How to Change DNS Servers on macOS?

Last modified: March 1, 2019

In this article, we will guide you on how to change DNS servers on your macOS computer with alternative ones but first, below are some frequently asked questions (FAQ).

What is DNS?

Think about your phone, do you remember all the numbers of your contacts? but you do remember their names and you can easily search for them on your device to get their phone numbers.

The Domain Name Systems (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. We access information online through domain names as it’s easier to remember words than numbers. i.e. Facebook.com IP address is 157.240.10.35. It is difficult to remember the IP addresses and therefore, a DNS service translates domain names to IP addresses so web browser can load the website that you wanted to access.

Why do I need to change my DNS servers?

If you’re using our VPN Client app, you don’t have to change your DNS Servers. You only need to the changes if you configured the VPN connection on your device manually.

With a manual VPN set up, your Internet service provider (ISP) might have been redirecting your DNS queries over the Internet to a wrong IP address which can lead your device vulnerable to Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack and also leak it’s DNS.

Which Public DNS addresses would you recommend?

We recommend that you use either Google’s or Cloudfare’s public DNS addresses as they have been reliable free DNS service providers. In this article, we will be using Cloudfare’s DNS addresses an example.

Now that you’ve read and understood about DNS, please follow the steps below to make changes on your computer.

Click on the Apple icon on the top-left side of your desktop and select System Preferences.

Select Network.

Please ensure your current Internet connection is selected. In this example, we’re connecting via Wi-Fi. Once you’ve selected your current Internet connection, please click on Advanced.

In the Advanced menu, please select DNS. Under DNS, you will see your default DNS server address, which will usually be your router IP address. I would suggest that you jot down your router’s IP address for future reference.

Click on the (+) sign at the bottom left of the DNS Servers box and enter the following DNS addresses.

1.1.1.1
1.0.0.1

If you’re also using IPv6 for your Internet connection, please click on the (+) sign again and enter the addresses below.

2606:4700:4700::1111
2606:4700:4700::1001

Once the DNS addresses have been added, click on OK.

In the next screen, click on Apply to to save the settings.