ENS has two apps. Most people use the ENS App (app.ens.domains): it covers registering, renewing, primary names, profiles and expiry alerts. ENS Explorer (explorer.ens.domains) is for power users and builders: it shows who owns any name, where it points, its roles and its history, and is the only place for some jobs (see the table).
Where to do each job
A tick means the job works in that app; a cross means it doesn't. v1 and v2 are explained below.
Job | ENS App | ENS Explorer |
Search for a name | ✓ | ✓ |
Register a | ✓ | ✓ |
Renew a name | ✓ | ✓ |
Renew a v1 name | ✓ | ✓ (with bulk renew) |
Renew several names at once | ✓ (v2 only) | ✓ |
Set your primary name | ✓ | ✓ |
Edit your name's addresses and text records | ✓ (v2 only) | ✓ |
Set a Default address, or a different address per chain | ✗ | ✓ |
Add your decentralised website (contenthash) | ✓ (v2 only) | ✓ |
Edit a v1 name | ✗ | ✓ |
Transfer a name to another wallet | ✗ | ✓ |
Choose who else can manage your name (roles) | ✗ | ✓ |
Choose who else can edit your records | ✗ | ✓ |
Change your resolver (the contract that stores your records) | ✗ | ✓ |
Create subnames | ✗ | ✓ |
Import a DNS name you own, like example.com | ✗ | ✓ |
See a name's history | ✗ | ✓ |
Looking things up needs no wallet; any change needs one: see Connect a wallet. For a tour of each app, see Find your way around the ENS App and Find your way around ENS Explorer.
Common questions
What are v1 and v2 names?
A v1 name hasn't been upgraded to ENSv2 yet; in the ENS App its renewal page shows an ENSv1 only badge. A v2 name is on ENSv2, including any upgraded name. Most v1 names can be upgraded to ENSv2; a name in grace must be renewed first.