Obviously, safety is my number one priority. I’m not doing anything illegal (unless just browsing for fun is illegal), but I still want to stay as safe as I can. I don’t have a computer so I downloaded Orbot, Tor, Avast Antivirus, and NordVPN so that I could feel more comfortable clicking around deep web sites. Anyways, I just wanted to ask if this is a proper level of security or if I should take another measure. Any help would be appreciated
Hi!
I’m a bot. And I am here to tell you, that you should probably not use a VPN.
I am not going to write a gigantic (and probably incorrect, bad or something else) post on why you shouldn’t since there are so many others that have already done that.
Here is a quick summary:
If you use VPN to conceal Tor usage: If Tor isn’t banned or blocked, you might not need it. Else, use bridges.
- VPN + Tor: Not Necessarily a Net Gain By Matt Traudt (aka system33- here on reddit, great person btw.)
- r/Tor wiki
- Obscurix: VPNs (Has a section about the TorPlusVpn on trac.torproject.org, which you should read to understand whenever someone uses it as “Tor project recommends Tor+VPN”)
I am a bot, and this comment was posted automatically.
This bot is WIP (Work in progress).
Author of this bot
It must be showing ur location from Mars
Even if you’ve opted out of analytics with Avast, it can still read and log your web visits to an extent.
I’d set Avast to just file mode only, since you shouldn’t really be downloading anything off of Tor in the first place unless you know what you’re doing.
Nord, I’m uncertain on their standing, but I’ve heard controversial rumours on how they’re pretty compliant with 14 eyes orders, and have been caught red handed logging a couple times
IKR bro got all of them 
but how the f* is it working tho, i only have Avast and Nord, and not Avast is going crazy on me and not letting me use Nord lol
VPN kind of cancels Orbot out as well, as they fight for who should be the phones VPN service and it often would default to your proper VPN, so I’d get rid of either of them, and go use the Tor Browser specifically. It’s designed with utmost security band privacy in mind, and using Orbot with any other browser is just asking to be found.
In my opinion, I’m very no bueno with your setup, but since you’re not doing anything illegal.
I wouldn’t say your setups “wrong” either, it’ll definitely keep you secure, but privacy is hovering at the 50% zone
So you’re saying that setting Avast to file mode only and only using one or no VPN would be better?
Yes, in a basic shortened term. Orbot doesn’t stack with a VPN, your phone will only choose one of them.
And using Orbot on top of Tor browser is pointless since the browser already has the routing built-in
Couldn’t Orbot offer an additional layer of security via routing traffic through the Tor network twice, first through Orbot, then through Tor browser?
The Orbot project is pretty broken right now.
Plus even if it did work, I think routing with a total of 6 nodes is beyond overkill lmao
Why do you say it’s pretty broken right now? Just curious, services seem to work for me besides having to reboot periodically to work out kinks and other minor bugs. An I feel overkill is preferred over accidental underkill when it comes to anonymity and personal freedom. Could just be the script kiddie in me :‑X
I’ve done some tracert and dns tests with my own VPN and Orbot set up and it always ignored Orbot if my VPN was on, and if my VPN is off, only then would it use Orbot.
You’re free to use a Tor Orbot combo if it works for you, and you can handle the latency, but IMO, more doesn’t always mean better.
Even the developer of Tor felt the trade-off of latency for security wasn’t worth any more than 3 nodes.
Also, the combination of them leads me to wonder whether this leads to double the unencrypted nodes, or makes it a longer chain, I’ve never been able to test it.
I do know that mobile devices are configured this way, to only allow one VPN connection. Orbot can not run with any other VPN active, bc it’s considered a VPN also. Unless you are trying to access Tor in a place it’s forbidden or bypass a server that blocks Tor, I can’t see why you would need a VPN in addition to Orbot. However the latency is REAL and could understand the turn off from that. Orbot gives me a little feeling of extra assurance, bc in my mind even my VPN is connecting through the Tor network. So in reference to the common debates we see on either using Tor on VPN or VPN on Tor, couldn’t a solid setup with Orbot give you the best of both worlds providing Tor network on VPN on Tor browser?