The developers of the anonymizer Tor Browser have released a new version for all supported operating system. The big feature in this release is the introduction of Connection Assist on Android.
The feature, which has been available in Tor Browser for desktop operating systems for quite some time, aims to help users establish a connection to the Tor network if regular connection attempts do not work.
So, if connecting to Tor fails in the browser, for example when you try to connect from a country that blocks this, then Connection Assist kicks in. It uses so-called bridges to establish a connection. Bridges use different techniques to circumvent censorship.
Android users could use bridges previously, but it was not that comfortable to configure and use.
The new feature integrates the functionality seamlessly into the Android client, making it a much better experience for users who require these.
All users should benefit from “more stable and less error-prone connections” as well, according to the release announcement.
Tor Browser 14.5 includes support three new languages as well. These are Belarusian, Bulgarian, and Portuguese (Portugal) and available in the desktop and Android clients.
Tip: Languages can be set under Settings > General > Language and Appearance > Language on desktop or Settings > General > Language on Android.
Here are other noteworthy changes:
- Tor logs on desktop have been “enhanced to aid readability”. Also, no longer necessary to close and reopen to refresh logs.
- Quitting Tor Browser on Android does now a “thorough job of ending background processes and clearing recent tasks”.
- Improvements to the Connection Assist logic in general.
Tor Browser 14.5 includes several known issues which you find listed on the official issues tracker. Make sure you pay the page a visit before upgrading or installing the new version of the web browser.
You can check out the full release notes here.