The Tor Project wants beta testers of its new VPN service to help “[tip] the scales toward a freer internet.” Free to use and available in Google’s Play Store, the recently launched Tor VPN is only for Android devices and is still in an early-access beta, so availability may fluctuate in its testing phase. If you get access, you can be one of the first to test the service and provide feedback to the Tor Project.
Tor Project developers emphasize that the service shouldn’t yet be used for any high-risk activities, and beta testers should expect bugs. The beta is intended for “early adopters who want to help shape mobile privacy and can do so safely.” Users with serious privacy needs -- such as journalists, activists or whistleblowers -- who want to access the Tor network should instead use NordVPN or Proton VPN with Tor-over-VPN servers for sensitive activities. The Tor Project encourages users to test the app’s limits and report any bugs they encounter.
If you’re an Android user who values enhanced privacy initiatives and likes to test new software, the Tor VPN beta could be a great opportunity to influence the shaping of a unique, privacy-first VPN service.
What is Tor VPN, exactly, and what can it do?
Tor VPN is a VPN built by the Tor Project, a nonprofit focused on maintaining Tor’s development. Instead of routing your traffic through traditional VPN servers, Tor VPN sends your data through three decentralized relays in the Tor network.
The idea behind Tor, or "onion routing," is to hide your internet traffic behind several encryption layers. To do this, your traffic is sent through three servers in the Tor network, a series of volunteer-operated nodes -- or relays -- located in different parts of the world. Each time the data is sent through one of these relays, the server decrypts a layer of the onion and reveals the destination of the next relay server in the path until it reaches the exit node, which decrypts the final layer and sends your request to the website you’re visiting.
This way, neither of the relays can see the entire path your data takes, making it harder to trace your online activity back to you. The process masks your public IP address and hides your internet activity from your ISP and other online snoops. Additionally, the decentralized nature of the Tor network makes it virtually impossible for a single entity to compromise the network.
Your typical consumer VPN service operates similarly to Tor, in that it routes your data through a remote server (sometimes two) while encrypting your traffic and masking your public IP address. But a VPN is usually operated by a centralized entity, meaning there’s a single point of failure, and you have to put a ton of trust in your VPN provider to protect your privacy online.
Using the Tor network theoretically gives you a greater degree of privacy than using a VPN. However, a solid VPN whose backend and no-logs policies are regularly audited can still provide sufficient privacy for users with critical privacy needs. Using a VPN also typically delivers far faster speeds than routing your traffic through Tor, making VPNs great for staying private while browsing or engaging in more data-heavy activities such as streaming, gaming or torrenting.
Additionally, while your Tor traffic exits through a node in a random location, a VPN typically allows you to choose which country to connect through, which is advantageous for maintaining fast, stable connections as well as for unblocking geo-restricted streaming content.
VPNs can benefit casual and critical users alike, while Tor is generally best for use cases where extreme privacy is paramount, like if you’re an activist, asylum seeker, journalist or whistleblower who needs to get around firewalls to bypass censorship, evade surveillance or communicate securely online.
Tor also lets you access onion services, or .onion sites that can only be accessed through the Tor network. Because your traffic is routed through the Tor network, you can access .onion websites from your browser without needing to download the Tor browser separately. Popular sites such as Facebook, BBC, Reddit and The Internet Archive run .onion versions of their websites, which you can access using Tor when you’re in a region that censors these sites.
Tor VPN provides a more user-friendly way to access the Tor network than using the Tor browser and allows you to choose an exit node in a specific country.
The Tor VPN app is easy to use, but expect a few quirks while it’s in beta
The app itself is simple to use and is similar in functionality to a traditional VPN app, but isn’t quite as streamlined. It has a prominent connect button, but exit location selection isn’t immediately apparent on the home screen when you connect. Instead, you can only select an exit node in one of 28 countries once you tap on the globe icon after you tap on the connect button.
Tor VPN exit relays are spread across the globe, including locations like the US, Canada, Singapore, South Africa and Russia. However, the majority of exit relays are located throughout Europe, in countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary, Austria, France, Germany and Croatia. From the exit location selection screen, you can either choose to exit through the European Union, a specific country or the default (and safest) option, which runs each of your apps through a different Tor circuit exiting at a random location.
The Tor VPN beta offers exit nodes in 28 different countries. Tor VPN/Screenshot by CNET
The app also includes a kill switch and a feature similar to split tunneling where you can select the apps you want to run through the Tor network. If you find that the app isn’t connecting and suspect that the network you’re on may be censoring Tor, you can enable a “bridge,” which functions similarly to VPN obfuscation and masks your Tor traffic.
The built-in “Snowflake” bridge disguises your Tor traffic as a video call, and the “obsf4” bridge disguises your Tor traffic as random data. Alternatively, you can manually paste known bridge addresses or request them directly from the app. If you’re in or traveling through a region where authorities might confiscate and search your phone, you can set the Tor VPN app icon to something innocuous for added peace of mind, much like what Proton VPN offers on Android devices.
I played around with the app for a bit to get a feel for its general functionality and found that it worked smoothly, operating like any other mobile VPN app, for the most part. There were some minor quirks here and there, like the exit relay location selection not being accessible until after you connect, but things like that aren’t surprising in a beta.
As expected through the Tor network, connection speeds were slow, so I wouldn't recommend Tor VPN for casual users who want to stream content from other countries or engage in any other data-intensive online activity such as gaming or torrenting.
Tor VPN's connection screen looks much like any other traditional VPN app. Tor VPN/Screenshot by CNET
That said, the Tor VPN beta is strictly for testing purposes and shouldn’t be used for anything high-stakes or privacy-critical either. The Tor Project issues the following warning: “Tor VPN is beta software. Do not rely on it for anything other than testing. It may leak information and should not be relied on for anything sensitive.”
Safe Tor VPN alternatives you can use now
If you want to safely access the Tor network right now, you can either download the Tor browser or get a VPN that offers Tor-over-VPN connections. Tor-over-VPN servers let you run your connection through the Tor network and access .onion sites through your regular browser without the need to download the Tor browser. Tor-over-VPN first runs your connection through a traditional VPN server before sending it through the Tor network, giving you the added privacy of a VPN in addition to onion routing.
NordVPN and Proton VPN are two of the best VPN providers that offer Tor-over-VPN functionality. Additionally, VPNs with Tor-over-VPN functionality offer more versatility, offering faster connection speeds for streaming and gaming, with the added benefit of Tor for when you need extreme privacy.
Although Proton VPN offers a legitimately useful free VPN plan, its Tor-over-VPN servers are reserved for paid subscribers. Even so, Proton VPN’s premium subscription plans are reasonably priced, whereas NordVPN is considerably more expensive in the long run due to its high annual renewal price. Either way, both Proton VPN and NordVPN are excellent, well-rounded VPN services that have broad appeal to casual users as well as people with heightened privacy requirements.