Tor Browser download and setup, bridges included

When DNS tricks fail and the network cuts VPN handshakes too, this is the tool built for exactly that fight: the Tor Browser. It routes your traffic through three volunteer relays, so no single relay ever sees both who you are and what you visit - and because the entry point is just encrypted traffic to a relay, almost no network-level block can stop it outright [1].

It is free, open source, run by a nonprofit, and made precisely for reading from censored networks. The honest trade-offs: it is slower than a VPN, big sites actively block its exits, and it is overkill for a video-streaming evening. This guide gets you from a clean download to working bridges, with the mistakes that matter called out.

Download it - only from the official places

The number one real-world risk is not the network; it is a tampered installer from a "mirror". Get Tor Browser only from the Tor Project [1][2]:

1. Open the official download page [2] and pick your platform - Windows, macOS, Linux, or the official Android app.
2. If the Tor site itself is blocked for you, use GetTor: mail or message it and it sends you the download link through email or a cloud drive [8].
3. Verify the download signature against the Tor Project's signing key (the download page links the exact instructions) [2].
4. On iOS there is no official Tor Browser; Onion Browser is the recommended third-party option, with weaker protections than the real one - know that before trusting it with anything sensitive [9].

First connect - five minutes

1. Install and open Tor Browser like any other application; nothing needs admin rights, and the portable copy runs from a USB stick on machines you do not control.
2. Press Connect. On uncensored networks this connects directly, which takes a few seconds.
3. Verify the connection on check.torproject.org [12] - it should greet you with the confirmation that this browser is using Tor.
4. Browse as usual. Tor Browser is a hardened Firefox: it isolates sites from each other and resists fingerprinting, so leave its default settings alone and do not install extensions into it.

Keep expectations honest on speed: your traffic makes three extra hops, so streaming, gaming and huge downloads are not what it is for. Reading, research, messaging and signups work fine.

When Connect fails: bridges

Censors block Tor by listing the public relay addresses. If your network does that, the Connect spinner stalls and eventually fails - the telltale sign that you need a bridge: an unlisted entry relay that the censor does not know [3].

1. On the Connect screen, choose Configure Connection, then select Add a Bridge.
2. Try a built-in bridge first: Tor Browser ships current transports - obfs4, Snowflake, meek-azure and webtunnel - and any of them may already work where plain Tor fails [3].
3. If none works, request fresh bridges from the browser itself (the Request a Bridge flow, served through the Tor Project's bridge portal) [4], or fetch them from the bridges portal [4].
4. No web access to the portal at all? Mail bridges@torproject.org from a Gmail or Riseup account with the line "get transport obfs4" and you get bridges by reply - documented in the Tor support FAQ [7].
5. Paste the bridge lines into the browser, connect, and re-verify on the check page [12].

Which transport wins depends on the censor's equipment; obfs4 and webtunnel are the usual first picks, and if a network whitelists cloud traffic, meek-azure still gets through where everything else fails [3]. Expect to try more than one.

The honest limits

• Exit blocks and captchas. Popular sites read exit traffic from the same known relay pool all day; many block it or puzzle-wall it. For those, the answer is not a different Tor setting - it is the site's own official onion address.
• Logging in ties the account to this identity. Tor separates you from your ordinary IP; your own login undoes that for anything you do while logged in. That is fine when intended, dangerous when casual [10].
• Managed devices watch you try. A school or work computer records the Tor download and every connection attempt, even when the content stays hidden. On such devices, prefer the zero-install routes: archived copies or a translate proxy.
• Legality varies. Tor is legal to use in most countries and is used daily by journalists and ordinary readers; a few states restrict it. Eff's tool guide is the right frame: choose by what you are protecting, and know your local situation [10]. This guide is information, not legal advice.

Onion sites - Tor's superpower

Inside the Tor Browser, an *.onion address connects you end-to-end through the network without ever touching a public exit - faster and stabler than clearnet browsing over Tor, and impossible to censor at the exit because no exit is involved [11].

Major operators publish official onion addresses: newsrooms, broadcasters, search engines, messaging platforms and hosting companies. The rule that protects you from the classic scam: an onion address must come from the operator's own website or announcement - never from a list you found in a search engine. We keep a curated list of official onion sites and explain how to verify addresses in the browser.

What Tor is not for

• Speed-critical use. Streaming, downloads and games belong on a VPN, a self-hosted WireGuard setup, or WARP.
• Defeating site-side geo blocks. Tor exits are geolocated and often blocked outright; the answer there is an exit in the right country, not Tor.
• Torrenting. It does not work over Tor and is abusive to the volunteer network [1].

Tor is the tool for reading under censorship, for sensitive research, and for reaching operators' own onion services. Keep it installed as the deep fallback behind your lighter tools - the day the light ones stop working, you will not want to be downloading it [10].