Tor Browser 9.5 is out with major usability improvements

[harlan4096]

Tor Browser 9.5 has been released on June 3, 2020. The new version of the web browser includes security updates and several usability improvements.

Tor Browser 9.5 can be downloaded from the official download page; the Android version is available on Google Play already and should arrive soon on F-Droid as well.

Tor Browser is based on Firefox ESR, and as such, incorporates security updates whenever they are made available by Mozilla. The new release focuses on usability improvements, or, as the team behind the browser puts it, "on helping users understand onion services".

Websites can announce onion support

Websites may add information about onion support to HTTP headers to announce that the site is accessible via the network. Users may use the information to connect to the site using the onion service.

A click on "always prioritize onions" makes connections via the onion network the default choice so that Tor Browser will connect to sites that support it automatically (provided they reveal the info).

Tor users may change the setting in the options by loading about:preferences#privacy in the web browser's address bar. There they may switch between "always" and "ask every time" under onion services.

Error pages for Onion ServicesPrevious versions of Tor Browser displayed Firefox's error pages when a site could not be loaded or other errors occurred in the browser. Tor Browser 9.5 comes with Tor-specific error pages that better highlight why something did not work correctly, e.g. why an onion address could not be loaded in the browser instead of just displaying that the site could not be reached.
...

Continue Reading