The Tor Browser filters your traffic through the Tor network (a circuit of random servers called relays). This hides your internet activity from your ISP and prevents websites from identifying you through your IP Address or browser configs. This makes Tor Browser the ideal choice if you value privacy and anonymity. Use Tor Browser Bundle Typically, we install packages locally, or from the default Ubuntu repo using tools like apt. This is possible with Tor too, but it’s not the recommended method. The Tor Project provides a portable browser bundle that you’re supposed to download, extract, and directly run, rather than install. Download Tor Browser Bundle Go to the Tor Project download page and click on the Download for Linux and Signature buttons. This’ll download the browser bundle and the accompanying signature file. Verify the File’s Signature This section is optional. You could directly extract and run the Tor Browser if you want. But we recommend verifying the signature as it ensures the file you downloaded is the official release and hasn’t been tampered with. First, import the developer’s signing key. gpg --auto-key-locate nodefault,wkd --locate-keys [email protected] Save the imported key to a file. gpg --output ./tor.keyring --export 0xEF6E286DDA85EA2A4BA7DE684E2C6E8793298290 Use the keyring to verify the signature of the downloaded file. Remember to adjust the filenames with your own according to the Tor version you downloaded. gpgv --keyring ./tor.keyring tor-browser-linux64-12.0.4_ALL.tar.xz.asc tor-browser-linux64-12.0.4_ALL.tar.xz The output should say Good signature from “Tor Browser Developers (signing key). It’ll look something like this. Extract and Launch Tor Browser Extract the files from the downloaded tarball. Once again, make sure to replace the file path with your own. tar vxf ~/Downloads/tor-browser-linux64-12.0.4_ALL.tar.xz Go to the extracted directory and launch the Tor browser like so cd tor-browser ./start-tor-browser.desktop If Tor doesn’t launch, make the file executable first, then try opening it again. chmod +x start-tor-browser.desktop ./start-tor-browser.desktop Once it launches, click on the Connect button to connect to the Tor network. Install from Universe Repo The Tor browser package in Ubuntu’s universe repo is usually not up-to-date. Due to this, using the official portable bundle is preferred. But if you want to install Tor using apt anyway, you can use sudo apt install -y torbrowser-launcher Then, launch Tor browser from the Applications menu, or directly from the terminal by entering torbrowser-launcher Updating Tor Browser Using up-to-date programs is good practice, but it’s particularly important with a program like Tor as it’s used for privacy and security. When an update is available, you can open the main menu and select “Restart to update Tor Browser”. If you want to manually update without receiving this prompt, uninstall Tor and download the new version. Additionally, if you installed Tor from the Ubuntu repo, you update the package like so. sudo apt --only-upgrade install torbrowser-launcher Uninstalling Tor Browser If you’re using the portable bundle, you can simply delete the folder to remove Tor browser from your system. If you installed Tor with apt instead, you can uninstall the package like so sudo apt remove torbrowser-launcher