DNS4EU: Europe offers a free, fast and spying DNS, here is how to activate it

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After four years of work, The European Union finally offers its own public DNS service: DNS4EU. Thought to combine confidentiality, security, performance and sovereignty, this resolveur wants to offer a concrete response to increasing concerns around data processing by private actors. And unsurprisingly, the ambitions displayed are clear: to become one of the pillars of a more ethical internet on the old continent.

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DNS4EU is officially launched: a public and European alternative to commercial DNS

Behind this project, a consortium coordinated by the European Agency ENISA and funded by Brussels. Objective: to allow everyone – individuals, companies, institutions – to use a DNS service in full in the EU, without collecting personal data, without tracking, and with competitive response times.

The service offers several filtering profiles: reinforced security against malware, child protection, advertising blocking, or “pure” filter version. All configurable very simply, with the support of the doh (DNS Over https) and dot (DNS Over TLS) protocols, for end -to -end communications.

But DNS4EU does not just be clean on paper. Its infrastructure is based on an Anycast mesh present in 14 European countries, with response times less than 20 ms in most capitals. Another strong point: interconnection with more than 20 European CERTs, for an almost instant blocking of malicious sites.

On the critical side, some raise legitimate questions about long-term governance, or the current absence of DNS-Over-Quic (Doq). Others fear diverted institutional uses. But for the time being, the service is free, optional and transparent, with a clear roadmap: a progressive deployment with operators and administrations, then the introduction of commercial offers from 2026.

The DNS4EU service is already operational. To take advantage of it, just change the DNS settings of your device by replacing those provided by default (often those of your ISP) with the following addresses:

DNS DNS4EU DNS addresses:

Primary: 193.29.124.1
Secondary: 185.253.5.1

DNS4EU DNS DNS addresses:

Primary: 2A0F: FC80 :: 1
Secondary: 2A0F: FC80 :: 2

These IPs correspond to the secure basic profile, without parental filtering or advertising blocking. Filtered variants will be offered soon with dedicated IPs.

On iPhone / iPad:

Go to settings> wi-fi, touch the “i” next to the connected network
Go down to configure DNS, go into manual mode
Remove the old DNS, add 193.29.124.1 and 185.253.5.1, Validate

On Android (depending on version):

Open Settings> Network and Internet> Wi-Fi, then click on the network
Click Advanced, then DNS Private
Enter: DNS.DNS4EU.EU If your phone accepts DNS-OVER-TLS
- Otherwise, use an app like intra or nebulo to manually manage DNS

On Windows 10/11:

Open Settings> Network and Internet> Ethernet (or Wi-Fi)
Click Modify adapter options, right click> Properties
Double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPV4)
Check “Use the following DNS server address”, enter 193.29.124.1 and 185.253.5.1
Validate, restart the connection

On a router (box or personal router):