Tor Browser

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.

Note: You can also download the latest beta version, Tor Browser 9.5.2 Alpha here.

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.

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.

Other

  • We ship the first release in Tor’s 0.3.2 series, 0.3.2.9. This release includes support for the Next Generation of Onion Services.
  • On the security side we enabled content sandboxing on Windows and fixed remaining issues on Linux that prevented printing to file from working properly. Additionally, we improved the compiler hardening on macOS and fixed holes in the W^X mitigation on Windows.
  • We finally moved away from Gitian/tor-browser-bundle as the base of our reproducible builds environment. Over the past weeks and months rbm/tor-browser-build got developed making it much easier to reproduce Tor Browser builds and to add reproducible builds for new platforms and architectures. This will allow us to ship 64bit bundles for Windows (currently in the alpha series available) and bundles for Android at the same day as the release for the current platforms/architectures is getting out.

What’s New:

This release features important security updates to Firefox. Tor Browser 9.5 Alpha download link updated.

Tor Browser 9.0 is the first stable release based on Firefox 68 ESR and contains a number of updates to other components as well (including Tor to 0.4.1.6 and OpenSSL to 1.1.1d for desktop versions and Tor to 0.4.1.5 for Android).

In addition to all the needed patch rebasing and toolchain updates, we made big improvements to make Tor Browser work better for you.

We want everyone in the world to be able to enjoy the privacy and freedom online Tor provides, and that’s why over the past couple years, we’ve been working hard to boost our UX and localization efforts, with the biggest gains first visible in Tor Browser 8.0.

In Tor Browser 9.0, we continue to build upon those efforts with sleeker integration and additional localization support.

Goodbye, Onion Button

We want your experience using Tor to be fully integrated within the browser so how you use Tor is more intuitive. That’s why now, rather than using the onion button that was in the toolbar, you can see your path through the Tor network and request a New Circuit through the Tor network in [i] on the URL bar.

Hello, New Identity Button

Instead of going into the onion button to request a New Identity, we’ve made this important feature easier to access by giving it its own button in the toolbar.

You can also request a New Identity, and a New Circuit, from within the [=] menu on the toolbar.

Torbutton And Tor Launcher Integration

Now that both extensions are tightly integrated into Tor Browser, they’ll no longer be found on the about:addons page.

We redesigned the bridge and proxy configuration dialogs and include them directly into the browser’s preference settings as well.

Rather than being a submenu behind the onion button, Tor Network Settings, including the ability to fetch bridges to bypass censorship where Tor is blocked, are easier to access on about:preferences#tor.

Better Localization Support

If we want all people around the world to be able to use our software, then we need to make sure it’s speaking their language. Since 8.0, Tor Browser has been available in 25 languages. Today, we add support for two additional languages: Macedonian (mk) and Romanian (ro), bringing the number of supported languages to 27.

We also fixed bugs in our previously shipped localized bundles (such as ar and ko).

Many thanks to everyone who helped with these, in particular to our translators.

Known Issue

As usual when preparing Tor Browser releases, we verified that the build is bit-for-bit reproducible. While we managed to get two matching builds, we found that in some occasions the builds differ (we found this happening on the Linux i686 and macOS bundles). We are still investigating the cause of this issue to fix it.

Give Feedback

If you find a bug or have a suggestion for how we could improve this release, please let us know. Thanks to all of the teams across Tor, and the many volunteers, who contributed to this release.

Changelog

The full changelog since Tor Browser 8.5.6 is:

All Platforms

  • Update Firefox to 68.2.0esr
  • Bug 31740: Remove some unnecessary RemoteSettings instances
  • Bug 13543: Spoof smooth and powerEfficient for Media Capabilities
  • Bug 28196: about:preferences is not properly translated anymore
  • Bug 19417: Disable asmjs on safer and safest security levels
  • Bug 30463: Explicitly disable MOZ_TELEMETRY_REPORTING
  • Bug 31935: Disable profile downgrade protection
  • Bug 16285: Disable DRM/EME on Android and drop Adobe CDM
  • Bug 31602: Remove Pocket indicators in UI and disable it
  • Bug 31914: Fix eslint linter error
  • Bug 30429: Rebase patches for Firefox 68 ESR
  • Bug 31144: Review network code changes for Firefox 68 ESR
  • Bug 10760: Integrate Torbutton into Tor Browser directly
  • Bug 25856: Remove XUL overlays from Torbutton
  • Bug 31322: Fix about:tor assertion failure debug builds
  • Bug 29430: Add support for meek_lite bridges to bridgeParser
  • Bug 28561: Migrate “About Tor Browser” dialog to tor-browser
  • Bug 30683: Prevent detection of locale via some *.properties
  • Bug 31298: Backport patch for #24056
  • Bug 9336: Odd wyswig schemes without isolation for browserspy.dk
  • Bug 27601: Browser notifications are not working anymore
  • Bug 30845: Make sure internal extensions are enabled
  • Bug 28896: Enable extensions in private browsing by default
  • Bug 31563: Reload search extensions if extensions.enabledScopes has changed
  • Bug 31396: Fix communication with NoScript for security settings
  • Bug 31142: Fix crash of tab and messing with about:newtab
  • Bug 29049: Backport JS Poison Patch
  • Bug 25214: Canvas data extraction on locale pdf file should be allowed
  • Bug 30657: Locale is leaked via title of link tag on non-html page
  • Bug 31015: Disabling SVG hides UI icons in extensions
  • Bug 30681: Set security.enterprise_roots.enabled to false
  • Bug 30538: Unable to comment on The Independent Newspaper
  • Bug 31209: View PDF in Tor Browser is fuzzy
  • Translations update

Windows + OS X + Linux

  • Update Tor to 0.4.1.6
  • Update OpenSSL to 1.1.1d
  • Bug 31844: OpenSSL 1.1.1d fails to compile for some platforms/architectures
  • Update Tor Launcher to 0.2.20.1
  • Bug 28044: Integrate Tor Launcher into tor-browser
  • Bug 32154: Custom bridge field only allows one line of input
  • Bug 31286: New strings for about:preferences#tor
  • Bug 31303: Do not launch tor in browser toolbox
  • Bug 32112: Fix bad & escaping in translations
  • Bug 31491: Clean up the old meek http helper browser profiles
  • Bug 29197: Remove use of overlays
  • Bug 31300: Modify Tor Launcher so it is compatible with ESR68
  • Bug 31487: Modify moat client code so it is compatible with ESR68
  • Bug 31488: Moat: support a comma-separated list of transports
  • Bug 30468: Add mk locale
  • Bug 30469: Add ro locale
  • Bug 30319: Remove FTE bits

Translations update

  • Bug 32092: Fix Tor Browser Support link in preferences
  • Bug 32111: Fixed issue parsing user-provided bridge strings
  • Bug 31749: Fix security level panel spawning events
  • Bug 31920: Fix Security Level panel when its toolbar button moves to overflow
  • Bug 31748+31961: Fix ‘Learn More’ links in Security Level preferences and panel
  • Bug 28044: Integrate Tor Launcher into tor-browser
  • Bug 31059: Enable Letterboxing
  • Bug 30468: Add mk locale
  • Bug 30469: Add ro locale
  • Bug 29430: Use obfs4proxy’s meek_lite with utls instead of meek
  • Bug 31251: Security Level button UI polish
  • Bug 31344: Register SecurityLevelPreference’s ‘unload’ callback
  • Bug 31286: Provide network settings on about:preferences#tor
  • Bug 31886: Fix ko bundle bustage
  • Bug 31768: Update onboarding for Tor Browser 9
  • Bug 27511: Add new identity button to toolbar
  • Bug 31778: Support dark-theme for the Circuit Display UI
  • Bug 31910: Replace meek_lite with meek in circuit display
  • Bug 30504: Deal with New Identity related browser console errors
  • Bug 31929: Don’t escape DTD entity in ar
  • Bug 31747: Some onboarding UI is always shown in English
  • Bug 32041: Replace = with real hamburguer icon ≡
  • Bug 30304: Browser locale can be obtained via DTD strings
  • Bug 31065: Set network.proxy.allow_hijacking_localhost to true
  • Bug 24653: Merge securityLevel.properties into torbutton.dtd
  • Bug 31164: Set up default bridge at Karlstad University
  • Bug 15563: Disable ServiceWorkers on all platforms
  • Bug 31598: Disable warning on window resize if letterboxing is enabled
  • Bug 31562: Fix circuit display for error pages
  • Bug 31575: Firefox is phoning home during start-up
  • Bug 31491: Clean up the old meek http helper browser profiles
  • Bug 26345: Hide tracking protection UI
  • Bug 31601: Disable recommended extensions again
  • Bug 30662: Don’t show Firefox Home when opening new tabs
  • Bug 31457: Disable per-installation profiles
  • Bug 28822: Re-implement desktop onboarding for ESR 68

Windows

  • Bug 31942: Re-enable signature check for language packs
  • Bug 29013: Enable stack protection for Firefox on Windows
  • Bug 30800: ftp:// on Windows can be used to leak the system time zone
  • Bug 31547: Back out patch for Mozilla’s bug 1574980
  • Bug 31141: Fix typo in font.system.whitelist
  • Bug 30319: Remove FTE bits

OS X

  • Bug 30126: Make Tor Browser compatible with macOS 10.15
  • Bug 31607: App menu items stop working on macOS
  • Bug 31955: On macOS avoid throwing inside nonBrowserWindowStartup()
  • Bug 29818: Adapt #13379 patch for 68esr
  • Bug 31464: Meek and moat are broken on macOS 10.9 with Go 1.12

Linux

  • Bug 31942: Re-enable signature check for language packs
  • Bug 31646: Update abicheck to require newer libstdc++.so.6
  • Bug 31968: Don’t fail if /proc/cpuinfo is not readable
  • Bug 24755: Stop using a heredoc in start-tor-browser
  • Bug 31550: Put curly quotes inside single quotes
  • Bug 31394: Replace “-1” with “−1” in start-tor-browser.desktop
  • Bug 30319: Remove FTE bits

Android

  • Update Tor to 0.4.1.5
  • Bug 31010: Rebase mobile patches for Fennec 68
  • Bug 31010: Don’t use addTrustedTab() on mobile
  • Bug 30607: Support Tor Browser running on Android Q
  • Bug 31192: Support x86_64 target on Android
  • Bug 30380: Cancel dormant by startup
  • Bug 30943: Show version number on mobile
  • Bug 31720: Enable website suggestions in address bar
  • Bug 31822: Security slider is not really visible on Android anymore
  • Bug 24920: Only create Private tabs in permanent Private Browsing Mode
  • Bug 31730: Revert aarch64-workaround against JIT-related crashes
  • Bug 32097: Fix conflicts in mobile onboarding while rebasing to 68.2.0esr

Build SystemAll Platforms

  • Bug 30585: Provide standalone clang 8 project across all platforms
  • Bug 30376: Use Rust 1.34 for Tor Browser 9
  • Bug 30490: Add cbindgen project for building Firefox 68 ESR/Fennec 68
  • Bug 30701: Add nodejs project for building Firefox 68 ESR/Fennec 68
  • Bug 31621: Fix node bug that makes large writes to stdout fail
  • Bug 30734: Add nasm project for building Firefox 68 ESR/Fennec 68
  • Bug 31293: Make sure the lo interface inside the containers is up
  • Bug 27493: Clean up mozconfig options
  • Bug 31308: Sync mozconfig files used in tor-browser over to tor-browser-build for esr68

Windows

  • Bug 29307: Use Stretch for cross-compiling for Windows
  • Bug 29731: Remove faketime for Windows builds
  • Bug 30322: Windows toolchain update for Firefox 68 ESR
  • Bug 28716: Create mingw-w64-clang toolchain
  • Bug 28238: Adapt firefox and fxc2 projects for Windows builds
  • Bug 28716: Optionally omit timestamp in PE header
  • Bug 31567: NS_tsnprintf() does not handle %s correctly on Windows
  • Bug 31458: Revert patch for #27503 and bump mingw-w64 revision used
  • Bug 9898: Provide clean fix for strcmpi issue in NSPR
  • Bug 29013: Enable stack protection support for Firefox on Windows
  • Bug 30384: Use 64bit containers to build 32bit Windows Tor Browser
  • Bug 31538: Windows bundles based on ESR 68 are not built reproducibly
  • Bug 31584: Clean up mingw-w64 project
  • Bug 31596: Bump mingw-w64 version to pick up fix for #31567
  • Bug 29187: Bump NSIS version to 3.04
  • Bug 31732: Windows nightly builds are busted due to mingw-w64 commit bump
  • Bug 29319: Remove FTE support for Windows

OS X

  • Bug 30323: MacOS toolchain update for Firefox 68 ESR
  • Bug 31467: Switch to clang for cctools project
  • Bug 31465: Adapt tor-browser-build projects for macOS notarization

Linux

  • Bug 31448: gold and lld break linking 32bit Linux bundles
  • Bug 31618: Linux32 builds of Tor Browser 9.0a6 are not matching
  • Bug 31450: Still use GCC for our ASan builds
  • Bug 30321: Linux toolchain update for Firefox ESR 68
  • Bug 30736: Install yasm from wheezy-backports
  • Bug 31447: Don’t install Python just for Mach
  • Bug 30448: Strip Browser/gtk2/libmozgtk.so
  • AndroidBug 30324: Android toolchain update for Fennec 68
  • Bug 31173: Update android-toolchain project to match Firefox
  • Bug 31389: Update Android Firefox to build with Clang
  • Bug 31388: Update Rust project for Android
  • Bug 30665: Get Firefox 68 ESR working with latest android toolchain
  • Bug 30460: Update TOPL project to use Firefox 68 toolchain
  • Bug 30461: Update tor-android-service project to use Firefox 68 toolchain
  • Bug 28753: Use Gradle with –offline when building the browser part
  • Bug 31564: Make Android bundles based on ESR 68 reproducible
  • Bug 31981: Remove require-api.patch
  • Bug 31979: TOPL: Sort dependency list
  • Bug 30665: Remove unnecessary build patches for Firefox

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