A Tor Browser Might Not Be Your Best Solution for Internet Privacy – The Mac Observer

Im very privacy-minded. Ive written quite frequently about securing your browser and network on the Mac. I figure its about time to give the iPhone some loving, since there are a number of ways to make sure you have a good experience browsing while keeping things private. Lets look at some of the methods for doing that and Ill give you my not-so-humble opinion about which one is best.

If you want to lock up your Internet security and privacy, is a Tor browser really the answer? (Image Credit: HypnoArt

Before you do anything else, you should make sure your network is secure. This even applies to your cellular network, so you might wonder what you can do about it. One important step is to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN.

There are plenty of commercial VPNs out there. You could go with TunnelBear, for one, or Astrill VPN. You might also choose to set up your own private VPN for your personal use.

If you dont already know about it, the Tor browser is built from the ground up to anonymize your browsing experience. Tor directs Internet traffic through a worldwidefree volunteer network consisting of more than seven thousand relays, for free. It will conceal a users location and usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis. There are plenty of iOS Tor clients out there, so lets cover a few of them.

The one thingyoull need to bear in mind about Tor browsers is that its pretty common for major internet sitesto blacklist them, forcing you to endure Captchas to no end. From most of my research, including a rare answer from Stack Exchange itself, this is because of the wide variety of nefarious individuals who use Tor to mask themselves as they carry out dastardly deeds on the internet. StackExchange referred to them as spammers, trolls and psychopaths.

The first one isnt a browser at all, but one that changes settings in your iPhone so that your internet traffic redirects through the Tor network. This is a decent option, but its notably slower than my own VPN. Id give this a three out of five; it does what its supposed to, but remarkably slower than most of us would like. To make matters worse, Mr. Whoer reports that the IP address I get through Black Mesh is infected with a Trojan. Black Mesh is available for $1.99 on the App Store.

Red Onion gets its name because Tor was originally an acronym for The Onion Router. It redirects your internet browsing through the Tor network, and automatically cleans up cookies when you exit the app. You can also protect your browser with a password or Touch ID, so you dont have to worry so much about your privacy being invaded through physical access to your device. Its not perfect, though. Red Onion defaults to use Bing as its search engine, and Google wont work through the browser at all, in my experience. Also, when you tap inside the address field, it doesnt highlight the text. This one, too, is blacklisted, according to Mr. Whoer. Red Onion is a 3.5 out of five, in my opinion. The app costs $1.99 on the App Store.

Ill just call this one the Purple Onion Browser, even though a number of Tor clients have a purple icon. This is another option, and is a bit more feature-rich than some other Tor browsers. It defaults to DuckDuckGo for its search engine, which is good, and allows you to quickly change your identify, if you need to. Secret Secure Web Browser seems a bit faster than other options, but still not as quick as connecting through my VPN and using Safari. Yet again, another Tor browser that shows being infected with some sort of Trojan, and thus blacklisted. Secret Secure Web Browser is, in my estimation, a four out of five. If you want to try it out, this app is free on the App Store.

Ive tried a number of other Tor browser clients, and the experience was always the same. Browsing was fine, but slow. For my own purposes, Im going to stick with my VPN connection and use DuckDuckGo for my search engine. That prevents both my internet service provider from tracking me, as well as my search engine. Thats private enough, dont you think?

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A Tor Browser Might Not Be Your Best Solution for Internet Privacy - The Mac Observer