Browsing the web using the Tor network is easy on desktop, but not so easy on mobile.
Users on their desktop computers can simply download the Tor Browser, open it, and start browsing. But for users on Android, the process wasn't as easy because of the way the operating system work. And Tor is trying to change this in order to make experience a lot similar on both devices.
The Tor Browser is a web browser that routes all its users network requests through the encrypted Tor network, in order to provide anonymity.
Previously, browsing the web with Tor on Android used to require the Orbot and Orfox apps, that until they were combined into one single app called the 'Tor Browser' in 2019.
The Tor Browser app was based on Firefox ESR, as it shared many of its codebase.
This time, Tor Project team has finished switching Tor Browser app's codebase from Firefox ESR to the one used by the Firefox for Android.
It all began when Mozilla started rolling out its Firefox for Android (codenamed 'Fenix) to everyone earlier this 2020.
Tor Project, the team behind the Tor Browser started working for the switch since April, to make its Android browser adopt the new Firefox for Android's codebase. In May, the team announced the browser's first official and standalone Android app, powered by Firefox.
This time, when the stable version of the Firefox-powered Tor Browser is finally released, the app that has a version 10.0.3 is based on Firefox 'Fenix' 82.1.1, and uses Go version 1.14.10, NoScript version 1.1.4, OpenSSL version 1.1.1h, and Tor version 0.4.4.5 to connect to the internet.
And because it's based on Firefox for Android, the Tor Browser has some additional privacy extensions built inside it, just like its desktop browser.
Announcing the fist stable Tor Browser for Android version 10, the team in a blog post said that:
It should be noted that the Tor Browser has long used the same codebase as Firefox.
By lines of code, Tor Browser is mostly Firefox -- there are some modifications and some additions, but around 95% of the code in Tor Browser comes from Firefox. The Firefox and Tor Browser teams have collaborated for a long time," said Tor in a blog post back in 2016.
It started in 2016 that the team began the effort to take the Tor Browser patches and “uplift” them to Firefox.
What this means, the team takes the change that Tor Browser needs and adds it to Firefox in such a way that it’s disabled by default, but can be enabled by changing a preference value.
But for all this time, the team at Tor Project built the Tor Browser based on the Firefox ESR, and applied the patches and additions on top of it.
"These changes add valuable privacy features for Tor Browser users, but having these changes also means that every time the Tor Browser team wants to use a new version of Firefox, they have to update the patches to work with the new version. These updates take up a substantial fraction of the effort involved in producing Tor Browser," added Tor.
With this update, the team uses the same strategy for its Android app, by switching its entire codebase to also use Firefox's.
The idea for using Firefox for Android's codebase is because the team sees it to be very usable, stable and an increasingly viable alternative to the built-in webkit browser.
The team took quite a while because the move to use Firefox for Android's codebase required some adjustments, a proxy audit, re-implementation of the user interfaces and other changes; it took the team four months to reach the stable status.