--- title: My old Android phone became a better DNS server than a... description: An old Android phone was repurposed into a dedicated DNS server using Pi-hole running inside a Debian proot environment via Termux, avoiding the cost of buying... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-android-phone-became-a-better-dns-server-than-a-raspberry-pi-and-it-cost-nothing-ltbpnh7da twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: My old Android phone became a better DNS server than a Raspberry Pi, and it cost nothing | daily.dev og:description: An old Android phone was repurposed into a dedicated DNS server using Pi-hole running inside a Debian proot environment via Termux, avoiding the cost of buying... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-android-phone-became-a-better-dns-server-than-a-raspberry-pi-and-it-cost-nothing-ltbpnh7da og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/lTBPNH7Da.png og:image:alt: My old Android phone became a better DNS server than a Raspberry Pi, and it cost nothing og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # My old Android phone became a better DNS server than a Raspberry Pi, and it cost nothing **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An old Android phone was repurposed into a dedicated DNS server using Pi-hole running inside a Debian proot environment via Termux, avoiding the cost of buying a Raspberry Pi. The setup required bypassing a false IPv4 route detection in the Pi-hole installer, manually starting the FTLDNS service since systemd wasn't available under proot, and using Termux:Boot to auto-start Pi-hole after reboots. After 24 hours of production use it processed over 55,000 queries across nine devices with more than 15% blocked, though the author notes the phone needs constant power and lacks a proper init system for robust recovery, making a Raspberry Pi still easier to set up despite the phone's stronger hardware. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do you fix Pi-hole's installer failing to detect the IPv4 route when installing inside proot on Android/Termux? The IPv4 route detection failure inside proot is a false positive caused by proot interfering with the installer's ip route get check. Instead of running the automated one-line installer, download the pihole basic-install.sh script directly and bypass the check with a command like sed -i '788s/.*/\t\t:/' basic-install.sh, then run the modified script manually. _Developers troubleshooting proot-specific quirks compare workarounds like this on daily.dev._ ### How do you make Pi-hole start automatically on an Android phone running Debian via proot in Termux? Since systemd isn't available under proot, pihole-FTL must be started manually inside a tmux session using a command like su -c 'export PATH=...; proot-distro login debian -- pihole-FTL -f'. To survive reboots, place this command in a script under ~/.termux/boot/ using Termux:Boot, which triggers it automatically after the phone restarts. _Homelab builders wiring up unconventional hardware track setups like this on daily.dev._ ### Is an old Android phone reliable enough to replace a Raspberry Pi as a home DNS server? Yes, an old Android phone running Pi-hole handled over 55,000 DNS queries across nine devices in 24 hours, blocking more than 15% via blocklists and custom domains, performing comparably to a typical Pi-hole install. The trade-offs are needing constant power and lacking a proper init system, making crash recovery less polished than dedicated server hardware like a Raspberry Pi. _Anyone weighing spare hardware against buying a Raspberry Pi can follow real comparisons like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [An old phone beats a Raspberry Pi for everything except the one thing that matters](https://daily.dev/posts/an-old-phone-beats-a-raspberry-pi-for-everything-except-the-one-thing-that-matters-zj2e7lv97) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [I ditched my Raspberry Pi for an old Android phone, and my self-hosted services finally stopped throttling](https://daily.dev/posts/i-ditched-my-raspberry-pi-for-an-old-android-phone-and-my-self-hosted-services-finally-stopped-thro-nsk6jwqel) · XDA Developers · 24 upvotes · 3 comments - [My old phone can't replace a Raspberry Pi for this home server project](https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-phone-can-t-replace-a-raspberry-pi-for-this-home-server-project-m12nbcpfl) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I replaced my Raspberry Pi with an old phone, and it handled everything I threw at it](https://daily.dev/posts/i-replaced-my-raspberry-pi-with-an-old-phone-and-it-handled-everything-i-threw-at-it-epglbggec) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [my server is a phone now](https://daily.dev/posts/my-server-is-a-phone-now-qtzo1fdtc) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#raspberry-pi](https://daily.dev/tags/raspberry-pi), [#homelab](https://daily.dev/tags/homelab) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-android-phone-became-a-better-dns-server-than-a-raspberry-pi-and-it-cost-nothing-ltbpnh7da) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"My old Android phone became a better DNS server than a Raspberry Pi, and it cost nothing","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-android-phone-became-a-better-dns-server-than-a-raspberry-pi-and-it-cost-nothing-ltbpnh7da","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-android-phone-became-a-better-dns-server-than-a-raspberry-pi-and-it-cost-nothing-ltbpnh7da"},"datePublished":"2026-08-22T15:03:38.290Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T21:10:55.120Z","description":"An old Android phone was repurposed into a dedicated DNS server using Pi-hole running inside a Debian proot environment via Termux, avoiding the cost of buying...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6b3749004b800e42cfb0c00358b23ad5?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6b3749004b800e42cfb0c00358b23ad5?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-android-phone-became-a-better-dns-server-than-a-raspberry-pi-and-it-cost-nothing-ltbpnh7da","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"self-hosting,raspberry-pi,homelab","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"My old Android phone became a better DNS server than a Raspberry Pi, and it cost nothing"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-old-android-phone-became-a-better-dns-server-than-a-raspberry-pi-and-it-cost-nothing-ltbpnh7da#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do you fix Pi-hole's installer failing to detect the IPv4 route when installing inside proot on Android/Termux?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The IPv4 route detection failure inside proot is a false positive caused by proot interfering with the installer's ip route get check. 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