Orbot is a free proxy app that provides

anonymity Anonymity describes situations where the acting person's identity is unknown. Anonymity may be created unintentionally through the loss of identifying information due to the passage of time or a destructive event, or intentionally if a person cho ...

on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

for users of the Android and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s. It allows traffic from apps such as web browsers,

email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

clients, map programs, and others to be routed via the Tor network. This tool is used to keep the communications of users anonymous and hidden from governments and third parties that might be monitoring their internet traffic.

Reception

In 2014 Orbot was discussed in detail in an article on "reporting securely from an Android device". In January 2016, Lisa Vaas of NakedSecurity by Sophos described how to use Tor, including with Orbot on Android, to connect to

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. In July 2021, Tech Radar named Orbot one of 8 "Best privacy apps for Android in 2021" but warned of slower speeds. In July 2021 Android Authority discussed Tor Browser and Orbot in brief reviews of "15 best Android browsers". In November 2021, John Leyden of The Daily Swig described collaboration between the Tor Project and the Guardian Project to develop Orbot for censorship circumvention for any application on a device, but warned Orbot does not remove identifying information from app traffic. In July 2022, Laiba Mohsin of PhoneWorld.com described Orbot as a simple way to access the

Dark Web The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets ( overlay networks) that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communica ...

on mobile. In October 2022, Damir Mujezinovic of MakeUseOf described Orbot as a "flagship" product for both iOS and Android to use the Tor network, and said it "will not make you completely anonymous, but it can certainly help bypass certain geographical restrictions," In November 2022, Mujezinovic wrote a detailed guide to using Orbot on iOS or Android.

Reception

References

Further reading