How to Bypass Forced DNS on Roku

Since the upgrade to firmware version 5.4 some apps are now using Google DNS hardcoded into the app.  As a result it is bypassing DNS settings made on your router. Also please note that since firmware version 6.1 it is also using 8.8.4.4 so both 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 should be blocked. 

It's important to note this is not an error with our service but rather a hardware restriction imposed by Roku. For what it's worth this behavior has been seen with PS3 before and have since gone away. 
 

Blocking Google DNS on the Router

In order to get around this issue you will need to force traffic going to Google DNS to go to our servers instead. 

We will update this page with a list of guides for the routers we have available. Please don’t ask for additional guides not listed here.

​Important

First step of troubleshooting should always be to restart device(s) and router. Then check your setup status in your SmartDNS dashboard

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