2026-09-23

Tor is now inside the xox app

Since June, xox has had its own .onion address for Tor Browser users. Today it goes one step further: the Android app (version 1.6) carries the Tor network inside. You don't install Orbot, you don't set up a proxy, you don't touch anything on the phone. You open Settings → Tor, turn it on, and the app reconnects through Tor.

With Tor on, your carrier sees Tor; xox sees a Tor exit. Nobody sees both ends.

What it protects

Two things, and both matter. First, whoever watches your network (the café Wi-Fi, your carrier, a hostile router) no longer sees you talking to xox at all: they see a connection to the Tor network, like millions of others. Encrypted domain names (ECH) already hid the site name; Tor now also hides the destination. Second, xox's own servers never see your IP address. They see a Tor exit node. We don't keep logs anyway; with Tor on, there is nothing to keep.

Through Tor: inbox messages and files, contacts, version checks and notifications. Notifications switch to xox's own channel while Tor is on: nothing goes through Google.
Outside Tor, on purpose: voice and video calls, live rooms and live 1-to-1 sessions. They use WebRTC through xox's relay, which Tor cannot carry. The relay sees your IP; the other person never does. The app warns you every time you start one.

It never leaks while connecting

The dangerous moment with any Tor integration is the first second: the app starts, Tor isn't ready yet, and something slips out through the normal connection. xox 1.6 is closed by design: with Tor on, the app refuses to send anything until Tor has an established circuit. You see "Connecting to Tor…" and nothing else happens. If Tor drops later, the app closes again and waits. If your phone's system WebView is too old to route traffic, the app says so and lets you decide, instead of quietly falling back.

Honest trade-offs

Tor is slower, and the first connection takes a few seconds. Turning the switch on or off reloads the app and asks for your PIN again. The switch is stored only on your phone: our servers never know whether you use Tor or not. And Tor bridges (for networks that block Tor itself) come in a later update.

How to get it

Update to xox 1.6 from Google Play, from xox.is/get or from GitHub. Then Settings → Tor. That's all.

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