Orbot iOS / macOS

February 13, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Torifies your iOS / macOS device running iOS 15 or macOS 11 and newer.

Find links to official releases, beta tests etc. here: https://orbot.app/download

Provides a "VPN" which tunnels all your device network traffic through Tor.

  • Supports Obfs4 and Snowflake bridges, fully configurable.
  • Supports Onion v3 service authentication.
  • Supports Tor's EntryNodes, ExitNodes, ExcludeNodes and StrictNodes options.
  • Tor 0.4.9.5
  • OpenSSL 3.6.1
  • Lyrebird 0.8.1 (Obfs4proxy)
  • Snowflake 2.11.0
  • leaf 0.12.0

Build

Prerequisits:

  • MacOS Sonoma or later
  • Xcode 15 or later
  • Homebrew
brew install cocoapods bartycrouch fastlane rustup-init automake autoconf libtool gettext cmake
rustup-init -y
rustup target add aarch64-apple-ios aarch64-apple-ios-sim x86_64-apple-ios aarch64-apple-darwin x86_64-apple-darwin
cargo install cbindgen
git clone git@github.com:guardianproject/orbot-apple.git
cd orbot-apple
git submodule update --init --recursive
pod update
leaf-ffi-orbot/build-leaf.sh
open Orbot.xcworkspace

Configure your code signing credentials in Config.xcconfig!

You will need to manually create App IDs, a group ID, and profiles.

Network Extensions can only run on real devices, not in the simulator.

Localization

Localization is done with BartyCrouch, licensed under MIT.

Just add new NSLocalizedStrings calls to the code. After a build, they will automatically show up in Localizable.strings.

Don't use storyboard and xib file localization. That just messes up everything. Localize these by explicit calls in the code.

IPC / Use with Other Apps

Orbot registers to handle the scheme orbot and associates the domain https://orbot.app.

Using the associated domain is preferred, as it protects against other apps trying to hijack the orbot scheme and it provides a nice fallback for users who don't have Orbot installed, yet.

The following URIs are available to interact with Orbot from other apps:

  • https://orbot.app/rc/show OR orbot:show Will just start the Orbot app.

  • https://orbot.app/rc/start OR orbot:start Will start the Network Extension, if not already started. (NOTE: There's no "stop" for security reasons!)

  • https://orbot.app/rc/show/settings OR orbot:show/settings Will show the SettingsViewController, where users can edit their Tor configuration.

  • https://orbot.app/rc/show/bridges OR orbot:show/bridges Will show the BridgeConfViewController, where users can change their bridge configuration.

  • https://orbot.app/rc/show/auth OR orbot:show/auth Will show the AuthViewController, where users can edit their v3 onion service authentication tokens.

  • https://orbot.app/rc/add/auth?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexample23472834zasd.onion&key=12345678examplekey12345678 OR orbot:add/auth?url=http%3A%2F%2Fexample23472834zasd.onion&key=12345678examplekey12345678 Will show the AuthViewController, which will display a prefilled "Add" dialog. The user can then add that auth key. You don't need to provide all pieces. E.g. for the URL the second-level domain would be enough. Orbot will do its best to sanitize the arguments.

You can call these URIs like this:

	UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "https://orbot.app/rc/start")!)

Direct Dependencies

Acknowledgements

These people helped with translations. Thank you so much, folks!

  • French: yahoe.001, Guirlandia

  • Russian: ViktorOnlin, ktchr, Ifti, Pihjun, ZiPERR, anm, dianazryn, foxing29, keelzhanke, neocaching, sloncocs, userNameIsBoris, emedvedev, ktchr

  • Spanish: Fabiola.mauriceh, Aetheria, Fitoschido, Maria_Jose, NorwegianFox, cacu, kodachi, lenazun, m_rey, nosense, strel, supermigue2000, vareli, zakooch, Elos, antonela_, arielbarbosa, emmapeel

  • Ukrainian: Kataphan, Herenko, MykolaBubelich, Pihjun, gr3ttle, lyubomyr

  • Arabic: AboShanab, BNasr, Bild96, Hujairi, Israel.K, LU_er, MissPeace, Souffex, ahmedessamdev, nouribram, zer0x, mada19

  • Croatian: paranatox, tomislav.capan, milotype

  • Spanish (Cuba) raulitopatry, kata91

  • Portuguese (Brazil) Bk__13, CRCF, CypherZnnb, MarvinSilc, cauan_zorzenon, darkcrystal, eduaddadbr, leovasone, rdd15, shazaum, vic.toria, vmattos, Communia, nopum

Tech Stuff

Figma template used to create rounded MacOS icons: https://www.figma.com/community/file/857303226040719059

How to use experimental Onionmasq/Arti

  • Change the reference to Tor in the Podfile to Tor/Onionmasq and use the :git master or download into another directory and reference that. Run pod update after that.
  • Change the key NSExtensionPrincipalClass from $(PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME).LeafPTProvider to $(PRODUCT_MODULE_NAME).OnionmasqPTProvider in TorVPN/Info.plist and/or TorVPN Mac/Info.plist.
  • Configure your code signing credentials in Config.xcconfig.

=> You should be good to go.

Look out for USE_ONIONMASQ references in the code: there you'll find the special handling necessary for Onionmasq.

NOTE: No bridge support, yet! iOS 50 MB memory limit might crash Onionmasq. There's no limit on macOS.

Further reading

https://tordev.guardianproject.info

Author, License

Benjamin Erhart, Die Netzarchitekten e.U.

Under the authority of Guardian Project with friendly support from The Tor Project.

Licensed under MIT.

Artwork taken from Orbot Android, licensed under BSD-3.