Meet Snowflake Volunteer: Tor’s Android app that lets you help people bypass censorship
- Tor unveils Snowflake Volunteer as a standalone Android app
- The app lets users share their open internet connection
- It is the result of a collaboration between Tor and Bloco
The team behind the censorship-resistant Tor Browser has unveiled Snowflake Volunteer — a standalone Android app that lets you help people living in restricted countries bypass internet censorship.
Developed in collaboration with Portuguese Android studio Bloco, the app expands on Snowflake‘s capabilities. That’s Tor’s pluggable transport, which allows people on censored networks to connect to the Tor network via volunteer-operated proxies, making their connection appear as normal traffic.
Since its official launch in April, Tor reported that the app saw an increase from about 1,300 unique proxy IP addresses per day in May to 1,700 per day in June, marking a 29% increase in one month. That represents a win for raising public awareness and expanding its volunteer-led community.
Altruistic digital privacy
Just like the best VPNs, Tor is all about protecting your privacy online. However, its system only works if people around the world volunteer to run the access points.
Tor bridges, like Snowflake, allow digital users living in safer countries to make their private connections available by turning their phones and computers into proxies, making it appear that they are making video or audio calls. A system that has been widely used as an alternative to VPNs in countries under censorship, including Iran.
It uses the “domain fronting” technique to establish a connection with one of the thousands of Snowflake proxies managed by volunteers. For users subject to censorship, if their Snowflake proxy is blocked, the broker will automatically find a new one.
🚨 New app alert! Android app called Snowflake Volunteer for those willing to help people reach the Tor network and circumvent censorship from their mobile devices. It was built open-source by Bloco, an Android app studio from Portugal. ❄️👉https://t.co/Ueltb49AqwAugust 3, 2026
What Snowflake actually needs is more volunteers’ proxies that can serve as disguised access points to the Tor network. Perfectly addressing this need, the Snowflake Volunteer app was created specifically to allow people with less technical experience to easily become these proxies and contribute to the network’s continued expansion.
Indeed, until now, the option was available for Android on Orbot, Tor’s main Android app, or via browser extensions, a desktop command-line tool, and manual access to Tor’s Kindness mode to facilitate the process.
The new app widely simplifies the experience. Users can simply install the app from F-Droid and Google Play (or build it from the source code) and let it run in the background to have their device become part of the Tor bridge. They can also restrict its use to networks with unlimited data, and set a limit on the number of people who can connect at the same time.
Once enabled, the app automatically connects with users seeking a Snowflake proxy and helps route their connection through the Tor network, making it easier and more rewarding to help others online, as people can see the impact of their actions.
Tor vs VPNs?
Is it wise to use a VPN with Tor? Unfortunately, there is no universally accepted answer.
Tor’s official stance for most users is not to use a virtual private network (VPN) to avoid the risk of exposing identifying information. However, if you’re an experienced user who understands the technical aspects of VPNs and Tor routing, you could safely opt for more complex configurations.
Others, however, argue we should all use VPNs: particularly in countries with high levels of censorship, some believe it’s better to use VPNs, as they mix better into normal traffic and arouse less suspicion.
Unfortunately, though, this approach fails where VPNs are subject to restrictions or made illegal — further proof that, when it’s about digital security, there might be no one-size-fits-all solution.
