Tor Browser 13.5 - Android improvements

New Release: Tor Browser 13.5
by duncan | June 20, 2024
Tor Browser 13.5 is now available from the Tor Browser download page
https://www.torproject.org/download/
and our distribution directory.
https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/13.5/
Regular readers of our release posts will know that for the past two years
we've been gradually increasing our capacity to not only maintain, but bring
tangible improvements to Tor Browser for Android.
...
What's new for Android?
New connection experience
We've completely replaced Tor Browser for Android's connection screens with
a new, "native" implementation. This is a welcome and necessary first step
in our longer-term efforts to bring Connection Assist -- a feature which can
circumvent censorship of the Tor network automatically -- to Android in a
future major release. However, while we await Connection Assist's arrival,
Tor Browser's new connection screens already offer a series of small
improvements for Android users.
In order to establish a firm foundation on which we can expand Android's
connection features in future, these screens have also been made more
consistent with desktop. Ultimately, it's our hope that a user who can
successfully circumvent censorship on desktop will be able to pick Android
up without needing to relearn how it works.
In addition to a visual refresh, you can now enable the option to connect
automatically (based on your last used connection settings) when the app is
launched. Plus, you can also access the full settings menu before connecting
to Tor -- either by tapping the settings icon, or via the new button to
"Configure connection" -- where you can find the new Tor logs too (more on
that below!).
A permanent home for Tor logs
As many of you may know, Tor Browser maintains a log of Tor's background
activity to help troubleshoot issues when they occur. Tor logs don't contain
any sensitive information about your browsing activity, but simply reveal
what Tor is trying to do behind the scenes -- for example, these logs
typically include a record of Tor's bootstrapping progress, plus any
warnings or errors as they occur.
Should a user run into a problem and contact support, we may request a copy
of your Tor logs to help them diagnose the issue. However, in previous
versions of Tor Browser for Android, Tor logs could only be found by swiping
to the side during the connection sequence. This meant that once Tor Browser
had established a successful connection, users were unable to return to this
screen to view and copy their Tor logs.
To address this issue, we've rebuilt and relocated Tor logs to a new section
within Settings called "Connection Settings" -- which is exactly where you
can find Tor logs on desktop too. Given that the settings menu can now be
accessed regardless of your connection status, this means that you can
retrieve your Tor logs at any point while using Tor Browser. And finally,
there's a handy button you can use to copy all logs without needing to
fiddle around with selecting text....