New Alpha Release: Tor Browser 12.0a2 (Android, Windows, macOS, Linux)

by richard | September 10, 2022

Tor Browser 12.0a2 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

This marks our first alpha on the Firefox ESR 102 series, and our first Android released based on the Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) series.

In the past, our Tor Browser for Android releases have been based on the Firefox Rapid Release schedule. Going forward, Tor Browser for Android will be based on the latest Firefox ESR (same as our Windows, macOS and Linux releases) and we will be back-porting Android-specific security updates from the Rapid Release branches.

This updated release schedule should allow us to improve the general stability of Tor Browser for Android and be more confident in our releases going forward.

Tor Browser 12.0a2 updates Firefox on Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux to 102.2.0esr.

We use this opportunity to update various other components of Tor Browser as well :

  • Tor 0.4.7.10
  • Tor Launcher 0.2.39 (Desktop only)
  • NoScript 11.4.10
  • Go 1.18.5 (Android only)

This version includes important security updates to Firefox. We also backport the following Android-specific security updates:

Notably, we have also enabled HTTPS-Only mode for Tor Browser for Android (this feature is already enabled for Desktop). This feature, when enabled, overrides HTTPS-Everywhere functionality. For now this can be reverted in the 'Settings > Privacy and security' pane( see: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/fenix/-/merge_requests/151 ).

The full changelog since Tor Browser 12.0a1 is:

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