DNSCloak • Secure DNS client Reviews

by Ally Pendergast

Used to have praise for this thing the other day it just stopped working kept getting check your resolvers and i never did so i changed a couple finally and it says “finding resolvers” indefinitely even after i switched it back and did the basic troubleshooting like uninstalled even wiped the data and it still says that in app and now it’s useless cuz it won’t connect even before this started getting problems out of nowhere but it was bound to happen with an app with almost no updates ever

by Jordan Molo...

I understand u want ppl to rate DNSCloakSecureDNSclient but it’s extremely petty that when I declined the very 1st prompt I received asking me to rate it, when I declined due to JUST downloading it earlier today I immediately was disconnected from the server I was using and unable to reconnect until after I rated DNSCloakSecureDNSclient .. That’s petty and I can assure u that I’ll be looking for an alternative even if I have to purchase it just due to the fact that I was booted from the server for not rating ur app after not even having it long enough to give it an accurate rating.. So for that, u get one star..

by Teamcaffeine

Yall might remember my 5 star glowing review which sat on the main app page for some time. Well i have retracted my review till issue is resolved. Just updated and app is all out of whack. Have to start app several times for resolvers to load. When they finally do, it will not connect to any of them. I tried about 15 of them just now, and i made sure to uncheck the old ones before i tried a new, so i know its not the DNS fault. Just says connecting forever. I try restarting app, and it still just hangs on connecting. So i goto app store to write this, and end up discovering that while dnscrypt is open, my internet literally does not work, like at all. Had to exit out to get here: please fix guys, this was seriously like my favorite app. I have never regretted clicking update button soo much, please test your product better before releasing updates that drastically change how the back-end works.

by Bd27536

DNSCloakSecureDNSclient works great to reduce ads and trackers (depending on which dns servers you pick) but the developers haven’t updated info n three years and it tends to randomly stop working, requiring “jiggling the handle” of either the service, your network, or a complete reboot of the phone, which just gets very tiresome after a while.

Given DNSCloakSecureDNSclient isn’t free, it’s disappointing they’re taking people’s money with no effort made to improve reliability or enhance features (such as more graceful failover when one dns server times out.)

by GM_419

Hello DNSCloak,
I wanted to inform you and your developer team that no matter which server I am connecting to through DNSCloakSecureDNSclient , my IP address is not changing whatsoever (I am using an iPhone XR if that is of any valuable information). I am not sure if there is something in DNSCloakSecureDNSclient that I am missing, or even if the intent of DNSCloakSecureDNSclient is to not change the IP address of the user, but I would like to know what is going wrong here.
Any response is a good one.

by Jadenfire

Great app works with the host file I used in the old app as of 15.2 the old app won't work so if u want to use a host and block ads your forced to this new one & you can't hide the VPN bar status no longer I have no idea who decided to remove that feature ..
But until it's back I'm knocking stars also knocking stars for the forced portait mode as I use landscape, the old app is landscape but they made the new one forced portrait.

Fix these 2 issues & ill re review.

by Wesinat0r

Really great secure dns app with multiple public server options and flexible configuration. Thanks for this

Edit: been having issues where network stops working when switching to wifi , noticed on iOS 14.5 . Toggling vpn connection in settings seems to fix it. Going to reinstall app and see if that helps

by JonWorrel

DNSCloakSecureDNSclient freezes on a blank grey page after entering a 4-digit app unlock password on iPhone 6.

Connecting to DoH (DNS-over-HTTPS) servers on older devices like iPhone 6 will often prevent reconnection when switching from Cellular to Wi-Fi. I had to reboot my device to reconnect after configuring in-app settings.

I was impressed by DNSCloakSecureDNSclient password feature, which prevents tampering and acts as a Parental Control option. Unfortunately, the “Connect on Demand” VPN feature (auto-reconnect) can be easily disabled by going to Settings > General > VPN > selecting DNS Cloak profile and unselecting “Connect on Demand.”

by ILeizl

...the concept of DNS- more specifically its role and importance in maintaining any semblance of privacy online, the Quad9 app along with information on Quad9’s site are invaluable. Subject/topic is a bit overwhelming at first (at least for me), but once I put my head down, had a glass of wine AND an energy drink, it all came together. DNSCloakSecureDNSclient was easy peasy, and I was able to add/config the VPN for my iPhone without too much panic or fanfare. 😁

by RT-0814-6806

I can’t recommend this highly enough for device-wide ad and tracker blocking, in addition to the privacy enhancement that encrypted DNS provides. I make everyone I know install this on their phones and iPads now, lol. I couldn’t be more pleased.

If I could make a suggestion to the developers: consider offering entries for various nextdns configurations. I saw this last night on HN and I think the two would pair nicely.

by JAH_Review

Awesome so far - especially the ability to suppress “VPN” taking up the limited screen space at the top of my iPhone SE (original).

My only suggestion would be to add a widget, to quickly & easily disable & enable if/when necessary.

Works for iOs Chrome & Safari. I don’t have apps with ads, but it should work to stop ads in most of those too.

by Bridget421

When you go to the reading section it will say true or false to certain commands like and it’s doing the opposite of what it saying. Please fix this and give instructions on how to use it because it’s nobody knows how to do it

by Hanging From A Ceiling

I honestly don’t know what the else DNSCloakSecureDNSclient does but I use it to remove ads from games and it works perfectly. Also you might want to turn it off when you’re not using it because it probably won’t let you make phone calls.

by BodyByTrevor

The only thing I dislike about DNSCloakSecureDNSclient at all is if you select more than two or three cloaking servers it seems to never be able to finish all of its testing and connect to you… It just sits there and hangs! Are use it alongside my NordVPN service and both of them work great together. No problems.

by Der Golem

I’m smart enough to know how smart the people are who made this.
And I am smart enough to know how much I love it.
I just wanted a system wide ad blocker. This is it. I use the adguard-dns-doh server. In the settings: connect on demand, show vpn icon. Boom, done.
The only thing I am not smart enough to figure out is how to whitelist a specific website in my default browser, Firefox.
Oh, and thanks for the iOS 15.1 fix. I was worried for a few days.

by Hunkadunkaderken

DNSCloakSecureDNSclient is the best. I can just turn it on and forgrt it’s running. I love that you can specify DNSCloakSecureDNSclient to turn off on different network too. So useful and the best option for adblocking on iOS. No hidden purchases or subscriptions. It just works

by CascadeLover

After trying every other device-wide adblocking app in DNSCloakSecureDNSclient Store, I was discouraged, thinking I’d never find one that was simple to use and worked without stopping. This isn’t an adblocker app by definition; but the AdGuard DNS servers work great, and are one of the (many!) options in DNSCloakSecureDNSclient.
It’s been several days since I installed DNSCloakSecureDNSclient, and I’ve restarted the device several times, without the DNS ever stopping. It works perfectly. Thanks for the awesome app, and to everyone else looking for a good adblocker or simply a good DNS app, your search has ended. 😄

by Varenc

Besides the VPN routing, the DNS part of this seems to be dnscrypt-proxy, but running on iOS. Which is amazing! And unlike dnscrypt-proxy, DNSCloakSecureDNSclient has a very simple and powerful UI! Getting logging setup on DNSCloak is easier than setting it up on a desktop machine.

If you’re the techie type you can even modify the dnscrypt toml config file directly for ultimate power.

Overall, very impressed that a free iOS app built on top of a rather techie-centric open source tool has such a slick and easy to use GUI! Plenty of iOS ports of popular OSS projects are user interface train wrecks... DNS Cloak is a pleasant exception!

by Sunk818

I bought a dns adblocker for $3.99. It is crap and barely works. This is free, you pick a dns service that maintains a block list for you. I used adguard to block ads. It just works. The important thing is vpn connect on demand is persistent so you dont have to worry about it. Awesome product and can'tbelieve its free!!!

by Gogotomag023

Thank you i ‘ve been waiting for ages for dnscrypt coming to ios, and with DNSCloakSecureDNSclient finally comes true :) Its so useful especially when you travel to country with many restrictions to access particular website.

by JoelStickney

This is an amazing app. It improves upon security, and the amount of customize-ability to a sysadmin is amazing. I love that it can fallback on failures so there is no way DNSCloakSecureDNSclient can even make a device less reliable, only more secure / customized.

by Chad Adelmann

I spent a long time looking for add blockers that would block adds on crunchy roll but than I found DNSCloakSecureDNSclient super easy to use don’t need to pay add u can watch crunchy roll add free highly recommend

by Megan_Whaley.01.14.18

You will not regret. So many options and DNSCloakSecureDNSclient actually works. No crap. No I'm not getting paid to say this. No, I don't wanna lie to yall and make you download a worthless app. But DNSCloakSecureDNSclient, man. Very fast loading now for streaming especially. Love DNSCloakSecureDNSclient. Jesus. 💘💘🙏🏻

by Jessedstein

1.1.1.1 allows you to disable on certain WiFi networks. When I am at home I don’t want an app on my phone managing DNS. I have a dns server (pi-hole) handling that.

DNSCloakSecureDNSclient is flaky... doesn’t honor WiFi or override settings... please update!

by The Holders

This is what the internet needs. I have been able to run my own DNS service, connect to it, and enjoy the privacy and security of knowing my DNS was not hijacked.

Thank you for a marvelous App!

by Overly Excited Closet Nerd

This is by far the best DNS utility I have ever found for IOS. I love the ability to use is as a proxy, VPN, and the blacklist options. I don’t know much about DNS systems or security, but I’m sure there is a lot more you can do with it.

by Canyoning.cat

I just found this. Appears to be blocking ads perfectly. I've also started using the blacklist feature... I hope it doesn't affect battery life...
Can't believe it's free. Thanks!