Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy.

Individuals use Tor to keep websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local Internet providers. Tor's hidden services let users publish web sites and other services without needing to reveal the location of the site. Individuals also use Tor for socially sensitive communication: chat rooms and web forums for rape and abuse survivors, or people with illnesses.

Who uses the Tor Browser?

With Tor Browser having made Tor more accessible to everyday internet users and activists, Tor was an instrumental tool during the Arab Spring beginning in late 2010. It not only protected people's identity online but also allowed them to access critical resources, social media, and websites which were blocked.

Individuals use Tor to keep websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local Internet providers. Tor's hidden services let users publish web sites and other services without needing to reveal the location of the site. Individuals also use Tor for socially sensitive communication: chat rooms and web forums for rape and abuse survivors, or people with illnesses.

Journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they're in a foreign country, without notifying everybody nearby that they're working with that organization.

Groups such as Indymedia recommend Tor for safeguarding their members' online privacy and security. Activist groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recommend Tor as a mechanism for maintaining civil liberties online. Corporations use Tor as a safe way to conduct competitive analysis, and to protect sensitive procurement patterns from eavesdroppers. They also use it to replace traditional VPNs, which reveal the exact amount and timing of communication. Which locations have employees working late? Which locations have employees consulting job-hunting websites? Which research divisions are communicating with the company's patent lawyers?

A branch of the U.S. Navy uses Tor for open source intelligence gathering, and one of its teams used Tor while deployed in the Middle East recently. Law enforcement uses Tor for visiting or surveilling web sites without leaving government IP addresses in their web logs, and for security during sting operations.

What is Tor Browser?

The Tor Browser is the flagship product from the Tor Project. The web browser is based on a modified version of Mozilla Firefox ESR that includes extras like the Tor proxy, TorButton, TorLauncher, NoScript, and HTTPS Everywhere extensions.

How does the Tor Browser keep my internet activity anonymous?

The Tor Browser uses the Tor network, which consists of more than six thousand relays located worldwide, to hide the users' location and online traffic. This ensures anonymity and avoids your activities from being seen by others.

Is Tor better than a VPN?

Tor is not a VPN. Tor is a free browser similar to Chrome or Firefox, but it includes features that encrypt your IP address, making your browsing sessions private. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is software that can change your IP address when you use any browser installed on your PC. To learn more about VPNs, you can read this article.

Journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they're in a foreign country, without notifying everybody nearby that they're working with that organization.

Groups such as Indymedia recommend Tor for safeguarding their members' online privacy and security. Activist groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recommend Tor as a mechanism for maintaining civil liberties online. Corporations use Tor as a safe way to conduct competitive analysis, and to protect sensitive procurement patterns from eavesdroppers. They also use it to replace traditional VPNs, which reveal the exact amount and timing of communication. Which locations have employees working late? Which locations have employees consulting job-hunting websites? Which research divisions are communicating with the company's patent lawyers?

A branch of the U.S. Navy uses Tor for open source intelligence gathering, and one of its teams used Tor while deployed in the Middle East recently. Law enforcement uses Tor for visiting or surveilling web sites without leaving government IP addresses in their web logs, and for security during sting operations.

Welcome Screen

Our old screen had way too much information for the users, leading many of them to spend great time confused about what to do. Some users at the paper experiment spent up to 40min confused about what they needed to be doing here. Besides simplifying the screen and the message, to make it easier for the user to know if they need to configure anything or not, we also did a 'brand refresh' bringing our logo to the launcher.

Censorship circumvention configuration

This is one of the most important steps for a user who is trying to connect to Tor while their network is censoring Tor. We also worked really hard to make sure the UI text would make it easy for the user to understand what a bridge is for and how to configure to use one. Another update was a little tip we added at the drop-down menu (as you can see below) for which bridge to use in countries that have very sophisticated censorship methods.

Proxy help information

The proxy settings at our Tor Launcher configuration wizard is an important feature for users who are under a network that demands such configuration. But it can also lead to a lot of confusion if the user has no idea what a proxy is. Since it is a very important feature for users, we decided to keep it in the main configuration screen and introduced a help prompt with an explanation of when someone would need such configuration.

As part of our work with the UX team, we will also be coordinating user testing of this new UI to continue iterating and make sure we are always improving our users' experience. We are also planning a series of improvements not only for the Tor Launcher flow but for the whole browser experience (once you are connected to Tor) including a new user onboarding flow. And last but not least we are streamlining both our mobile and desktop experience: Tor Browser 7.5 adapted the security slider design we did for mobile bringing the improved user experience to the desktop as well.

What's New

Tor Browser 12.5.5 is now available:

All Platforms

Updated tor to 0.4.7.15

  • Updated NoScript to 11.4.27
  • Updated Translations
  • Bug tor-browser#42120: Use foursquare as domain front for snowflake
  • Bug tor-browser#42123: Backport security fixes from Firefox 118 to ESR 102.15 / 115.3 - based Tor Browser

Windows + macOS + Linux

  • Bug tor-browser#42126: moat and connect assist broken for people who can't reach domain front

Tor Browser 12.5.2 changelog

This release updates Firefox to 102.15.0esr, including bug fixes, stability improvements and important security updates. We also backported the Android-specific security updates from Firefox 117.

The full changelog since Tor Browser 12.5.2 is:

All Platforms

  • Updated Translations
  • Updated OpenSSL to 1.1.1v
  • Bug tor-browser#42033: Rebase the releases onto 102.15.0esr
  • Bug tor-browser#42053: Backport security fixes from Firefox 117 to ESR 102.15 - based Tor Browser

Windows + macOS + Linux

  • Updated Firefox to 102.15.0esr

Android

  • Updated GeckoView to 102.15.0esr

Build System

  • Updated Go to 1.20.7
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40740: Tor Browser for Android's snowflake ClientTransportPlugin seems to be out of date
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40786: deploy_update_responses-*.sh requires +r permissions to run
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40905: Go vendor archives ignore the nightly version override on testbuilds
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40913: add boklm back to list of taggers in relevant projects
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40921: staticiforme-prepare-cdn-dist-upload uses hardcoded torbrowser path for .htacess file generation
  • Tor Browser 12.5.2 changelog

The full changelog since Tor Browser 12.5.1 is:

All Platforms

  • Updated Translations
  • Updated NoScript to 11.4.26
  • Bug tor-browser#41908: Rebase stable 12.5 to 102.14esr

Windows + macOS + Linux

  • Updated Firefox to 102.14.0esr

Windows

  • Bug tor-browser#41761: xul.dll win crash tor-browser 12.5.1 (based on Mozilla Firefox 102.13.0esr) (64-Bit)

Android

  • Updated GeckoView to 102.14.0esr
  • Bug tor-browser#41928: Backport Android-specific security fixes from Firefox 116 to ESR 102.14 / 115.1 - based Tor Browser

Build System

All Platforms

  • Updated Go to 1.20.6
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40889: Add mullvad sha256sums URL to tools/signing/download-unsigned-sha256sums-gpg-signatures-from-people-tpo
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40894: Fix format of keyring/boklm.gpg
  • Bug tor-browser-build#40909: Add dan_b and ma1 to list of taggers in relevant projects

Windows

  • Bug tor-browser-build#31546: Create and expose PDB files for Tor Browser debugging on Windows

Tor Browser 12.5.1 changelog

This release updates Firefox to 102.13.0esr, including bug fixes, stability improvements and important security updates. There were no Android-specific security updates to backport from the Firefox 115 release

The full changelog since Tor Browser 12.5 is:

All Platforms

  • Updated Translations
  • Updated NoScript to 11.4.24
  • Bug tor-browser#41860: Rebase 12.5 stable to 102.13esr

Windows + macOS + Linux

  • Updated Firefox to 102.13.0esr
  • Bug tor-browser#41854: Download Spam Protection cannot be overridden to allow legitimate downloads
  • Bug tor-browser#41856: Onion service authorization prompt's key field does not get focus when clicked
  • Bug tor-browser#41858: 'Learn more' link in onboarding links to 12.0 release notes and not 12.5

Android

  • Updated GeckoView to 102.13.0esr