Tor Browser
Protects against the following threat(s):
Tor is a group of volunteer-operated servers that allows you to connect for free and improve your privacy and security on the Internet. Individuals and organizations can also share information over the Tor network with ".onion hidden services" without compromising their privacy. Because Tor traffic is difficult to block and trace, Tor is an effective censorship circumvention tool.
Tip
Before connecting to Tor, please ensure you've read our overview on what Tor is and how to connect to it safely. We often recommend connecting to Tor through a trusted VPN provider, but you have to do so properly to avoid decreasing your anonymity.
There are a variety of ways to connect to the Tor network from your device, the most commonly used being the Tor Browser, a fork of Firefox designed for anonymous browsing for desktop computers and Android.
Some of these apps are better than others, and again making a determination comes down to your threat model. If you are a casual Tor user who is not worried about your ISP collecting evidence against you, using apps like Orbot or mobile browser apps to access the Tor network is probably fine. Increasing the number of people who use Tor on an everyday basis helps reduce the bad stigma of Tor, and lowers the quality of "lists of Tor users" that ISPs and governments may compile.
If more complete anonymity is paramount to your situation, you should only be using the desktop Tor Browser client, ideally in a Whonix + Qubes configuration. Mobile browsers are less common on Tor (and more fingerprintable as a result), and other configurations are not as rigorously tested against de-anonymization.
Tor Browser
Tor Browser is the choice if you need anonymity, as it provides you with access to the Tor network and bridges, and it includes default settings and extensions that are automatically configured by the default security levels: Standard, Safer and Safest.
Downloads
Danger
You should never install any additional extensions on Tor Browser or edit about:config settings, including the ones we suggest for Firefox. Browser extensions and non-standard settings make you stand out from others on the Tor network, thus making your browser easier to fingerprint.
The Tor Browser is designed to prevent fingerprinting, or identifying you based on your browser configuration. Therefore, it is imperative that you do not modify the browser beyond the default security levels.
In addition to installing Tor Browser on your computer directly, there are also operating systems designed specifically to connect to the Tor network such as Whonix on Qubes OS, which provide even greater security and protections than the standard Tor Browser alone.
Orbot
Orbot is a free Tor VPN for smartphones which routes traffic from any app on your device through the Tor network.
Downloads
We previously recommended enabling the Isolate Destination Address preference in Orbot settings. While this setting can theoretically improve privacy by enforcing the use of a different circuit for each IP address you connect to, it doesn't provide a practical advantage for most applications (especially web browsing), can come with a significant performance penalty, and increases the load on the Tor network. We no longer recommend adjusting this setting from its default value unless you know you need to.1
Tips for Android
Orbot can proxy individual apps if they support SOCKS or HTTP proxying. It can also proxy all your network connections using VpnService and can be used with the VPN killswitch in 
Settings → Network & internet → VPN → → Block connections without VPN.
Orbot is often outdated on the Guardian Project's F-Droid repository and Google Play, so consider downloading directly from the GitHub repository instead.
All versions are signed using the same signature so they should be compatible with each other.
Onion Browser (iOS)
Onion Browser is an open-source browser that lets you browse the web anonymously over the Tor network on iOS devices and is endorsed by the Tor Project. Read our latest Onion Browser review.
Downloads
Onion Browser does not provide the same levels of privacy protections as Tor Browser does on desktop platforms. For casual use it is a perfectly fine way to access hidden services, but if you're concerned about being traced or monitored by advanced adversaries you should not rely on this as an anonymity tool.
-
The
IsolateDestAddrsetting is discussed on the Tor mailing list and Whonix's Stream Isolation documentation, where both projects suggest that it is usually not a good approach for most people. ↩
Share this website and spread privacy knowledge
Copy this text to easily share Privacy Guides with your friends and family on any social network!