Orbot: Over 20 Million Served, Ready for the Next Billion
Posted on May 16, 2018
| n8fr8
We recently published the latest release of Orbot (16.0.2!), and as usual, we make it available via Google Play, as well F-Droid, and through direct download on our website. Whether we like it or not, Google keeps tracks of things like total installs and active installs (i.e. not uninstalled), and reports on that for us through their dashboard. While publishing this release, we noticed a milestone that made us a bit proud… so pardon this humblebrag.
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Orbot v16: a whole new look, and easier to use!
Posted on January 5, 2018
| n8fr8
Orbot: Tor for Android has a new release (tag and changelog), with a major update to the user experience and interface. This is the 16th major release of Orbot, since it was launched in late 2009.
The main screen of the app now looks quite different, with all the major features and functions exposed for easy access. We have also added a new onboarding setup wizard for first time users, that assists with configuring connections to the Tor network for users in places where Tor itself is blocked.
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No more “Root” features in Orbot… use Orfox & VPN instead!
Posted on October 27, 2017
| n8fr8
Since I first announced the available of Orbot: Tor for Android about 8 years ago (wow!), myself and others have been working on various methods in which to make the capabilities of Tor available through the operating system. This post is to announce that as of the next, imminent release, Orbot v15.5, we will no longer be supporting the Root-required “Transproxy” method. This is due to many reasons.
First, it turns out that allowing applications to get “root” access on your device seems like a good idea, it can also be seen as huge security hole.
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Ostel.co is permanently offline
Posted on August 10, 2017
| n8fr8
We are sad to announce that the Ostel service is officially discontinued and permanently offline. While Guardian Project had a hand in its conception and initial implementation, the actual operation of the service was spun out long ago to be run by a new venture a member of our original team. They have kept Ostel running free of charge for many years of reliable service, but at this point it seems, they have decided they can no longer do so.
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Tracking usage without tracking people
Posted on June 8, 2017
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
One thing that has become very clear over the past years is that there is a lot of value in data about people. Of course, the most well known examples these days are advertising and spy agencies, but tracking data is useful for many more things. For example, when trying to build software that is intuitive and easy to use, having real data about how people are using the software can make a massive difference when developers and designers are working on improving their software.
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Announcing new libraries: F-Droid Update Channels
Posted on May 31, 2017
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
In many places in the world, it is very common to find Android apps via a multitude of sources: third party app stores, Bluetooth transfers, swapping SD cards, or directly downloaded from websites. As developers, we want to make sure that our users get secure and timely update no matter how they got our apps. We still recommend that people get apps from trusted sources like F-Droid or Google Play.
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F-Droid: A new UX 6 years in the making
Posted on April 17, 2017
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
_(post by Peter Serwylo)_
F-Droid has been a part of the Android ecosystem for over 6 years now.
Since then, over 2000 apps have been built for the main repository,
many great features have been added, the client has been translated into over 40 different languages, and much more.
However, the F-Droid UX has never changed much from the original three tab layout:
This will change with the coming release of F-Droid client v0.
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Announcing the Developer Challenges Survey
Posted on March 21, 2017
| Seamus Tuohy
In the Guardian Project‘s current work with the FDroid community to make it a secure, streamlined, and verifiable app distribution channel for high-risk environments we have started to become more aware of the challenges and risks facing software developers who build software in around the world.
There are a wealth of resources available on how to support and collaborate with high-risk users. Surprisingly, we could not find any guidance on how to support and collaborate with developers where the internet is heavily monitored and/or filtered, let alone developers who might be at risk because of the software they develop.
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Build Android apps with Debian: apt install android-sdk
Posted on March 13, 2017
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
In Debian stretch, the upcoming new release, it is now possible to build Android apps using only packages from Debian. This will provide all of the tools needed to build an Android app targeting the “platform” android-23 using the SDK build-tools 24.0.0. Those two are the only versions of “platform” and “build-tools” currently in Debian, but it is possible to use the Google binaries by installing them into /usr/lib/android-sdk.
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F-Droid now supports APK Expansion Files aka OBB
Posted on February 22, 2017
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
Many games, mapping, and other apps require a large amount of data to work. The APK file of an Android app is limited to 100MB in size, yet it is common for a single country map file to be well over 100MB. Also, in order to get users running as quickly as possible, they should not have to wait for huge amounts of data to download in order to just start the app for the first time.
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Build Your Own App Store: Android Media Distribution for Everyone
Posted on February 22, 2017
| Torsten Grote
Most people get their Android apps from Google Play. It is usually the simplest and most secure option for them. But there are also many people who do not have access to Google Play. This might be due to lack of a proper internet connection or simply because Google Play is blocked within their country.
The F-Droid project already offers tools to create independent app distribution channels for Android apps.
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How can we learn without watching?
Posted on January 30, 2017
| n8fr8
What kind of measurement, tracking or analytics do you use, and can you sleep at night with your decision?
As part of the Berkman-Klein Assembly program at Harvard, I am working with a team to imagine a next-generation mobile and IoT analytics system that has privacy, confidentiality and anonymity at its core. The hope is we can find ways to learn what our users like and understand how our apps are performing without having to rely on proprietary cloud services, logging liability, network vulnerabilities, and invasive app permissions.
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Imagining the challenges of developers in repressive environments
Posted on January 26, 2017
| Seamus Tuohy
The Guardian Project team spends a lot of time thinking about users. In our work we focus on easy-to-use applications for users in high-risk scenarios. Because of this we are very focused on security. In our current work with the FDroid community to make it a secure, streamlined, and verifiable app distribution channel for high-risk environments we have started to become more aware of the challenges and risks facing software developers who build software in high-risk environments.
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New Partnership with Circle of 6 mobile safety app
Posted on January 19, 2017
| n8fr8
Circle of 6 Focuses on Security with Guardian Project Partnership
Safety App Will Get End-to-End Encryption and More To Support High-Risk Communities
New York, NY: Two innovative organizations have partnered to bring increased digital security and privacy capabilities to users interested in improved safety for their mobile devices. Tech 4 Good, the developer of Circle of 6, a highly regarded mobile safety app developed to promote safety and health through networks of trust, has partnered with Guardian Project, a leader in mobile security and privacy technologies.
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Orfox 1.2.1 released
Posted on December 2, 2016
| n8fr8
We’ve released a new version of Orfox, our Tor Browser for Android, that contains an an important security update to Firefox.
This update is based on the latest release of Tor Browser, which was announced with this message:
The security flaw responsible for this urgent release is already actively exploited on Windows systems. Even though there is currently, to the best of our knowledge, no similar exploit for OS X or Linux users available the underlying bug affects those platforms as well.
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Orfox 1.2: An Overdue Update to Our Privacy-Focused Browser!
Posted on September 25, 2016
| n8fr8
Primarily this release is the first in a long while after improving our ability to stay up-to-date with core Tor Browser development. In addition, as Mozilla adds more and more features to the core Firefox, we must review them for any issues related to increased permission request, access to data, and privacy and network leaks. This is a slow, tedious job, so thank you for your patience. We expect to have more frequent, regular releases moving forward.
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OpenArchive: Free & Secure Mobile Media Sharing #DWebSummit
Posted on June 7, 2016
| n8fr8
I am excited to share another new “mini app” effort we have joined up with, as part of work we are doing to create simple, focused tools that solve a single issue. We also are aiming to builds apps that are 1 to 3MB in size, and work on Android phones back to version 2.3, in order to maximize accessibility for a global audience. OpenArchive is one of these efforts. It is a project led by Natalie Cadranel, who received a Knight Foundation prototype grant in 2014.
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Building the most private app store
Posted on June 2, 2016
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
App stores can work well without any tracking at all
Attackers are increasingly seeing app stores as a prime attack vector, whether it is aimed at the masses like XCodeGhost or very targeted like in FBI vs Apple. When we install software from an app store, we are placing a lot of trust in a lot of different parties involved in getting the source code from the original developer delivered to our device in a useful form.
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PanicKit: making your whole phone respond to a panic button
Posted on January 12, 2016
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
Our mobile devices do so many things for us, making it easy to communicate with people in all manners while giving us access to all sorts of information wherever we are. But in times of anxiety and panic, it is difficult to quickly use them. Will you be too shaky to type in your PIN or lock pattern? Will you have enough time to find your trusted contacts and send them a message?
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Good translations are essential to usability
Posted on December 9, 2015
| Hans-Christoph Steiner
All too often, translation of an app are treated as an afterthought. It is not something that the app developers see, since they create the software in languages that work best for them. So the software looks complete to the developers. But for anyone using the software in a different language, translation is essential in order for the app to be useful. If you can’t understand the words that you see in the app’s interface, it is going to be difficult or impossible to use that app.
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