Tor Browser 12.0 is out with native Apple Silicon support

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 9, 2022
Firefox
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29

Tor Browser 12.0 is available for all supported desktop and mobile operating systems. The new version of the Firefox ESR-based browser makes the jump to a new ESR-base version, adds native support for Apple Silicon devices, and introduces multi-locale support on desktop.

tor browser 12

Existing users may select Menu > Help > About Tor to run a check for updates. The current version of Tor Browser is displayed on the page and an update check is performed. New versions are downloaded automatically at this point. New users may download the latest binary files from the official Tor Project website.

Tor Browser 12.0

Tor Browser uses Firefox ESR as its base, and the new release jumps from the previously used Firefox 91.x ESR to Firefox 102.5 ESR. The upgrade includes the majority of changes that Mozilla introduced in Firefox between the release of Firefox 91 and Firefox 102.

The developers analyzed the changelog carefully to make sure that every change is compatible with Tor Browser and does not conflict with the browser's "strict privacy and security principles".

Tor Browser 12.0 is the first multi-locale release, making it easier to switch between interface languages. New Tor Browser installations will match the system language by default. Existing Tor Browser installations will retain the selected display language during the upgrade from Tor 11.x to 12.0.

Apple users who run devices with Apple Silicon hardware find native implementations of Tor Browser for their platforms now. The team followed Mozilla's approach and released universal binaries, which run on Intel and Apple Silicon devices. The correct version is selected automatically on run.

Tor Browser for Android has seen several improvements in the release. HTTPS-Only is turned on, making it the default mode on Android. The new security feature requires HTTPS connections on Android and protects users of Tor on Android "against SSL stripping attacks".

Another new feature is the ability to prioritize .onion sites in the Android browser. The feature needs to be turned on in the privacy and security settings of the browser. Once turned on, Tor Browser for Android will redirect users to the .onion site if the regular site is accessed; this works only if the site in question has Onion-Location configured.

Interested users may check out the full changelog of Tor Browser 12.0 on the official blog.

Now You: do you use Tor Browser?

Summary
Tor Browser 12.0 is out with native Apple Silicon support
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Tor Browser 12.0 is out with native Apple Silicon support
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Tor Browser 12.0 is available for all supported desktop and mobile operating systems, adding support for Apple Silicon and more.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Karen said on December 10, 2022 at 4:12 pm
    Reply

    TOR 12 is a disaster; no drag and drop among other irritants. Won’t be using this garbage again.

  2. Beavis said on December 10, 2022 at 3:54 am
    Reply

    @Tom Hawack

    > I don’t use the Tor browser

    That’s nice, honey. No one cares.

    1. Tom Hawack said on December 10, 2022 at 9:48 am
      Reply

      @Beavis, that was my reply to the article’s question, “Now You: do you use Tor Browser?”.
      Honey.

      1. ShintoPlasm said on December 10, 2022 at 6:12 pm
        Reply

        Miel :)

  3. Sexy Girlfriend said on December 10, 2022 at 3:51 am
    Reply

    FWIW, The Tor Project has an official web forum:

    https://forum.torproject.net/

    Less trolling there and useful discussions.

  4. Tom Hawack said on December 9, 2022 at 4:57 pm
    Reply

    I don’t use the Tor browser and even less any VPN. I dislike the very concept of proxies, the fact my connections travel through 3rd-party servers, and that includes sites which redirect you to a 3rd-party one (I use the ‘CleanLinks’ extension to control that). I’d be happy nevertheless to welcome the Tor browser should the device connect from a dictatorship country and filter/block certain connections, but not here in the free world. I am, always have been and always will be spotted via my IP address… and so what? Many anti-tracking settings here which disturb the gigantic data collection which signs the modern cyber world, disturb without totally blocking, should it be by my IP but not only : fingerprinting is nowadays so elaborated that if one’s whole digital environment (OS+browsers) is not set accordingly no doubt a user’s device may be recognized, not to mention the user himself (i.e. keyboard).

    To make it short : I dislike the concept of interposition and should I like it I wouldn’t have the skills to be a chameleon.
    Analogy : when I return to a shop my face is recognized but I don’t have a sticker on my back displaying all the shops I previously visited.

  5. Tachy said on December 9, 2022 at 3:18 pm
    Reply

    Q: (sic) do you use Tor Browser?

    A: That’s a personal question and I don’t know you that well.

  6. Klaas Vaak said on December 9, 2022 at 2:00 pm
    Reply

    Tor browser is an impressive piece of software, and undoubtedly very good and useful. However, it has 1 weakness which many people seem to overlook: the nodes.

    The way the .onion node system is set is that anyone can start a node, without any check of credentials. That means any malign actor could set up a node or nodes, and spy on people (e.g. the NSA) or syphon off money (e.g. if used in conjunction with the Electrum Bitcoin wallet), …

    1. John C. said on December 9, 2022 at 3:45 pm
      Reply

      Exactly. And this is why I’ve never installed Tor on any of my systems or ever used it. IMO, the program is just a huge red flag for all the TLAs (“Three Letter Agencies”) that you are trying to hide something. Others may disagree with me, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.

      1. Karl said on December 10, 2022 at 12:51 pm
        Reply

        Because you don’t even comprehend how to use TOR. Read my lips:
        YOU MUST USE TOR THROUGH A VPN.

        Then, and only then, you don’t paint a big red target on yourself.
        “Hey everybody my real IP is sending onion routing packages!!”

        Jesus.

  7. Brotherhood of Google Fanboys said on December 9, 2022 at 10:55 am
    Reply

    What don’t you heathens understand Chromium is a far more secure and private base to build on than the security and privacy hating Mozilla foundation’s Gecko?

    Google and Brave respects user privacy and that is why The Tor Project recommends the built in TOR browser in Brave over their own native client.

    Brave knows its place and supports the winning team.

    1. Iron Heart said on December 9, 2022 at 12:05 pm
      Reply

      LMAO you are not very clever, are you? The Tor Browser Bundle is based on Firefox because it predates Chromium and only Firefox was available back then (IE is and was closed source). Brave’s Tor mode is a secondary gimmick feature and can’t have the same generic fingerprint as the TBB because Brave is using a different engine. The stupidity displayed in various comments here is really starting to hurt this blog.

      > security and privacy hating Mozilla foundation’s Gecko

      Firefox is neither particularly private nor particularly secure. Not sure if it’s hating or just neglect.

      1. Jek Tono Porkins said on December 9, 2022 at 1:04 pm
        Reply

        The stupidity on this blog stems from the fact that you don’t need to register an account to post stupidity.

        I think Firefox may have been the more private and secure option when the only other alternatives were IE and Safari. But when Chrome came, it had all the firepower of Google behind its back so it would have been more unbelievable and strange if it was less private and secure than Firefox and remained as such.

        Firefox no longer has the userbase it once had to repot issues and feedback so there isn’t much going on with it. The only thing it has is security through obscurity – their userbase is so small that hackers don’t even bother with it.

      2. Anonymous said on December 9, 2022 at 2:39 pm
        Reply

        @Porks

        I thought you were done with supporting Iron Heart after that rant you made earlier.

      3. Jek Porkins said on December 10, 2022 at 11:17 am
        Reply

        @Anonymous,

        I am not me, I am you.

      4. Anonymous said on December 9, 2022 at 2:31 pm
        Reply

        You know people can read what you are typing.

      5. Anonymous said on December 9, 2022 at 3:06 pm
        Reply

        LMAO at Google fanboys arguing over who is the biggest fanboy.

      6. Anonymous said on December 9, 2022 at 12:35 pm
        Reply

        LOl at saying you are not very clever, then proceed to agree with everything the Google Fanboy says, even though it’s all nonsense. You talk about stupidity, then don’t call out the Google fanboy on saying the Tor Project recommends Brave -not true. You also don’t call him out on saying Google respects privacy.

        Are you sure you are really not an parody account or undercover Firefox shill, because you sound like one.

      7. Iron Heart said on December 9, 2022 at 3:19 pm
        Reply

        @Anonymous

        Are you an alternate nick of the “Brotherhood of halfwit Shills” above, or what? Where exactly, according to you, did I agree with anything the two brain cell genius above me said? I just made some clarifications and that’s it.

        > then don’t call out the Google fanboy on saying the Tor Project recommends Brave -not true

        Where did I say that the Tor Project recommends Brave? Read my comment again, Brave uses a different engine, therefore can’t, by definition, have Tor’s generic fingerprint.

        > You also don’t call him out on saying Google respects privacy.

        Why should I? It’s trolling.

        > Are you sure you are really not an parody account or undercover Firefox shill, because you sound like one.

        Dude, you can believe whatever you want. Even the silliest crap. I don’t care.

      8. Anonymous said on December 9, 2022 at 4:04 pm
        Reply

        > then don’t call out the Google fanboy on saying the Tor Project recommends Brave -not true

        Where did I say that the Tor Project recommends Brave? Read my comment again, Brave uses a different engine, therefore can’t, by definition, have Tor’s generic fingerprint.

        You clearly have not rebuked Google Fan for saying TOR recommends Brave. Instead of calling people names and casually throwing out insults, say it. Say that the Tor Project does not recommend Brave.

      9. Iron Heart said on December 9, 2022 at 5:50 pm
        Reply

        > Say that the Tor Project does not recommend Brave.

        ???

        OK, here it is: The Tor Project does not recommend Brave.

        And the reason is, wait for it… That Brave does not have, and can’t have, the TBB’s generic fingerprint as it is using a different engine!

        You guys are not very smart, but can you at least try to somewhat hide it? I have been saying the same thing for hours.

  8. Iron Heart said on December 9, 2022 at 9:32 am
    Reply

    Why the significant delay compared to FF 102 ESR? Did they have to remove all the spyware, or what? :D

    1. Hitomi said on December 9, 2022 at 10:08 am
      Reply

      Yes, it was moved to the Brave repo.

      1. Iron Heart said on December 9, 2022 at 10:48 am
        Reply

        @Hitomi

        Salty much?

      2. Hitomi said on December 9, 2022 at 3:43 pm
        Reply

        Heh, maybe one day you figure out who is jerking whose chain :^)
        Until then, cry silently.

      3. Tom Hawack said on December 9, 2022 at 5:23 pm
        Reply

        @Hitomi, as in life we get along with some and not at all with others. And vice-versa. IMO avoiding each other for temperament incompatibility is the best alternative though never indefinitely : we change, ourselves and others, lige changes, circumstances change. Let’s just imagine a break …

        Side-note : if, as ‘Iron Heart’ states it, “You even think I am behind comments I never wrote.” then accept my recommendation : even if you think so, even if you’re convinced, never ever say you’ve spotted a user as hiding. This is fundamentally a wrong approach because, 1- it’s pretentious, 2- if you’re mistaking there’s someone laughing, 3- be you right or wrong the other can revert and pretend you were right when actually wrong and vice-versa : the masked ball is one where you lose when you think aloud.

        Even should you have evidence. This short story which happened to me years ago on a French forum.
        I was registered with a pseudo. Wrote quite a lot. I later on registered with a new pseudo. Throughout conversations the admin (which actively participated in the discussions) announced publicly that he had recognized me. He was right but his mistake was to say it. Why? Because I then affirmed he was wrong knowing that to prove his statement he’d have to disclose how he found out … and I knew he was referring to my IP (I clean all when exiting a site) or to elaborated fingerprinting (which then, wasn’t as elaborated as it can be nowadays, not to mention the website was modest). What could the admin say, that he had tracked my IP, used fingerprinting to track users on his very site? Nope : he was stuck. see what I mean?

      4. Iron Heart said on December 9, 2022 at 5:57 pm
        Reply

        @Tom Hawack

        Didn’t you say that you have a uBlock Origin filter specifically for me (not that I care)? How do you see my posts then? It’s a mystery…

        Anyway, you should stop supporting this clown who sees myself behind every single post that happens to even slightly agree with my point of view. There is no truth or seriousness to any of it, I am categorically not responsible for the mental issues of this person. I’ve actually considered “admitting” that I am behind every single post that he believes I am behind, in order to ease his obvious suffering.

      5. Tom Hawack said on December 9, 2022 at 6:09 pm
        Reply

        @Iron Heart, as I wrote above, “IMO avoiding each other for temperament incompatibility is the best alternative though never indefinitely” : I happen to toggle the filter you correctly mention :=)

        I support no one, that includes making mine others’ analysis, words, feelings, should I share them or not. What I mean and meant is that there’s no point in focusing on anyone if we get upset : a pause, a break resoles it, at least temporarily … never lock doors, close ’em is enough. Maybe open them again, to have a peek then it’s “Oops, nothing changed” or “Wow, good thing I hadn’t locked the door”. Freedom.

      6. Iron Heart said on December 9, 2022 at 4:21 pm
        Reply

        @Hitomi

        You are perma-salty at me and people are noticing it. You even think I am behind comments I never wrote – I don’t ever change my nickname as I have literally no reason to. This tells me that I am constantly living in your head, rent free. So much for the chain, smart guy @Hitomi.

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