There aren’t many methods that you can help you keep your virtual footprints hidden on the internet. At least, nothing comes close to the high level of anonymity that the Tor Project provides you online.
Browsing on mobile devices was never as safe as desktop, and governments have been trying to keep an eye on their citizens. Many countries including India, China, Iran, North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and even the UK and the US have been keeping a check on the internet.
Many of us want to surf the web anonymously with the best possible privacy features and Tor provides exactly that. And now its available for your Android-powered mobile devices too.
Why Mobile Browser?
The Tor project offers security coupled with anonymity. The non-profit is aiming to boost secure web browsing on mobile devices, and with a particular focus on low-end devices using limited data plans and low bandwidth.
Developed markets have a large number of high-end devices. However, there are countries where accessing internet with limited data bundles and low-end devices is a norm.
The anonymous browsing service provider and the Guardian project – a tool and hardware developer catering to censorship-related issues globally – have introduced Orfox for safe web browsing on low-end devices.
About Orfox
After a year of discussions and hard work, the Orfox project is good to go and has already enabled desktop-class security that Tor is known for.
The Tor browser for mobile devices, Orfox, was a Google Summer of Code project, which facilitated web browsing on devices over the Tor network.
There have been numerous improvements in the product which was initially introduced to the consumers, including changes to the user interface and the security slider.
Multiple copies of the Orfox browser were developed by the UX team in collaboration with the Guardian project, which were later rolled out to selected users in India and the US. The feedback was used to improve the design as well as the functionalities.
How Does It Work
The latest Android version of Orfox lets you customize your security settings as per your needs.
Whether you want minimal security or highest level of security, you can use Orfox to customize your experience.
However, this also changes your website experience as the higher security levels block certain items and portions of the website to ensure total privacy.
Sometimes videos might not load due to the blockage of suspicious JavaScript code used by hackers to identify your device.
The Tor project team has accelerated its efforts to improve the mobile experience and with every update in the Tor browser, the team will be working on introducing new features to the Orfox browser.
Download Orfox Today
The latest version of the Android app is available here.
The apk (installation file) for the app can be downloaded from GitHub or F-Droid.
If its a good application then i will definitely use it.
What about the news that American agencies are major financial contributors for TOR project.
nobody is safe when going Online … we have to keep it in our mind. we all are using their Tools and read carefully “which were later rolled out to selected users in India and the US”
Can this be detected by local ISP that you are over a TOR network, post doesn’t say anything about that.