Tor Browser: bridges and mirrors

By the end of this page Tor Browser is connected through one of our bridges and you have opened this site and the guides over an onion mirror, with no filter in the way.

Tier 1: throttled or filtered internet · Needs internet.

Draft: this page has not been checked on a real device yet, and its Farsi has not been reviewed. Use with care.

Tor Browser is the usual browser. When the internet is filtered but not cut, Tor gets through by way of a "bridge": an entry address with no public list, so it cannot be blocked wholesale. We run our own bridges and never list them; we hand one to each person.

1. Install

From the official source, torproject.org, or the Android and desktop builds from the offline pack. Before installing, compare the file's hash with the signed file list (check).
Do not take it from unknown stores. A tampered Tor Browser is exactly what an attacker wants to give you.

2. Try without a bridge first

Tor Browser has its own connection assist and, in countries that filter, offers the built-in Snowflake bridge. If that connects, it is enough. If not, next step.

3. Get a bridge from us

One of two ways:

In Telegram, write to the IranTalk bot: /bridge. It gives one bridge line, the same one for you for a week.
Or on the dashboard: dashboard.irantalk.com/bridge. Your browser computes for a few seconds (to stop abuse) and gives one bridge line. Nothing about you is kept.

A bridge line looks like a word (the bridge type), an address and a few more values. Copy the whole line.

4. Enter the bridge

Desktop: Settings, Connection, Bridges, "Add a bridge manually". Paste the line and connect.
Android: Settings, Config Bridge, "Provide a bridge I know". Paste the line.
If the bridge does not connect, it has probably been burned. Ask the bot for a fresh one; meanwhile Snowflake or the mirrors.

5. Onion mirrors

Once Tor is connected, the "Onion mirror" rows on Ways to connect open this site, the guides and the download pack without passing through the irantalk.com domain, even when that domain is blocked. Take the address character by character from the signed list, and compare the fingerprint at the bottom of the page with your note.

The bridges come in the project's next phase. Until then, the bot and the dashboard say there is no bridge and send you to Snowflake and the mirrors.

Tor hides what you read, not that you are using Tor. With a bridge, the second is harder to see too, but it does not disappear. What is visible is on Before you switch on a radio.