Andoid 14
Firefox beta 124.0b8 from play store
Orbot 16.6.3-RC-1-tor.0.4.7.10 from play store
Followed all directions at
https://docs.start9.com/0.3.5.x/misc-guides/ca-ff
and Start9 | Configuring Firefox for Tor
In firefox beta, all onion URLs produce the error “Address not found”.
You’ll need to very slowly and carefully walk through each of the steps. Any slight mistake will cause this to not work. 99% of the time, this is what is wrong.
What is the status or Orbot? Is it connected and working?
When completed, did you close Firefox Beta completely and open it again?
Thanks for the reply StuPleb. Orbot is connected. Works fine in VPN mode. Just can’t seem to get Firefox beta to work via orbot proxy. Have verified each step several times; closed and reopened Firefox; rebooted Android.
Sounds like I’m at a dead end on this issue for the time being. At some point I’ll do a virgin reinstall of Android, ca cert trust, orbot, Firefox beta.
Zooming out, it’s a real pain to try to simultaneously use tor for some apps and clearnet for others. Throw in a desire to use a regular VPN for clearnet traffic… Tor for start9 service apps when away from home network and clearnet home network when home… etc.
Has anyone solved this in an elegant way? What I really need is a network layer that conditionally forces certain traffic to route through tor proxy, other traffic to local subnet, other traffic to clearnet VPN. Bonus would be to universally enforce CA certs.
Not that we know of. Perhaps overlay networks or split tunneling can assist with this. We intend to make advanced networking like this more approachable in the future, but at this time we are focused on the personal server.
Hi guys, I am reading through the forum to find a fix to my problem. This post is a partial match, so let me ask here.
I am on a mobile device with Android 14 and have followed the guidelines mentioned by OP.
So Orbit is running (tried both power mode and VPN mode).
if I use Duckduckgo browser, I can connect to my start9 embassy using Tor (onion address is resolved and working) but there’s no way to configure duckduckgo to accept start9 private certificate and I don’t want to connect through Tor in clear text.
if instead I use Firefox Beta (as suggested in start9 guidelines), about:config is no longer available so I cannot configure Firefox to run through Tor. I think the start9 guide about this must be updated.
I found out that Firefox Nightly still allows to access the about:config page. So I tried configuring Tor for Firefox Nightly but still all onion URLs produce the error “Address not found”.
Is there a way to fix this?
TLDR: Tor configured on Android 14 device. Onion address resolved and working if using Duckduckgo but only via http (no way to tell duckduckgo to trust my start9 certificate, so no https). Firefox beta is OK to trust my start9 cert (can reach my .local address in https) but no longer supports about:config so not possible to configure it for Tor.
Firefox Nightly allows about:config but still onion address give error.
Sorry for the long message. Does anybody have a fix for this?
Hi Joseph,
The configuration you described is for Firefox on desktop.
To configure Firefox Beta on your Android device:
This information is available in the documentation; just be sure to check the Android tab. I hope this helps you move forward.
Hi h0mer, thanks for your reply.
The configuration you quote is about making Firefox accept third party certificates. I’ve done that, no problem (I wish there were a similar config for duckduckgo…).
I am referring to this guide about “Configuring Firefox for Tor” (Android tab)
https://docs.start9.com/0.3.5.x/misc-guides/tor-ff#tor-ff
Here I should access the about:config page which is not available for Firefox beta on Android.
At the moment, I can access my start9 .local address via https on Firefox beta (third party cert OK) but not my .onion address (Firefox beta not configured for Tor since no about:config page).
On the other hand, with duckduckgo I can reach both .local and .onion addresses but only in http because I didn’t find a way to tell duckduckgo to accept third party certs.
Any help?
Thanks a lot!
Ok, I understand now. It’s possible that the documentation is outdated and Firefox has changed something. What version of FF beta and Android you are using?
What I found is that DuckDuckGo does not currently support third-party certificates, which is why you’re unable to use HTTPS with .local or .onion addresses. Unfortunately, there isn’t a built-in way to configure DuckDuckGo to accept third-party certificates.
Alternatively, you could try using one of Firefox’s forks, such as Firefox Nightly or Iceraven, which may still support about:config on Android. I can’t confirm this since I don’t have an Android device to test it on, but I’ll check with the team to see if Firefox has indeed removed about:config and whether the documentation needs updating.
Hi h0mer, again thanks a lot for taking the time.
I am on Android 14 and FF beta136.0b6
I can confirm Firefox Nightly still supports “about:config”.
I have followed the guide “Configuring Firefox for Tor” on FF Nightly but still receive “Address not found” error for any .onion address (tried with Orbit both in Power mode and VPN mode).
I’ll give Iceraven a try and update with results.
I’ve verified that the Firefox Beta instructions work for Fennec as of version 135, on GraphineOS. There’s a lot of steps, and it’s pretty technical, so go slow. Let us know if you get stuck, or something doesn’t look right along the way.
Let me just point out that there is no clear text over Tor. Everything is encrypted. Most .onion addresses don’t use https, because it’s unnecessary. The concern would be if you are connecting to a .com, .net, or some other non-.onion address, over http. The traffic over tor would be encrypted, but the exit node would see clear text. You’re not using an exit node.
good to know, thanks! I guess I need to study Tor more in depth.
Meanwhile I finally managed to connect to my start9 .onion address via https using the Tor browser. No config needed. It just works.
So now I use Firefox beta to connect to my .local address and Tor browser to reach .onion. Both via https.
Thanks for your support!