Tor Browser 14.0 amps up privacy, but drops support for older Windows and macOS systems -- are you still protected?
The Tor Project has announced the release of Tor Browser 14.0 for Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit), Mac, Linux, and Android. The browser offers increased privacy to users by redirecting their internet traffic through the open Tor network.
Tor Browser 14.0 updates the browser’s underlying code to the latest Firefox ESR release -- 128 -- while also introducing new improvements that allow its fingerprinting protections to work with several new features introduced in Firefox’s latest ESR release.
Tor Browser users with a keen eye will immediately notice the browser sports a subtly updated user interface, which follows those design tweaks unveiled in Firefox releases across the past year and finally incorporated into its latest ESR release. These include line height changes and heavier headings.
The new release also includes a series of tweaks to the browser’s fingerprinting protection to make it more usable and compatible without compromising its protections -- as a result, Tor Browser 14.0 is now able to make use of several new Firefox features like screenshots and picture-in-picture video.
The update to a new version of Firefox ESR is accompanied by the Tor Project's annual ESR transition audit -- the latest one uncovered over 200 Bugzilla issues that would negatively affect Tor Browser’s security and privacy, all of which have been addressed for this release.
Again the Android version receives a notable new feature with this latest release. Tor Browser 14.0 for Android unveils a new option to request a 'New circuit' for the current site. This allows users to completely reset their current 'identity', and has been ported directly from the desktop version. It replaces the previous 'new identity' feature in Android, which was difficult to implement and didn’t completely wipe a user’s previous history.
As previously reported, Tor Browser 14.0 no longer supports older versions of Windows (7, 8 and 8.1) or macOS (10.14 and older) due to Mozilla dropping support for those platforms in the latest ESR release. However, Mozilla recently revealed it’ll continue to support Firefox ESR 115 with security updates until at least March next year, and the Tor Project has confirmed it will continue to support Tor Browser 13.5 for as long support is forthcoming from Mozilla.
For a complete list of changes -- including dozens of bug fixes -- see the Tor Project blog.
Tor Browser 14.0 is available now as a free, open-source download for Windows 64-bit, Windows portable, Mac, Linux, and Android.