Tor Messenger

Note: As of March 2018, Tor Messenger is NO LONGER MAINTAINED so its developers advise you not to use it. However, you can still download a copy on our website.

Tor Messenger aims to provide a secure way to communicate with your friends by re-routing the messages you send through the Tor network. In other words, it delivers a cryptographically secure IM application that can be used to exchange messages without worrying that they might be intercepted.

Thanks to the integrated configuration assistant, getting things ready with Tor Messenger is just a matter of pressing a few 'Next' buttons. You must first connect your PC to the Tor network, and the assistant offers you all the instructions to do so without effort, even if your Internet connection is censored.

Next, you are prompted to choose the protocol of your first account. Tor Messenger comes with support for a variety of account types, including Facebook, Google Talk, Twitter, IRC, XMPP, Yahoo, and Odnoklassniki. Obviously, you can connect to more than one account, managing all the connections from the 'Accounts' window. Here, you can check out the connection status, access the debug logs and add new accounts to Tor Messenger.

Tor Messenger's main window is similar to that of any IM client, allowing you to set a status message and create an alias for your accounts. You can add new contacts and initiate new conversations, and join chat rooms.

The tab-based chat window enables you to start multiple conversations at the same time. You get the same simple layout you would have when using online clients, with the extra benefit that your messages are encrypted and your identity is truly protected. The feature set of Tor Messenger can be enriched using addons, including new themes, message styles, and so on.

Based on InstantBird, Tor Messenger offers a simple way to encrypt conversations and conceal the real identity of the chat partners. Using Tor as its underlying network, it succeeds in encrypting all the sent messages before sending. But please note that both interlocutors must deploy an OTR-enabled client for the messages to be sent and received.