Tor Browser 14.5 is now available from the
Tor Browser download page and
distribution directory. This release marks the introduction of Connection Assist to Android, empowering mobile users who are subjected to strict censorship to unblock Tor at the press of a button. In addition, the Belarusian, Bulgarian and Portuguese (Portugal) languages are now available across all platforms.
What's new?
Connection Assist for Android
Tor aspires to connect as many people to the free and open internet as possible. But what happens if the Tor network itself is blocked in your country, by your ISP, or on your local network? The answer lies in
bridges: a type of relay that's hidden from censors using various techniques we collectively call
Pluggable Transports. However, censors may have found and blocked certain bridges already, and what works for one country or network may not work for another. This means that the process to find a working bridge to unblock Tor required some trial and error, and placed an undue burden on users who are subjected to strict censorship.
To simplify this process and help more users connect to Tor, we released Connection Assist for Linux, macOS and Windows in
Tor Browser 11.5. Subsequently, should Tor Browser fail to establish a direct connection to the Tor network, Connection Assist will offer to find and try bridges for you. But before this feature could be made available on Android, we had to embark on a multi-year effort to refactor our tor integration across each platform first. This project has now reached an important milestone, and we're proud to announce the release of Connection Assist for Android today.