Tor Browser for Android based on new Firefox is coming out

The Tor Browser for Android based on the new version of Firefox released earlier this year has been released. The beta period of the new version lasted three weeks. The new version now has the same functions as the old one, Tor Project says.

It is version 10.0.0.3, says Tor Project. It is based on Firefox 81 ‘Fenix’ for Android, instead of Firefox 68 ESR. The test version for the new browser came out three weeks ago and is now stable enough to release as a stable version.

The next step is to add features to the Android version that are already in the desktop version, such as Circuit Display and New Identities. Circuit Display can display all intermediate nodes, while New Identities can let users surf to a site without previous visits being logable or discoverable. In addition, the Android version must recognize and support short tor.onion addresses.

The Tor Browser for Android is based on Firefox, but has modifications to improve the security and privacy of the browser. Among those changes are the disabling of telemetry, tls 1.0 and 1.1, Cleartext traffic and a push notification option.

When using the Tor Browser, the user’s internet traffic is redirected and encrypted through a network of thousands of servers known as Tor relays. This should make it almost impossible to identify visitors based on the browser and the hardware with which they visit websites, so-called fingerprinting. In addition, the Tor Browser makes it possible to visit pages that have been blocked in some way.