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Mullvad's public DNS closes today: a ten-minute checklist so nothing breaks

Mullvad's public encrypted DNS servers are due to shut down on 2 November. If any device, router or browser still points at them, name lookups will fail. Here is how to find them and what to use instead.

By Andrew Ingleton · Published

Quad9 cover image
Quad9, which Mullvad is sponsoring in place of its own public DNS © Quad9

Mullvad announced on 3 September 2026 that it is shutting down the public encrypted DNS servers it has run since 2022, and sponsoring Quad9 instead. Its reasoning is that the servers are unnecessary for people who use Mullvad VPN, because VPN traffic is already encrypted and handled by the VPN's own DNS. Our earlier guide, Mullvad closes its public DNS on 2 November, explains the background and how to set up Quad9. This is the short, practical checklist for the day itself.

Who is affected

Only people who set Mullvad's public DNS by hand, without connecting to the VPN. If you only use the Mullvad VPN app, nothing changes for you. If you copied Mullvad's DNS address into a device a year ago and forgot about it, that is the case to hunt down.

Where to look

  1. Your router. Check the WAN or DHCP DNS settings. A router pointing at a retired resolver breaks every device on the network at once.
  2. Pi-hole or AdGuard Home. Look at the upstream resolvers. If you followed our comparison of Pi-hole and AdGuard Home, check that none of the upstream entries mention Mullvad.
  3. Android. Settings, then Network, then Private DNS. If a hostname is set there that belongs to Mullvad, replace it.
  4. iPhone and iPad. Check Settings, then Wi-Fi, then the network's DNS entry, and any installed DNS configuration profile.
  5. Browsers. Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Brave can each use their own secure DNS provider. Check the privacy or security settings for a custom provider.
  6. Computers. Look at the network adapter's DNS servers, and any local DNS-over-HTTPS or DNS-over-TLS tool such as a stub resolver.

What to use instead

Mullvad is sponsoring Quad9, which makes it the natural replacement, and we walk through the setup in the earlier guide. Any reputable encrypted resolver will do; the important point is that every device has one that still exists.

How to tell you have a problem

The symptom is distinctive: the connection looks fine, but pages will not load and apps report no internet. Try opening a site by IP address, or switch the device to another resolver for a minute. If that fixes it, a dead DNS entry is the cause.

Source: Mullvad blog, 3 September 2026 (Shutting down our public encrypted DNS servers and sponsoring Quad9 instead). The 2 November date is as reported in our earlier article; the blog index we checked does not repeat it.

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