one can see which website you are visiting.

Enable DNS over HTTPS in Chrome

For Google Chrome browser, do the following:

1. First, open Chrome by searching for it in the Start menu. Once open, you will see it on the taskbar. Right-click on it and select the option Pin to taskbar . This is necessary to have access to the Chrome shortcut. If you've pinned or have a desktop shortcut, skip this step.

2. Now, right-click on the Chrome taskbar icon. From the options, right-click again on "Google Chrome" and select the "Properties" option. Alternatively, right-click the shortcut icon on Chrome's desktop and select the same Properties option.

3. The above action will open the Properties window of Google Chrome. Here, add this code to the end of the "Target" field.

With the code below, you will use the Cloudflare DNS service as a DoH. If you want to use some other DNS service then modify the server address. Depending on the DNS service, the server address will be different.

 --enable-features="dns-over-https  
4. Click Apply> OK to save changes.
 
5. Finally, relaunch the Chrome browser.
 
Enable DNS over HTTPS in Edge Chromium
 
Microsoft has also added support for DNS over HTTPS in the Edge Chromium browser. Since this is still an experimental feature, you need to go to the Flags page to access the settings. Please note that the steps below are only applicable to Edge Chromium and not to legacy Edge or Internet Explorer.
 
1. First, open the Edge Chromium browser if it is not already open. After opening, type "edge: flags" into the address bar and press Enter .
 
2. The above action will open the Edge Experiments page . In the top search bar, enter DNS. This action will filter the results and you will see the "Secure DNS Lookups" section .
 
3. Select Enabled from the drop-down menu next to the "Secure DNS Lookups" option and then click on the "Relaunch" button . Relaunching the browser will apply the settings.
 
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Enable DNS over HTTPS in Firefox
 
Firefox has taken it one step further and turned on DNS over HTTPS by default. However, at the time of writing, this feature is only enabled in some countries and also only applies to some users. But the good news is, the option is available directly on the Settings page .
 
1. First, open Firefox if it is not already open. Next, click the Menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the upper right corner and select the Options option .
 
2. The option we are looking for is highly hidden. Thankfully, the settings page has a search function. So enter DNS in the search bar on the top. Next, click the "Settings" button in the "Network Settings" section.
 
3. Now, select the "Enable DNS over HTTPS" checkbox . By default, Firefox uses Cloudflare as a DNS provider. If you want to use some other DNS service, select Custom from the drop-down menu. Click OK to save the changes.
 
Restart the browser and the feature will be enabled.
 
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Verify that DNS over HTTPS is working
 
After configuring your browser, you should verify that the DNS over HTTPS setting is working properly. To do that, just visit this URL. It will scan the connection and list the results. If DNS over HTTPS works as usual, you will see "Yes" next to "Using DNS over HTTPS (DOH)" .
 
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