NextDNS bypasses age verification

Usually, I don't help potential minors bypass age verifications, not just because of the potential issues that can arise from being contacted by minors but more commonly because they tend to be rude and extremely ignorant yet very opinionated, in other words they ruin everything on the internet. 

But I digress, since we all know the age verification trend of recent memory isn't about the minors at all but rather to harvest our data for cross-reference. I decided to try out this DNS server. Now, keep in mind it's age verification bypass feature is still in beta, but it's better than nothing. 

So how has it been performing? So far so good. I've tried on streaming services, even on Nvidia's GeForce now and it works just as intended when it comes to DNS resolution, loading pages fast and not having many latency issues if any. 

But the best part about NextDNS is how customizable it is. You can use it to block ads and trackers, although keep in mind that it won't block YouTube ads, use Firefox on mobile and SmartTube on Android TV. Unfortunately, you cannot supply your own AdBlock list, you'll have to use the ones available, I suppose you could contact their support to add specific lists but I didn't try so I don't know if it would work.

However, I noticed that it did block ads on many other apps in my smartphone like Yahoo mail, Mega, Tubi and in others such as Duolingo, it displayed only their own ads, however the app started to behave erratically like it wouldn't load the gem store. Personally, I'm ok with that but it's something to keep in mind, it will ruin parts of an app if not used sparingly. Speaking of which, don't use 1host (extra) as that list blocks Spacehey.

I noticed that the battery life of my smartphone improved by using it's tracker blocking feature, but take that with a grain of salt as it could be a placebo effect. 

I have set up two profiles, one I use for my smartphones, tablets and PC, which is more stric and one for my Android TV devices, which is more relaxed and focuses more on blocking trackers than ads. You can create as many profiles as you want, all profiles are completely independent from each other. You can mix and match features for different profiles. 

You can also decide if you want to keep logs and where to keep them. Personally, I use logs to debug my AdBlock list selection, however I chose to store my logs in Switzerland due to that country's strict privacy laws.

Another cool feature is the blocking of phishing and malware, specially cryptojacking, meaning your devices cannot be used to mine cryptocurrency. You can also block newly registered domains (made in the last month) and parked domains, although I didn't test these two features. 

So how about the pricing? Well, at first you don't need to sign up, however, you'll need to sign up in order to save your settings, NextDNS creates a temporary account that lasts 7 days, keep in mind that many useful settings are turned off by default. On the free tier you're allowed up to 300000 queries by month between all your profiles, if you want unlimited queries you can pay 2 USD per month or 20 USD per year. Once you've reached the 300K queries it turns off all the features until the next month, however you can still use it as a DNS server. Keep this in mind in case you plan on using it in multiple devices. 

So how do I set it up? Just head over to NextDNS.io and then click where it says "try it now", it will create the temporary account I mentioned earlier, from there, you can decide if you just want to test it or if you want sign up to save your settings. It also has many instructions for different platforms, however I found the windows one to not be very useful, it was a good thing I am a little tech savvy and knew how to use change DNS settings on windows. Once you've set it up, refresh the setup page to see if it's actually using the DNS. 

On Android TV it's a little more tricky, but not that difficult. I found this guide on Reddit that explains what to do. I advise using a different profile for your Android TV. Anyway, let me know if you use it and if it works. And also, feel free to ask me anything I might have missed in this blog post.