Tails helps you to:

  • Use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship
  • All connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network
  • Leave no trace on the computer you are using unless you ask it explicitly
  • Use state-of-the-art cryptographic tools to encrypt your files, emails and instant messaging

Tails is a live system that aims to preserve your privacy and anonymity. It helps you to use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship almost anywhere you go and on any computer but leaving no trace unless you ask it to explicitly.

It is a complete operating system designed to be used from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card independently of the computer's original operating system.

Tails comes with several built-in applications pre-configured with security in mind: web browser, instant messaging client, email client, office suite, image and sound editor, etc.

If you are interested in giving Tails a try on your current computer without running any risk, please check out our Guide: Running Linux From a USB Drive As a Virtual Machine or Bootable Disk.

What is Tails?

Tails is a portable Linux distribution based on Debian that combines the Tor network, the GNOME desktop and several other tools to offer a secure and anonymous computer experience.

How safe is Tails?

Tails is very safe as long as you do not run it on an infected machine. Tails is designed to run from a USB stick on any computer as a completely independent OS. However, if the host computer is infected with malware such as a keylogger your privacy would be at risk.

How does Tails ensure privacy?

Tails is set up out of the box to run from your computer's memory and never stores information locally unless you configure it to. This means that every time you shut down Tails, the memory is wiped clean, deleting all traces of your work and every new session starts as a blank slate.

Can I use Tails to circumvent censorship?

Yes, you can use Tails to circumvent internet censorship and browse the web anonymously. All the applications that come with Tails (email, browser, messaging client, office suite) use the Tor network to connect to the internet, so all your activity can be hidden.

Online anonymity and censorship circumvention with Tor

Tails relies on the Tor anonymity network to protect your privacy online:

  • all software is configured to connect to the Internet through Tor
  • if an application tries to connect to the Internet directly, the connection is automatically blocked for security.

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location.

Using Tor you can:

  • be anonymous online by hiding your location
  • connect to services that would be censored otherwise
  • resist attacks that block the usage of Tor using circumvention tools such as bridges

What's New

Random seed

  • Tails now stores a random seed on the USB stick to strengthen all cryptography.
  • Having a secure random number generator is critical to some of the cryptography used in Tails, for example, in the Persistent Storage, Tor, or HTTPS.
  • This random seed is stored outside of the Persistent Storage so that all users can benefit from stronger cryptography.

Changes and updates

  • Switch to using HTTPS addresses instead of an onion addresses for the Debian and Tails APT repositories. This makes the Additional Software feature more reliable.
  • Update Tor Browser to 13.0.16.
  • Update the Tor client to 0.4.8.12.
  • Update Thunderbird to 115.12.0.

Fixed problems

  • Fix more issues when unlocking the Persistent Storage. (#20020, #20344, #19913)
  • Fix connecting to a mobile broadband network on some hardware. (#20291)
  • Enable again the PDF reader of Thunderbird that we disabled in Tails 6.3 for security.
  • Improve the error message of Tails Cloner when the target USB stick cannot be unmounted because it is being used. (#19253)
  • Fix the homepage of Tor Browser when using the New Identity feature. This removes the error message Tor Browser blocked your homepage from loading. (#20381)
  • Remove the redundant dialog when unlocking a VeraCrypt volume using the Unlock VeraCrypt Volumes utility. (#20281)