Cloudflare WARP is a service provided by Cloudflare that is integrated with 1.1.1.1 to offer better online privacy and security. It allows you to surf the web with faster and lower-latency connections thanks to the widespread data centers available in the vast majority of the world.
What is Cloudflare WARP?
Cloudflare warp is a VPN for those who don’t know what VPN is. It acts like a regular VPN, but the functionality is not the same as what a regular VPN usually does. With Cloudflare warp, you can’t choose which server you want to use. It will just automatically choose the nearest server from your location, resulting in faster internet with lower latency.
Built on the same network as 1.1.1.1 DNS, the latency that Cloudflare WARP provides is pretty impressive. It can go as low as 13.66 ms, beating Google DNS with 22.78 ms, OpenDNS with 23.19 ms, and Verisign at 64.43 ms.
While offering a faster internet connection, Cloudflare WARP is also capable of protecting you from internet threats and malware.
How to Install Cloudflare WARP on Linux
Cloudflare WARP is available on many platforms, such as Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and of course Linux. Yes, Cloudflare officially gives support to Linux systems, which is great.
Even though the Linux version of Cloudflare WARP only comes in a command-line version. It would be great if we could get the GUI version too. But yeah, at least we still have official support from Cloudflare.
But worry not, because in this article I will guide you to install Cloudflare WARP on Linux. And not just that, I will guide you to configure the Cloudflare WARP and I will show you some of the important commands to use it properly.
Install Cloudflare WARP on Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Pop OS
The current version of Cloudflare WARP supports the following release versions:
- Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish
- Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa
- Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver
- Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus
So, any distro that is derived from those release versions should have no problem installing Cloudflare WARP.
To install Cloudflare WARP on ubuntu you can just follow the steps below
but before that, make sure that you have curl
installed already. If you don’t, you can install it by using the command below:
sudo apt install curl
Now that curl has been installed, we can proceed to the next step.
Install the GPG repository key by running the command below:
curl https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com/pubkey.gpg | sudo gpg --yes --dearmor --output /usr/share/keyrings/cloudflare-warp-archive-keyring.gpg
Add the repository to the apt sources using the following command:
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloudflare-warp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cloudflare-client.list
Now update your apt repository
sudo apt update
And finally, you can install cloudflare-warp
with the command below:
sudo apt install cloudflare-warp
Wait for the installation process to finish.
Install Cloudflare WARP on Fedora
First, you need to install the repository with the command below:
sudo rpm -ivh https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com/cloudflare-release-el8.rpm
After the repository installation is finished, now you need to edit /etc/yum.repos.d/cloudflare.repo
file. You can use any text editor, but in this tutorial, we will use nano.
To edit the file, run the following command:
sudo nano /etc/yum.repos.d/cloudflare.repo
The file inside /etc/yum.repos.d/cloudflare.repo
would be similar to this:
[cloudflare]
name=Cloudflare CentOS Packages
baseurl=https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com/dists/$releasever/main/binary-$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CLOUDFLARE-3
look for the line baseurl=https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com/dists/$releasever/main/binary-$basearch
change the $releasever
to 8, so the line would look like this
baseurl=https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com/dists/8/main/binary-$basearch
Save the file by pressing CTRL + O
, and exit from nano by pressing CTRL + X
.
Then the last step is installing Cloudflare WARP into your fedora machine
sudo dnf install cloudflare-warp
Wait until the installation process is finished
Install Cloudflare WARP on Arch Linux/Manjaro
It’s pretty straightforward to install Cloudflare WARP on Arch Linux or Manjaro, just run the command below, and the installation process should begin.
yay -Syy cloudflare-warp-bin
How to Configure Cloudflare WARP
After successfully installing Cloudflare WARP on your Linux distribution, now we are going to learn how to use and configure it.
It is important to configure it properly in order to surf the internet with the protection you choose.
First Setup
The first thing you need to do after completing the installation process is register and accept their privacy policy.
This setup is a necessary step before you can use Cloudflare WARP. To register, use the command below:
warp-cli register
You will be prompted to read and accept their terms of service and privacy policy. Enter Y to accept their terms and start using the Cloudflare WARP.
After accepting their terms and privacy policy, you can now begin to use the Cloudflare WARP.
Connect to Cloudflare WARP
To start using the blazing-fast Cloudflare WARP, you can connect using this command:
warp-cli connect
Just hit enter, and now your internet should be connected through the Cloudflare network.
To check your connection status, use the following command:
warp-cli status
If the connection is successful, it should display the status as connected.
Disconnect from Cloudflare WARP
To disable connection from Cloudflare, use the disconnect option.
warp-cli disconnect
Enable Always On Mode
In case you want to stay connected to Cloudflare WARP, you have the option to enable the always-on mode. To do so, use this command:
warp-cli enable-always-on
Now every time you log in to your computer, your internet connection will automatically connect through Cloudflare WARP.
Switch the Connection Mode
There are some connection modes you can use. Some of them are:
warp
doh
warp+doh
dot
warp+dot
proxy
To switch the connection mode, use the following format:
warp-cli set-mode [mode]
For example:
Switch the connection mode to WARP
warp-cli set-mode warp
Switch the connection mode to use DNS over HTTPS
warp-cli set-mode doh
Switch the connection mode to use both WARP and DNS over HTTPS
warp-cli set-mode warp+doh
Switch the connection mode to use DNS over TLS
warp-cli set-mode dot
Those are some examples of how to switch connection modes in Cloudflare WARP. Most of the time, I only use warp
mode and doh
mode.
Enable families-mode Protection
warp-cli
provides neat features to protect you when you are surfing the internet. It protects you from internet threats and malware. warp-cli
is also capable of filtering and blocking adult content too.
There are 3 protection modes you can use:
1. Disable families-mode. All protections are disabled
warp-cli set-families-mode off
2. Enable malware protection. This will protect you from internet malware.
warp-cli set-families-mode malware
3. Enable malware and adult content protection. This will protect you from internet malware and filter adult content.
warp-cli set-families-mode full
I recommend you enable full protection mode to ensure a safer and more private internet experience.
Display the Current Applied Settings
All the settings that you have applied can be seen by running the following command:
warp-cli settings
Reset All the Settings to Default
In case you want to revert back to the default settings, you can do that by using the reset option with the command below:
warp-cli reset-settings
See Other Available Commands
You can see all the available warp-cli
commands by using the help
option:
warp-cli help
How to Uninstall Cloudflare WARP on Linux
When you don’t need warp-cli
anymore, you can uninstall it easily with just a simple command.
Uninstall Cloudflare WARP on Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Pop OS
For Ubuntu, you can uninstall it by using the command below:
sudo apt remove cloudflare-warp
Uninstall Cloudflare WARP on Fedora
On Fedora, it’s also similar but we use dnf
instead of apt
sudo dnf remove cloudflare-warp
Uninstall Cloudflare WARP on Arch Linux/Manjaro
With Arch Linux or Manjaro, you can uninstall it using the following command:
sudo pacman -R cloudflare-warp-bin
Conclusion
Cloudflare WARP is a useful app to improve your internet experience by providing better latency and, at the same time, protecting you from internet threats and malware.
You have just learned how to install and configure Cloudflare WARP on Linux. It’s quite a long tutorial, but I hope you enjoy the process.