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A new version of the anonymous Tor browser has been released, providing native support for Apple Silicon-equipped devices, as well as optimizations for Android devices.
The updated Tor browser uses a universal binary that includes both x86-64 and ARM64 architectures, so can decide which one to use based on whether an Apple M1 or M2 or Android device is being used – which means that Tor should now perform better on Apple Mac computers.
Tor 12.0 is built on version 102 of Firefox from Mozilla, which means it includes many of the same security enhancements and fixes. The browser aims to maintain users’ privacy and anonymity online, promising not to monitor your activities and prevent others from doing the same.
Android is also getting attention
Android has been a system that Tor didn’t seem too keen on developing, with sporadic updates to the browser on this platform, though Tor now claims it’s correcting this.
Announcing the release of the 12.0 browser, Tor noted that the company has been “working hard to resume regular updates for Android, improve app stability… The next stage in our plan for Android is to start transferring selected high priority features that have recently launched for desktop to Android.
Another new feature in Tor 12.0 is HTTPS-only mode for Android. This allows the browser to automatically connect to websites that use the encrypted HTTPS protocol by default, as opposed to using HTTP which is unencrypted.
Android versions also now have the option to prioritize .onion sites, meaning users will be automatically redirected to .onion versions of websites if they are compatible. These domains are created by Tor to prevent tracing connections to and from the site.
In addition, language packs are now available with version 12.0, which allow users to switch between languages on the fly. Previously, individual copies of Tor had to be downloaded for a specific language.