Tor – Onion Browser for iPhone and iPad | Hacker News Reader

Tor – Onion Browser for iPhone and iPad

onionbrowser.com

51 pointsTrouble_00718 comments

Please note that this app ("Onion Browser") is not affiliated with the official Tor project [1], and their website never clarifies that anywhere. Intentionally very misleading, and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The code does appear to be open source, but on iOS devices there is NO WAY to ensure the code that's on the GitHub page [2] is what's running on your device, and sideloading isn't a realistic option either.

[1]: https://torproject.org/

[2]: https://github.com/onionbrowser/onionbrowser

CORRECTION: As child comments point out, it appears that this app is loosely affiliated with the Tor project, and is recommended by them.

It is made by Mike Tigas from the Tor Project though.

https://www.torproject.org/about/people/

Also, the website says:

>Onion Browser is not affiliated with nor endorsed by The Tor Project. Onion Browser carries no guarantee from The Tor Project about quality, suitability or anything else.

My bad, I didn't see that disclaimer anywhere while browsing the website on mobile. Thank you!

Edit: The disclaimer is in the legalese on this page: https://onionbrowser.com/legal

Tor Project recommends using Onion Browser in iOS: https://support.torproject.org/tormobile/tormobile-3/

> Can I run Tor Browser on an iOS device?

> We recommend an iOS app called Onion Browser, which is open source, uses Tor routing, and is developed by someone who works closely with the Tor Project. However, Apple requires browsers on iOS to use something called Webkit, which prevents Onion Browser from having the same privacy protections as Tor Browser.

And here is old post (2016) about it on Tor Project blog: https://blog.torproject.org/tor-heart-onion-browser-and-more...

Thank you for the correction!

On iOS it is not possible to truly run a custom browser because Apple mandates use of Safari. What you get on iOS are mostly just skins for Safari.

There is no path to most of the privacy features Tor Browser implements on iOS.

https://2019.www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser/design/

Remember, if you paid for an Apple device, you do not own an Apple device.

I thought this wasn't possible due to Apple's limitations on what browsers can do in the iOS ecosystem. This was understood to be the reason why Brave didn't have a tor option in iOS. Interesting to see it working now.

Is this even an official offering from The Tor Project?

At the bottom it says:

I checked and it looks like Mike Tigas is a Tor Project core member, he is listed here as author of iOS Onion Browser: https://www.torproject.org/about/people/#core

Onion Browser is an independent project created by Mike Tigas[0] a member of Tor Project team[1].

[0] - https://github.com/OnionBrowser

[1] - https://www.torproject.org/about/people/

> I thought this wasn't possible due to Apple's limitations

It's not possible, it doesn't have critical feature parity, resulting in some traffic simply not being routed through tor, and If it can't route all traffic for a web page the whole thing becomes kind of pointless, because now the website and your ISP can identify your access:

> iOS has full control over some network traffic, which may result in this traffic (including audio or video embeds) routing via your normal connection and not over Tor. [0]

I feel that all of the browser apps for iOS really aren't helping the situation. They should just remove themselves, they are just confusing to the general public, giving a false sense of diversity and freedom of choice on these crippled devices... it's caused many confusing conversations with people when it comes to iOS browser issues too. "but i'm using Firefox. No you are not. Yes I am"

[0] From the article

A problem in the past has been sometimes the app lags greatly behind the latest tor library releases which can mean missing security updates totally separate from iOS platform limitations.

I know it’s tough for one person to do this so it’s not a criticism as much as it is something to be aware of.

Onion Browser for iOS (Tags) : https://github.com/OnionBrowser/OnionBrowser/tags

Onion Browser for iOS Change Log : https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OnionBrowser/OnionBrowser/...

This is a pretty great tool, despite the limitations of existing in iOS-land.

It obviously has the same problem any Tor browser has though, you run into bot blocking on a very large % of the regular (non .onion) interwebs.

Worth consideration for putting on your daily driver phone.

No surveillance or tracking on a device that is surveilled and tracked? What am I missing?

Does it connect to tor via apple’s vpn?

is a browser allowed on iphone app store ? i thought Apple TOS meant no other browser could be allowed

The rendering engine has to be apple’s but the network plumbing can be custom.

Chrome’s browser has that ability.

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