Android hides this one well. The proxy setting is not in the main settings menu, and it is not under anything called Proxy. It belongs to an individual Wi-Fi network, which is why people hunt for it for a while before finding it.
Here is exactly where it lives.
Setting it
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Open Settings, then Network and internet, then Wi-Fi (some phones call it Connections then Wi-Fi).
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Find the network you are currently connected to and tap the gear icon next to it. On Samsung phones, tap the network name and then Advanced.
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Look for Proxy. It is usually near the bottom and usually set to None. On some phones you have to tap Modify network and then expand Advanced options before it appears.
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Change it from None to Manual.
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Two fields appear:
- Proxy hostname: the address on its own, like
203.0.113.10. Nohttp://. - Proxy port: the number on its own, like
8080.
- Proxy hostname: the address on its own, like
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Tap Save.
Android applies it straight away. There is nothing to restart and no need to toggle Wi-Fi off and on.
The two things worth knowing before you rely on this
It only covers Wi-Fi. The proxy field is a property of the Wi-Fi network you set it on. Step outside, drop onto mobile data, and your traffic goes out normally with no proxy at all. Android has no built-in proxy setting for mobile data. If that matters to you, this screen is not the tool.
It is per network. Set it on your home Wi-Fi and it applies only there. Join a different network and you get a clean slate. This trips people up in both directions: they wonder why the proxy stopped working after they moved rooms, or they forget one is set and spend an afternoon confused about why one specific network seems broken.
If your proxy needs a username and password
Stock Android's proxy fields do not have anywhere to put them. There is no username box on this screen.
Some manufacturers add one, and some do not. If yours does not, and your proxy requires authentication, the usual signs are pages that never load or a login prompt that keeps reappearing. In that case you need an app that handles the authentication itself rather than the system setting.
Free proxies from public lists have no username or password, so this section will not apply to most people reading it.
Check that it worked
Open Chrome and visit any page that shows your IP address. If the proxy is doing its job, you will see the proxy's address rather than your own.
It is worth testing the proxy before you put it into your phone. Our proxy checker opens a real connection to the address and tells you whether it answered, what protocols it spoke and how fast it was. Doing that first separates "this proxy is dead" from "I typed it wrong", which is otherwise impossible to tell apart from a phone that simply will not load anything.
Turning it off
Same path: Settings, Network and internet, Wi-Fi, gear icon, Proxy, set it back to None, save.
If your phone suddenly cannot load anything on one particular Wi-Fi network, this is the first place to look. A dead proxy and a broken network feel exactly the same from the outside.
About free proxies on a phone
A phone is a worse place for a free proxy than a computer, for one specific reason: you notice the failure much later. On a laptop you see a page stall. On a phone, apps quietly fail to sync, notifications stop arriving, and you find out hours afterwards.
Free proxies drop offline constantly. We publish a free proxy list where every address is re-tested continuously and the uptime figure is measured rather than claimed, and even the healthiest entries there come and go. Use one for something casual. Do not leave one configured on the phone you rely on.