Tor Project blog

New Release: Tails 7.13

2026-09-16T00:00:00Z

Changes and updates

Update Tor Browser to 15.0.23.
Update the Tor client to 0.4.9.12.
Simplify the shutdown procedure.

Since Tails 7.10, you had to confirm shutting down in a Power Off dialog. For faster shutdowns, we removed this dialog when no application needs to be closed and no document needs to be saved before shutting down.

Get Tails 7.13

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your Persistent Storage

Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 7.0 or later to 7.13.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails 7.13 on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions.

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 7.13 directly:

Support and feedback

For support and feedback, visit the Support section on the Tails website.

New Release: Tor Browser 15.0.23

2026-09-15T00:00:00Z

Tor Browser 15.0.23 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

This version includes important security updates to Firefox.

Windows Package Signature Issue

The DigiCert EV code-signing certificate we use to sign Windows installation packages is expired since September 1st and we are currently in the process to renew it. Unfortunately, this process is delayed and not yet complete.

This has caused Windows users trying to install Tor Browser 15.0.21 and 15.0.22 from scratch to receive "bad signature" warnings.

As a temporary work-around, for Windows only we're keeping Tor Browser 15.0.20 (the latest correctly signed version) listed on our download page, relying on automatic updates (which are signed with a different key, not involving this expired certificate) to bring Windows users to the current version.

Users who prefer to download the latest version directly, ignoring the certificate expiration warning, can download it from https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/15.0.23/.

Send us your feedback

If you find a bug or have a suggestion for how we could improve this release, please let us know.

Full changelog

The full changelog since Tor Browser 15.0.22 is:

All Platforms
- Updated NoScript to 13.6.33.1984
- Bug tor-browser#45296: (H1) SharedWorker Identity Mismatch allows WebAssembly execution at Safer
- Bug tor-browser#45297: (H1) Missing setHTMLUnsafe hook leaves a permanent WebAssembly-capable child realm at Safer
- Bug tor-browser#45299: Backport Security Fixes from Firefox 156
- Bug tor-browser#45303: Rebase Tor Browser stable onto 140.16.0esr
- Bug tor-browser-build#41875: Update relprep.py for the new versions.ini URL
Windows + macOS + Linux
- Updated Firefox to 140.16.0esr
Linux
- Bug tor-browser#44996: Change the 32-bit linux message to the expired version for the final 15.0 release
Android
- Updated GeckoView to 140.16.0esr
Build System
- All Platforms
  - Bug tor-browser-build#41871: Update downloads repository references in relprep templates

New Release: Tor Browser 15.0.22

2026-09-09T00:00:00Z

Tor Browser 15.0.22 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

This version includes important security updates to Tor.

Send us your feedback

If you find a bug or have a suggestion for how we could improve this release, please let us know.

Full changelog

The full changelog since Tor Browser 15.0.21 is:

All Platforms
- Updated Tor to 0.4.9.12

Tor VPN Beta: What we've learned building our own VPN for Android from scratch

2026-09-09T00:00:00Z

For years, Tor Browser has been one of the most effective tools for protecting privacy and bypassing censorship online. But most people don't experience the internet through a browser anymore. They connect to it via their favorite apps. Wouldn't it be nice to extend the same privacy protections to messaging apps, social media, email, and other services?

And for years, we heard this again and again in our user research. People wanted a simple way to protect their entire device, which inspired the idea for Tor VPN back in 2021. We focused on Android first, where the need was greatest and where we could reach the most users in censored regions. We built Tor VPN Beta as a first version, with the expectation that we would learn from real-world use. And when we first launched Tor VPN Beta for Android in a limited release last fall, the primary use case quickly became much clearer: unblock the internet. This has shaped how we've prioritized development and user support in the time since the initial launch, and how we think about the product moving forward.

What makes Tor VPN different

Unlike commercial VPNs, Tor VPN Beta is built on a fundamentally different model. It is our first step into device-level network protection on mobile to extend Tor's protections beyond the browser. Each mobile app on your device gets its own Tor circuit, rather than sharing a single tunnel. That means activity from one app can't easily be linked to another. This type of app isolation is a design choice heavily inspired by the cross-site tracking protections in Tor Browser¹. It's a different model from most VPNs, and one that's designed to reduce cross-tracking by default.

As Tor VPN Beta has matured, we've also worked on making that app-level control easier to use. The Apps screen is now searchable, so people can more quickly find a specific app and decide whether it should be routed through Tor.

Rethinking how we design for circumvention

While Tor VPN Beta includes features commonly associated with VPNs, such as exit selection, those aren't always the right approach for users trying to bypass censorship. This was one of the most important lessons that came from usability testing and early feedback during the development stage.

We originally explored giving users more control over exit selection, which, on paper, sounded great. But in practice, this introduced confusion. Users trying to bypass censorship were selecting exit locations when they should have been using bridges instead. There was a mismatch between how Tor works and how people expected it to work. This is why the current design required connecting the app to the Tor network first before selecting an exit. Exit selection is still something we want to explore more fully in the future, but it needs to be introduced in a way that doesn't create user error in high-risk situations.

Used where it's needed most

Early on, we saw strong adoption in highly censored regions, including Iran and Turkmenistan. This stood in contrast to Tor Browser for Android, which tends to skew more toward users in the Global North. With Tor VPN Beta, we're seeing much deeper engagement from users in the Global South, people dealing with network restrictions as a daily reality.

Because of how people are using Tor VPN Beta, we've doubled down on improving its circumvention capabilities. One example was prioritizing the addition of WebTunnel bridges with one of the early releases (1.4.0 beta), which helps Tor traffic look like regular encrypted web traffic. This makes it harder for censors to detect and block connections. We have also fixed several bugs and made quality-of-life improvements across bridge support more generally, with the goal of making bridge use more reliable.

Stability and reliability matter just as much as features

In fact, a significant amount of work since the early release has gone into improving stability. Tor VPN is built on Arti, our next-generation Tor implementation written in Rust. Under the hood, that means a new, solid technical foundation rather than patching around legacy architecture. One of the immediate benefits is improved reliability, including fewer crashes and better handling of network conditions. We have also invested in making our builds reproducible and getting the app onto F-Droid. Reproducible builds let anyone verify that the binary you're running matches the published source code, while F-Droid availability gives users a way to install and update the app without relying on Google Play, both of which matter for a privacy and security-focused tool.

While Tor VPN Beta doesn't behave like a commercial VPN optimized for speed, the Tor network has become more performant over time, and we're continuing to bring those improvements into the mobile experience. There are still performance features from Tor's C implementation, like congestion control, that are not yet available in Arti. Bringing those capabilities over is part of what comes next.

We set out to extend Tor beyond the browser to close a gap in mobile protection, but the project was quickly being shaped by how people actually use it, especially those who need reliable, device-wide circumvention. So we focused on building the right foundation for Tor on mobile with a modular Tor stack centered on Arti and Onionmasq that can evolve with real-world use. These components are now reusable across multiple applications, reducing ecosystem fragmentation and long-term maintenance risk. -- Duncan, UX-Team Lead/ Product Manager, Tor VPN

There's more work to do here. Tor Browser still sets the standard for what's possible, and part of our goal is to bring Tor VPN closer to that level over time.

What's next?

Tor VPN Beta is the result of a collaborative, multi-year effort. Thank you to The Guardian Project for their guidance and critical low-level mobile libraries, and the LEAP Encryption Access Project for their quality work, without both the app would have never seen the light of day. We're continuing to build Tor VPN Beta in the open, shaped by how people are actually using it.

That means improving circumvention in restrictive environments, bringing more performance features into Arti, and refining the user experience to reduce confusion and risk.

And most importantly, continuing to learn from the people who rely on it. If that includes you, and you want to help shape the development of Tor VPN Beta, please visit our refreshed download pages. In addition to downloading the app as an APK or from the Google Play Store, you can now use F-Droid to access Tor VPN Beta.

For more detail on Tor VPN's current security properties and known limitations, please refer to the threat model.↩

New Release: Tails 7.12

2026-09-03T00:00:00Z

Firefox is moving to a 2-week release cadence starting in September, and so Tor Browser and Tails are doing the same. Tails 7.12 is the first release on this new cadence.

Changes and updates

Update Electrum from 4.7.2 to 4.8.1.
Update Tor Browser to 15.0.21.
Update some firmware packages. This improves support for newer hardware, including graphics cards, Wi-Fi, and more.

Get Tails 7.12

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your Persistent Storage

Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 7.0 or later to 7.12.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails 7.12 on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions.

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 7.12 directly:

Support and feedback

For support and feedback, visit the Support section on the Tails website.

New Alpha Release: Tor Browser 16.0a11

2026-09-02T00:00:00Z

Tor Browser 16.0a11 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

This version includes important security updates to Firefox.

⚠️ Reminder: The Tor Browser Alpha release-channel is for testing only. As such, Tor Browser Alpha is not intended for general use because it is more likely to include bugs affecting usability, security, and privacy.

If you are an at-risk user, require strong anonymity, or just want a reliably-working browser, please stick with the stable release channel.

Send us your feedback

If you find a bug or have a suggestion for how we could improve this release, please let us know.

Full changelog

The full changelog since Tor Browser 16.0a10 is:

All Platforms
- Bug tor-browser#45254: Rebase Tor Browser alpha onto 153.2.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#45259: Backport Security Fixes from Firefox 155
Windows + macOS + Linux
- Updated Firefox to 153.2.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#45264: Use parent process for TorConnect redirections
Android
- Updated GeckoView to 153.2.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#44155: Always enable LNA on Android as a defense-in-depth
Build System
- All Platforms
  - Bug tor-browser-build#41860: Change GCC sources mirror to https://gcc.gnu.org
- Windows + Linux + Android
  - Updated Go to 1.26.8

New Release: Tor Browser 15.0.21

2026-09-01T00:00:00Z

Tor Browser 15.0.21 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

This version includes important security updates to Firefox.

Send us your feedback

If you find a bug or have a suggestion for how we could improve this release, please let us know.

Full changelog

The full changelog since Tor Browser 15.0.20 is:

All Platforms
- Updated NoScript to 13.6.32.1984
- Updated OpenSSL to 3.5.8
- Bug tor-browser#45223: Backport tor-browser#45220 - about:torconnect doesn't show when launching the browser in non-PBM
- Bug tor-browser#45253: Rebase Tor Browser stable onto 140.15.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#45259: Backport Security Fixes from Firefox 155
Windows + macOS + Linux
- Updated Firefox to 140.15.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#44996: Change the 32-bit linux message to the expired version for the final 15.0 release
- Bug tor-browser#45264: Use parent process for TorConnect redirections
Android
- Updated GeckoView to 140.15.0esr
Build System
- Windows + Linux + Android
  - Updated Go to 1.25.14

Arti 2.6.0 released

2026-09-01T00:00:00Z

Arti is our ongoing project to create a next-generation Tor implementation in Rust. We're happy to announce the latest release, Arti 2.6.0.

This release continues our ongoing development towards using Arti as a relay and as a directory authority, with much of the work focusing on document parsing, directory mirror support, and DNS stream handling. Additionally, on the RPC front, we are making steady progress towards RPC-based configuration management. Finally, congestion control and Counter Galois Onion cryptography are both now always enabled in arti.

As usual, there also are many under-the-hood improvements to our infrastructure, testing, and documentation, along with multiple bug fixes and internal cleanups.

For full details on what we've done, including API changes, and for information about many more minor and less-visible changes, please see the CHANGELOG.

For more information on using Arti, see our top-level README, and the documentation for the arti binary.

Thanks to everybody who's contributed to this release, including Andrew Kloet, Steven Masnada, iqdecay, pryty26, steven.

Also, our deep thanks to our sponsors for funding the development of Arti!

New Alpha Release: Tor Browser 16.0a10

2026-08-27T00:00:00Z

Tor Browser 16.0a10 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

This version includes important security updates to Firefox.

Moreover, Tor Browser Alphas are now based on Firefox's betas. Please read more about this important change in the Future of Tor Browser Alpha blog post.

If you are an at-risk user, require strong anonymity, or just want a reliably-working browser, please stick with the stable release channel.

✨ New Features which need attention!

📖 Updated Built-in manual on Desktop Tor Browser

The Tor Project's old support page and content has been updated. Starting with Tor Browser 16.0a10, this updated design and content is now baked into the browser and replaces the legacy manual. You can access the manual directly by navigating to about:manual in the URL bar or by clicking on the various "Learn more" links found in the browser's UI.

⚙️ Settings Redesign now enabled by default

With Tor Browser 16.0a10, we have enabled the new about:preferences designs from Mozilla by default. Our additional settings (connectivity, letterboxing, security level, etc) should now all be migrated over and using the new design language. Please file an issue if you find any regressions!

🪟 Generic Window Titles

On most (all?) desktop operating systems, applications have the ability to programmatically set and update the title of their windows. Normally, this is very useful as it allows the names of your applications to appear in the desktop UI in the title bar or as entries in application switchers (e.g. when you alt-tab between applications).

Historically, web browsers have dynamically updated their application's window title to the contents of the current web page's <title> element. For example, the window name for the browser window you are currently using is very likely some variant of New Alpha Release: Tor Browser 16.0a10 | The Tor Project — Tor Browser. If you were to navigate away from this page (please don't), the title would be updated to some variant of that page's <title> element contents.

While this process provides convenient usability to end-users, these title changes are generally detectable and readable by 3rd party applications or the operating system itself. This is typically not a privileged action, meaning software does not typically require special permissions to do this. These same APIs which allow programs to enumerate open windows also allow them to record browsing history using window title changes as a side-channel.

To counteract this, we've developed (and upstreamed) an opt-in feature disabling these window title changes and instead replacing them with just the the name of the browser. You can try this feature out by going to about:preferences, clicking on Privacy and security in the navigation panel, clicking on Advanced settings within the Connection and software security group, and checking Use generic window titles in the Protections from third-party applications group. With this setting enabled, all Tor Browser window titles should now simply read Tor Browser Alpha.

For any vanilla Firefox users out there, you can enable this feature by going to about:config and setting the privacy.exposeContentTitleInWindow (for normal-browsing windows) and privacy.exposeContentTitleInWindow.pbm (for private-browsing windows) boolean options to false.

We had hoped to enable this feature by default in the 16.0 series, but it is a bit late in the release cycle to push out such a feature with potentially unseen side-effects (e.g. causing breakage with a11y software, specific desktop environments, or other custom configurations) without user testing. Please give this feature a go (especially if your desktop environment is non-standard) and report back any issues or incompatibilities you find.

Send us your feedback

If you find a bug or have a suggestion for how we could improve this release, please let us know.

Full changelog

The full changelog since Tor Browser 16.0a9 is:

All Platforms
- Updated NoScript to 13.6.31.90301984
- Updated OpenSSL to 3.5.8
- Bug tor-browser#44257: Disable locale-based font rules as a defense-in-depth
- Bug tor-browser#45161: Drop TorProviderBuilder.firstWindowLoaded
- Bug tor-browser#45205: Rebase Tor Browser onto 153.1.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#45219: Backport Security Fixes from Firefox 154
Windows + macOS + Linux
- Updated Firefox to 153.1.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#43570: Report errors in about:torconnect when tor daemon crashes (Desktop)
- Bug tor-browser#43640: Poor screen reader experience when opening preferences and scrolling to element
- Bug tor-browser#43939: Update Bridge settings when connection failed
- Bug tor-browser#44247: Adapt Tor Browser manual to use the new support pages
- Bug tor-browser#44511: Make sure new search suggest features are disabled for 16.0
- Bug tor-browser#44629: Add a search suggestion warning in the settings
- Bug tor-browser#44699: Amend commit message for "BB 43322: Customize the font visibility lists"
- Bug tor-browser#44802: Hide the "safe browsing" settings
- Bug tor-browser#44830: Migrate our home page adjustments to the settings config
- Bug tor-browser#44831: Misleading banner in "Search engine suggestions" settings
- Bug tor-browser#44855: Use ariaNotify for bridge updates
- Bug tor-browser#44959: Integrate the new Tor Browser manual into Tor Browser
- Bug tor-browser#44998: Remove Firefox branding from about:preferences
- Bug tor-browser#45039: Make it easier to test ProfileDataUpgrader customization
- Bug tor-browser#45051: Show a separate Tor error prompt for users who do not see about:torconnect (desktop)
- Bug tor-browser#45058: Convert bridge settings to new design and config approach
- Bug tor-browser#45059: Convert advanced connection settings to new design and config approach
- Bug tor-browser#45079: Move letterboxing to the appearance setting pane
- Bug tor-browser#45123: Disable profile backup for 16.0
- Bug tor-browser#45125: Tidy up bridge emoji widget
- Bug tor-browser#45143: Modify moz-fieldset to allow focusing the heading
- Bug tor-browser#45156: Remove "Firefox Home" from the appearance settings
- Bug tor-browser#45157: Grant "access local files" permission to NoScript (Firefox 153 and above)
- Bug tor-browser#45168: Hide the history search option, again
- Bug tor-browser#45169: Cannot open history sidebar in private browsing window
- Bug tor-browser#45171: Disable split view for 16.0
- Bug tor-browser#45176: Add "Request English" to the website language config
- Bug tor-browser#45178: Change support URLs in new settings
- Bug tor-browser#45179: Update the feedback URL to point to the new support page.
- Bug tor-browser#45180: Also show download warning in download settings
- Bug tor-browser#45185: Disable network also in the Rust implementation of the remote settings client
- Bug tor-browser#45186: Remove duplicate alert roles in moz-message-bar
- Bug tor-browser#45187: Disable private browsing "delete downloaded files" feature
- Bug tor-browser#45190: New circuit urlbar icon button is squished
- Bug tor-browser#45192: Some URLs trigger The proxy server is refusing connections rather than about:torconnect prior to bootstrap
- Bug tor-browser#45194: "Your bridges" background color
- Bug tor-browser#45195: Modify our calls to openPreferences to work with the new settings
- Bug tor-browser#45196: Replace old connection settings with setting-group widgets
- Bug tor-browser#45197: Hide password settings by default
- Bug tor-browser#45200: Include onion authentication in the new password settings
- Bug tor-browser#45201: Convert security level settings to the new config
- Bug tor-browser#45208: Switch on the setting redesign
- Bug tor-browser#45209: Remove mention of "sync" from new settings
- Bug tor-browser#45211: Add settings for protections from third party applications
- Bug tor-browser#45214: Keep megalist (contextual password manager) disabled for 16.0
- Bug tor-browser#45220: about:torconnect doesn't show when launching the browser in non-PBM
- Bug tor-browser#45226: Stylelint issues on browser/components/torpreferences/content/torPreferences.css
- Bug tor-browser#45228: Drop browser.urlbar.update2.engineAliasRefresh
- Bug tor-browser#45232: Spoof picture-in-picture sizes under RFP
- Bug tor-browser#45236: Resolve miscellaneus accessibility issues in about:torconnect
- Bug tor-browser#45245: Fix a ML file inclusion that creates an error
Windows + Android
- Bug tor-browser#44513: Backport Bugzilla 2059471: Do not spoof screen orientation when it is locked
Windows
- Bug tor-browser#45144: Do not offer to make the browser a PDF viewer when in portable mode
- Bug tor-browser#45243: Disable taskbar tabs
macOS
- Bug tor-browser#45163: Consistently do not disable app group container support
Android
- Updated GeckoView to 153.1.0esr
- Bug tor-browser#41758: Don't allow PDFs to be opened by 3rd party apps
- Bug tor-browser#43571: Implement improved error handling and tor restart flow (Android)
- Bug Download v2#44054: Review Mozilla 1970806: Implement new UI for External Download Manager dialog [tor-browser]
- Bug tor-browser#44210: Consider dropping shouldDisableNormalMode setting
- Bug 44448: Trivialise assets rather than delete them in "[android] Delete unused media" [tor-browser]
- Bug tor-browser#44758: Disable email mask feature
- Bug tor-browser#44881: Remove link sharing setting on android
- Bug tor-browser#44921: Disable Google Lens feature
- Bug tor-browser#45049: Opening a pdf from outside TBA crashes TBA after bootstrapping it not already bootstrapped
- Bug tor-browser#45085: Disable GooglePlay Integrity
- Bug tor-browser#45098: Share link button shows in landscape mode on android despite being removed elsewhere
- Bug tor-browser#45115: Padlock always shows insecure even for HTTPS and Onion sites
- Bug tor-browser#45159: Fix Android Padlock security pane colors
- Bug tor-browser#45170: Tab Switcher shows Firefox's private browsing mask badge on tab switcher icon
- Bug tor-browser#45173: Disable Search Optimizations for android
- Bug android#45203: Rebase error with: TB 40041: Implement Tor Network Settings [tor-browser]
- Bug tor-browser#45221: Remove "Manage downloads with another app" setting from TBA download settings
- Bug tor-browser#45227: Remove "Default search engine for Standard Mode"
- Bug tor-browser#45234: Do not spoof secondary screen orientations if they were requested by a lock
Build System
- All Platforms
  - Bug tor-browser#45224: Enable Rust linter in CI
  - Bug tor-browser#45231: Backport Bugzilla 2053518: Rust target detection fails to translate the host triple with rustc nightly >= 2026-07-02 (new -oe-linux- targets)
  - Bug tor-browser-build#41844: Add scripts to backup/deploy signing keys on signing machines
  - Bug tor-browser-build#41850: Update keyring/torbrowser.gpg for new subkey and updated expiration date of the main key
- Windows + macOS + Linux
  - Bug tor-browser-build#41711: Update our manual machinery for its new home
- Windows + Linux + Android
  - Updated Go to 1.26.7
- Android
  - Bug tor-browser-build#41843: Remove unused universal apk from geckoview

New Release: Tails 7.11

2026-08-19T00:00:00Z

Changes and updates

Update Tor Browser to 15.0.20.

Fixed problems

Fix activation of Persistent Storage on some computers. (#19913)

For more details, read our changelog.

Get Tails 7.11

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your Persistent Storage

Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 7.0 or later to 7.11.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails 7.11 on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions.

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 7.11 directly:

Support and feedback

For support and feedback, visit the Support section on the Tails website.