To change DNS on Google Nest Wifi, open the Google Home app, tap the Wifi tab, tap your network name, tap Settings, then Advanced networking, then DNS, switch from Automatic to Custom, and enter your resolver IP addresses. Every device on your network gets the new DNS server within seconds via DHCP — no restarts required on individual devices.
Why change the DNS server on your Nest Wifi
Your Nest Wifi acts as a DNS forwarder. Every device on your network asks the router to resolve hostnames, and the router relays those queries to an upstream resolver. Out of the box, Nest Wifi uses whichever DNS server your ISP assigns — usually the ISP's own resolver, which may be slow, may log your browsing activity, and offers no protection against malware domains.
Switching to a well-maintained public resolver addresses all three. Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 is consistently among the fastest globally. Quad9 (9.9.9.9) automatically blocks known malware and phishing domains using threat feeds from multiple security vendors. OpenDNS adds optional category-based web filtering. Google Public DNS (8.8.8.8) trades some privacy for very high reliability and uptime.
Beyond performance and security, a network-wide DNS change is the correct fix when a device cannot reach a specific domain and a lookup reveals the wrong IP, or when you want all devices — including smart TVs, printers, and IoT sensors — to share the same resolver without touching each device individually.
Before you start
Unlike most home routers, Google Nest Wifi and the original Google Wifi have no browser-based admin panel. There is no 192.168.x.x web interface to open. All configuration is done through the Google Home app on Android or iOS. Make sure the app is updated to its latest version and that you are signed in to the Google account that owns the Wifi network. The DNS setting lives under Advanced networking, which only appears when you navigate to the settings for the overall network — not the settings for an individual device.
Step-by-step: changing DNS in the Google Home app
This path works on Android and iOS. Exact button labels may vary slightly between app versions.
- Open Google Home.
- Tap the Wifi tab at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap your network name to open its detail view.
- Tap the Settings gear icon, usually in the top-right corner.
- Scroll down and tap Advanced networking.
- Tap DNS.
- The current setting shows Automatic (ISP-assigned). Tap Custom.
- Enter your primary DNS address in the first field and your secondary in the second.
- Tap Save.
The router immediately updates its DHCP responses with the new resolver addresses. Devices on active leases see the change on their next renewal. To force an instant update on a specific device, disconnect it from Wi-Fi and reconnect — this triggers an immediate DHCP request and the device picks up the new DNS addresses right away.
Which DNS server addresses to use
Enter two IP addresses: a primary and a secondary fallback. If the primary is unreachable, queries go to the secondary automatically. Both should generally be from the same provider.
- Cloudflare — Primary: 1.1.1.1 / Secondary: 1.0.0.1. Fastest median response time in most regions; privacy-first logging policy; does not sell query data.
- Google Public DNS — Primary: 8.8.8.8 / Secondary: 8.8.4.4. Exceptionally high uptime; some query data retained for abuse-prevention purposes.
- Quad9 — Primary: 9.9.9.9 / Secondary: 149.112.112.112. Automatically blocks malware and phishing domains using threat intelligence; operated by a non-profit; DNSSEC validating.
- OpenDNS Home — Primary: 208.67.222.222 / Secondary: 208.67.220.220. Blocks known malicious domains; optional category filtering via a free account dashboard.
- OpenDNS FamilyShield — Primary: 208.67.222.123 / Secondary: 208.67.220.123. Blocks adult content without any account; a drop-in replacement if you are removing Google's Family Wifi filtering.
If you run a local Pi-hole or AdGuard Home on your network, enter its LAN IP (for example 192.168.86.2) as the primary and a public resolver as the secondary. If the local filter goes offline, DNS keeps working through the fallback.
IPv6 DNS settings
If your ISP has provisioned IPv6, Nest Wifi will also hand out IPv6 DNS addresses via DHCPv6 or SLAAC. In the Advanced networking DNS screen, look for a separate IPv6 DNS field — it may not appear unless IPv6 is active on your line. The IPv6 addresses for the major public resolvers are:
- Cloudflare: 2606:4700:4700::1111 and 2606:4700:4700::1001
- Google: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844
- Quad9: 2620:fe::fe and 2620:fe::9
If you leave the IPv6 DNS field blank, devices that prefer AAAA lookups will fall back to the ISP's IPv6 resolver. For consistent behavior across all devices, set matching IPv6 addresses alongside your IPv4 entries.
How the new DNS reaches your devices
Nest Wifi distributes DNS settings through DHCP — the same protocol that hands out IP addresses. When a device joins your network or renews its lease, the router includes the DNS server addresses in the DHCP response. The device then uses those addresses for all name resolution until the next renewal.
Default DHCP lease times on Nest Wifi are long enough that a device already connected may not renew for several hours. To force an immediate DNS update on a laptop or desktop, release and renew the DHCP lease:
On mobile devices, toggling Wi-Fi off and back on achieves the same result.
Verifying the change worked
After forcing a DHCP renewal, confirm from the device that the new resolver is actually answering queries.
If the server line still shows your ISP's IP, either the device has not yet renewed its lease or it has a static DNS entry configured locally that overrides DHCP. Remove the static entry or force a renewal as shown above.
iOS and Android: forcing the update
Phones pick up the router's new DNS automatically on the next DHCP renewal. If you want the change to take effect immediately:
- iOS: Settings → Wi-Fi → tap the (i) next to your network → tap Renew Lease. The phone issues a fresh DHCP request and receives the updated DNS addresses at once.
- Android: Toggle Wi-Fi off and back on, or forget the network and rejoin it.
One important exception: iOS 14 and later and Android 9 and later support system-level Private DNS (DNS over TLS). If a user has configured a Private DNS profile on their device — Settings → General → VPN & Device Management on iOS, or Settings → Connections → More connection settings → Private DNS on Android — that setting overrides whatever the router provides via DHCP. The device ignores the Nest Wifi DNS setting entirely. This is the single most common reason a phone appears unaffected after a router DNS change.
Google Family Wifi and parental controls
If Family Wifi (Google Home's parental controls) is enabled for any devices on your network, be aware: Google's parental controls rely on Google-controlled DNS infrastructure to enforce SafeSearch and content filtering. Changing the network-wide DNS to a third-party resolver will break content filtering for supervised devices. Google Home may display a warning when you set custom DNS on a network with Family Wifi active, but the warning is easy to dismiss without reading carefully.
If you need both a custom resolver and content filtering, use OpenDNS FamilyShield (208.67.222.123 / 208.67.220.123) as your DNS — it blocks adult content at the resolver level without requiring a Google account — or use Quad9 (9.9.9.9) if blocking malware is the primary goal.
Nest Wifi Pro specifics
The Nest Wifi Pro (released 2022, Wi-Fi 6E, Matter and Thread support) uses the identical Google Home app flow for DNS configuration. The navigation path described above applies without change. The additional Thread radio and internal mesh topology have no effect on how DNS addresses are distributed to Wi-Fi clients.
The Nest Wifi Pro does not support DNS over HTTPS (DoH) or DNS over TLS (DoT) for its upstream resolver queries as of mid-2026. All DNS traffic from the router to the upstream resolver travels over plaintext UDP or TCP on port 53. If encrypted upstream DNS is a firm requirement, run a local forwarder — Unbound, AdGuard Home, or a Pi-hole with DoH configured — on another device on your LAN, then point Nest Wifi's custom DNS to that device's local IP address.
Setting DNS for a single device instead of the whole network
The Google Home app applies DNS network-wide only. There is no per-device DNS override in the Nest Wifi interface. To use a different resolver on one device without changing the router setting:
- Windows 11: Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi → tap the network name → DNS server assignment → Manual. DoH can be enabled per-resolver in this same screen.
- macOS: System Settings → Network → Wi-Fi → Details → DNS → add addresses with the + button → OK → Apply.
- Linux (NetworkManager): Run nmcli con mod "YourSSID" ipv4.dns "1.1.1.1 9.9.9.9" then nmcli con up "YourSSID".
- Android: Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi → long-press the network → Manage network settings → show Advanced options → IP settings: Static → fill in the DNS 1 and DNS 2 fields.
- iOS: Settings → Wi-Fi → tap (i) next to the network → Configure DNS → Manual → add server addresses.
Static DNS set directly on a device survives router DNS changes. If you later update the router setting, devices with per-device static entries keep their old resolver until you update them individually.
Common misdiagnoses
Changing DNS did not speed up browsing. DNS lookup contributes 5–80 ms to the first request for an uncached domain. It does not affect transfer speed once a connection is established. If pages are slow after content begins loading, the bottleneck is throughput, server response time, or connection overhead — not DNS.
Custom DNS is set but a device still reaches blocked domains. The most likely cause is a hardcoded DNS in the device's own network settings — common on smart TVs, game consoles, and IoT devices — or a VPN that tunnels DNS queries independently of the router. Some devices ignore DHCP-issued DNS entirely and use a manufacturer-set fallback such as 8.8.8.8.
dig still shows the ISP resolver after saving. Either the device has not yet renewed its DHCP lease, or it has a static DNS entry at the OS level that overrides DHCP. Remove the local static entry and force a lease renewal.
DNS changed but one specific site is now unreachable. Quad9 and OpenDNS actively block categories of domains. If the site loads when you temporarily switch DNS to 8.8.8.8, the new resolver is treating that domain as malicious or filtered. Whitelist the domain in your resolver's dashboard, or switch to a non-filtering resolver for that device.
2026 note: DoH, DoT, and DNSSEC
As of mid-2026, Google has not added DoH or DoT forwarding capability to Nest Wifi or Nest Wifi Pro firmware. All DNS queries from the router to the upstream resolver travel over plaintext port 53. This is a notable gap compared to routers from vendors such as ASUS, pfSense, and OPNsense, which can forward over TLS natively. The workaround — a local DoH forwarder on your LAN pointed to by Nest Wifi's custom DNS field — remains the only practical path to encrypted upstream DNS on this platform.
DNSSEC validation is likewise not configurable on Nest Wifi. Choosing Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) or Quad9 (9.9.9.9) as your upstream resolver provides DNSSEC validation on the resolver side before answers reach your devices, delivering the practical security benefit without router-level support. For the technical specification on how DNS queries and responses are structured, see RFC 1035 at the IETF.
Reverting to automatic DNS
To restore ISP-assigned DNS at any time, follow the same path in reverse: Google Home → Wifi → your network → Settings → Advanced networking → DNS → set back to Automatic → Save. All devices will receive the ISP's resolver addresses on their next DHCP renewal.