Undoubtedly one of the most important factors whenever we surf the net is privacy. Our personal data can get leaked and end up in the wrong hands. In recent years we have seen how little by little online services and applications have been improving to avoid problems. In this article we are going to talk about the latest novelty that makes browsing with Android safer. This is support for DNS-over-HTTP/3.
Android add DNS-over-HTTP/3
From now on, if you have an Android device and it has version 11 or higher installed, you will browse more securely. It has support for DNS-over-HTTP/3, which allows greater privacy when making online queries. It is the new version of the hypertext transfer protocol and is based on QUIC. Unlike previous versions, it does not use TCP, but instead uses UDP.
This brings a series of improvements with respect to the protocol that it was already using, DNS-over-TLS, in order to improve privacy. Keep in mind that in most cases, network connections start through a DNS lookup. Basically every time you enter a web page, such as RedesZone. What this new protocol does is protect that query and make it truly private. A third party would not be able to detect which site you are visiting.
The problem with DNS-over-TLS (DoT) is that it slowed down DNS requests by having encryption overhead. This was already available from version 9 of Android and served to improve privacy. But now, thanks to DNS-over-HTTP/3 or DoH3, that slowdown problem is gone.
Not only will you navigate safer with Android, but it will also be faster. In fact, according to Google, the improvement in average query performance is 24%, but on certain occasions this can even reach 44%.
It also fixes a problem that existed with DoT. Mobile devices change networks constantly (think, for example, of a bus trip the times you are going to change networks). With DoT, this requires a complete renegotiation of the connection. Instead, with DoH3 you can resume a suspended connection more quickly.
At the moment, users using an Android device with at least version 11 can use DNS-over-HTTP/3 with Google and Cloudflare DNS, but more will join soon and more options will be available.
Keep your device up to date
It is very important to always have the latest versions and thus avoid security problems. It doesn’t matter if it’s mobile, computer or any device. In the case of Android, to be able to browse safely thanks to DoH3, it is necessary to have at least version 11 of the operating system.
You can easily check which one you have installed. To do this you have to go to Settings, enter About the phone and click on Software information. There you will see the version of Android installed. These steps may change slightly depending on the version, but they are always similar.
Likewise, to navigate safely, it is necessary to use a good browser that is up to date. It is also advisable to use security programs that can detect possible threats that arrive in the form of malware. Although without a doubt the most important thing to avoid attacks is common sense and avoid making mistakes. If you are going to connect on public networks, a good idea is to use a mobile VPN.