Is it safe to access the dark web by using the Tor browser apps on iphone?
It is not recommended.
If you must access a site on the Tor network only the Onion browser from Mika Tigas is approved by Tor project as there is no official app for iOS.
BUT iOS Tor is not the same because WebKit.
Directly from Onion Browser website FAQ
What’s the difference between browsing with Tor on iOS and browsing with Tor on my computer?
The primary difference is that Apple requires we use the WebKit browser component they provide. With Tor Browser on Desktop and Android, the browser is built upon Mozilla’s Firefox / Gecko component, which offers greater control and more reliability when it comes to implementing proxying and anti-tracking techniques.
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This from 2016 and don’t know of any more current updates in regards to what they discuss in blog post.
It is not - is your phone going out and fetching emails? Is google maps updating your location for personalized ads? Are you getting phone calls and your phone is triangulating for which towers to use? The fact of the matter is - while what you are doing may be anonymous within the Tor browser, you compromise your OpSec by the use of the phone itself unless it is a rooted, non iOS phone with no personal information and it’s only use is for non-clear net activity. Having said that, I would recommend using Tails - it operates completely within the USB drive, provides a full suite of secure apps pre installed as well as leaving no logs on the host system once shut down.
Question. Why use USB and not just TOR browser on computer if it’s all anonymous
Onion browser is not official from the Tor project. They make it pretty clear on both the page you link to and this support page that it’s a third party effort, and that they don’t officially support iOS because of the WebKit only policy. Still the best option available on that platform, though.
It’s not safe to use TOR on iOS but not for the reasons you listed. Apple does not allow apps to he installed that do not participate in Apple’s data collection unless you jailbreak the phone which ruins the purpose of TOR in the first place. In theory if you jailbreak the phone then you can sideload and safely use a TOR browser on iOS that doesn’t have the data collection issue.
If you have an android phone and sideload TOR, theoretically you can still safely browse the dark web even though your phone is constantly transmitting things like location data. Email, phone calls, location data, etc is not routed through the TOR network, only the specific browsing data is encrypted and sent to a TOR node so it should be safe unless you leak device info into the TOR network somehow. Tails is the only OS out there that routes anything more than TOR browsing specific data through the TOR network, everything else only routes TOR data to TOR nodes.
Its anonymous, but not perfect. USB is just another layer of defense.
To access onion-sites? Is that so mind boggling? It’s not illegal and who would try and track my 10min visit to a geeky forum?
I put official in quotes cause try to differentiate it cause the Tor Project recommends it / the developer works with the Tor project to but I’ll change cause you make a good point a don’t wanna confuse anyone!
Sadly there no way around WebKit but OP if tor is key on the move, get a cheap android for it.