Basic Security Oldschool's Pixel 9a Configuration

[oldschool]

Many Nextdns users have reported Google VPN bypassing their custom DNS settings to use their own DNS Servers.

Well, that makes sense since they both use the Private DNS/VPN protocol, since I don't think they'd build parallel, duplicate features, and it would be one reason I probably wouldn't use it.

 

[ForgottenSeer 123526]

Well, that makes sense since they both use the Private DNS/VPN protocol, since I don't think they'd build parallel, duplicate features, and it would be one reason I probably wouldn't use it.

VPN by Google doesn't support custom DNS. You can't use external or local DNS lookups according to their own documentation. If you have your device's Private DNS set to NextDNS, and then you enable Google VPN, the VPN will generally bypass NextDNS and use its own DNS servers.

 

[rashmi]

Here's my initial setup for my new Pixel 9a. Getting acquainted with the Pixel UI and the whole Google experience before making the change to GrapheneOS. Should I be brave and take the plunge?

I may add Edge or Brave but I do very little browsing on the phone, so I added NextDNS protection for now.

I recently watched a video showcasing GrapheneOS on the Pixel phone. I liked GrapheneOS and would surely install it if I had a Pixel phone.

I have Brave and Vivaldi installed on iPads. I installed Brave for its YouTube Shorts filter, but it's annoying with messages about setting it as default, Rewards, Brave Search, etc. Now that I've found a YouTube Shorts filter for Vivaldi, I'll uninstall Brave. You should try Vivaldi; it has a neat interface, no bloat, an effective ad blocker, and a refreshing look (not a Chrome clone).