How to set up a proxy on Android

Setup guide · Last revised Oct 19, 2026

Set it up

1. Open Settings, then Network & internet, then Internet.
2. Tap the Wi-Fi network you are on, then Edit (a pencil on some phones).
3. Open Advanced options.
4. Under Proxy, choose Manual.
5. Enter the proxy’s host name and port from your provider’s dashboard (for example proxy.example.com and 8000), and any sites to skip.
6. Tap Save.

The login problem

If your phone’s proxy screen asks only for a host name and a port, it has nowhere to put a username and password, and a proxy that needs one will refuse every page with a 407. The way round it is IP allowlisting: add the public address of the Wi-Fi connection the phone uses (open https://api.ipify.org on the phone with the proxy off) to the allowed addresses in the provider’s dashboard (username and password vs IP whitelist). A home connection’s address can change; when it does, add the new one.

Check that it works

With the proxy on, open https://api.ipify.org in Chrome: it should show the proxy’s address, not the one you allowlisted. https://ipinfo.io/country shows its country. Switch to mobile data and reload: the setting belongs to the Wi-Fi network, so mobile data connects without it.

What to know before you rely on it

• Apps choose whether to follow it. Chrome does; an app that makes its own connections may not.
• Every network needs its own setting, and mobile data has none in this screen.
• On a plan billed by the GB, everything that goes through the proxy counts, app updates and backups included. Set the proxy back to None when you finish. What a GB costs today: residential proxy prices and mobile.

Next

How to test a proxy runs the same checks with curl on a computer. The same setting on an iPhone: iPhone.