[tbb-dev] Tor Browser for Android with Orbot (was: Planning TBA-a3, the next major Tor Browser for Android milestone)

[Nathan Freitas]

On 12/11/18 11:30 AM, Matthew Finkel wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 04:51:23PM +0100, juanjo wrote:
>> Why TB for Android now has Orbot integrated on the same app? I think it is
>> not a smart move.
> Hi!
>
> Thanks for the feedback. As we mentioned in the blog post [0]:
>
>    On the Android side, we reached another milestone in our efforts to
>    bring Tor Browser for Android into stable shape. From now on it is not
>    necessary anymore to download Orbot in order to use Tor Browser. We
>    implemented a similar solution to our desktop Tor Browser flavors by
>    shipping and using Orbot in Tor Browser directly. We plan to refine our
>    approach for an even smoother user exprience in the future, so stay
>    tuned.
>
> The dependency on Orbot resulted in a bad user experience and we want
> Tor integration to be (mostly) seamless and (mostly) transparent.
> Integrating Orbot into Tor Browser for Android provides a similar
> experience as Tor Browser on desktop, where the end result is providing
> the user with a web browser that preserves their privacy and
> "Just Works".
>
> Can you explain why you don't think it was a smart move? We understand
> this requires configuring both Orbot and Tor Browser in some situations,
> and we are working on a way that solves this. Is there something else we
> should consider?

I think it is just the current user experience is bizarre. Integrating
Tor into TBA makes sense, but booting up TBA and being greeted with the
Orbot user interface is causing confusion with existing Orbot users. I
know there is a medium term plan to move to a Tor Launcher UI, but there
are many people out there already using TBA alpha release as the "new
Orfox".

Here is what I would quickly do to resolve this:

1) Don't show the Orbot home screen at all. Start with the normal TBA
home screen.

2) Automatically start Tor on boot (as if the user had clicked the Orbot
start button)

3) Add a "Tor Settings" menu option that would open the Orbot settings.
Everything that needs to be configured can be done here.

4) Remove all the VPN code from your fork of Orbot.


Honestly, that should take just a few hours work, and would provide an
immensely improved interim TBA+Tor user experience than what is shipped now.

+n





-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 833 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tbb-dev/attachments/20181211/ec9f6b8f/attachment.sig>