Tails

Tails helps you to:

Use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship
All connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network
Leave no trace on the computer you are using unless you ask it explicitly
Use state-of-the-art cryptographic tools to encrypt your files, emails and instant messaging

Tails is a live system that aims to preserve your privacy and anonymity. It helps you to use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship almost anywhere you go and on any computer but leaving no trace unless you ask it to explicitly.

It is a complete operating system designed to be used from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card independently of the computer’s original operating system.

Tails comes with several built-in applications pre-configured with security in mind: web browser, instant messaging client, email client, office suite, image and sound editor, etc.

If you are interested in giving Tails a try on your current computer without running any risk, please check out our Guide: Running Linux From a USB Drive As a Virtual Machine or Bootable Disk.

What is Tails?

Tails is a portable Linux distribution based on Debian that combines the Tor network, the GNOME desktop and several other tools to offer a secure and anonymous computer experience.

How safe is Tails?

Tails is very safe as long as you do not run it on an infected machine. Tails is designed to run from a USB stick on any computer as a completely independent OS. However, if the host computer is infected with malware such as a keylogger your privacy would be at risk.

How does Tails ensure privacy?

Tails is set up out of the box to run from your computer’s memory and never stores information locally unless you configure it to. This means that every time you shut down Tails, the memory is wiped clean, deleting all traces of your work and every new session starts as a blank slate.

Can I use Tails to circumvent censorship?

Yes, you can use Tails to circumvent internet censorship and browse the web anonymously. All the applications that come with Tails (email, browser, messaging client, office suite) use the Tor network to connect to the internet, so all your activity can be hidden.

Online anonymity and censorship circumvention with Tor

Tails relies on the Tor anonymity network to protect your privacy online:

all software is configured to connect to the Internet through Tor
if an application tries to connect to the Internet directly, the connection is automatically blocked for security.

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location.

Using Tor you can:

be anonymous online by hiding your location
connect to services that would be censored otherwise
resist attacks that block the usage of Tor using circumvention tools such as bridges

What’s New

We are very excited to present you Tails 6.0, the first version of Tails based on Debian 12 (Bookworm) and GNOME 43. Tails 6.0 brings new versions of most of the software included in Tails as well as several important security and usability improvements.

New features

Error detection on the Persistent Storage
Tails 6.0 warns you about errors when reading or writing from your Tails USB stick.
These alerts can help you diagnose hardware failures on your USB stick and backup your Persistent Storage before it’s too late.
Mount external devices automatically
When you plug in an external storage device, a USB stick or an external hard disk, Tails 6.0 mounts it automatically. If the storage device contains an encrypted partition, Tails 6.0 offers you to unlock the encryption automatically.
This feature also simplifies how to unlock VeraCrypt encrypted volumes.

Protection against malicious USB devices

If an attacker manages to plug a malicious USB device in your computer, they could run software that breaks the security built in Tails without your knowledge.
To protect from such attacks while you are away from your computer, Tails 6.0 ignores any USB device that is plugged in while your screen is locked.
You can only use new USB devices if they are plugged in while the screen is unlocked.

Dark Mode and Night Light

From the system menu of Tails 6.0, you can now switch between:
The default light mode with colder colors and more brightness
A dark mode
A night light mode with warmer colors and less brightness
A combination of both the dark mode and night light mode

Easier screenshots and screencasts

GNOME 43 introduces a new shortcut in the system menu that makes it easier to take a screenshot or record a screencast.

Easier Gmail in Thunderbird

Thanks to changes in both Thunderbird and Gmail, it’s much easier to configure a Gmail account in Thunderbird in Tails 6.0.
You don’t have to configure anything special in your Gmail account, other than the usual 2-Step Verification.
You can sign in to your Gmail account directly when configuring it in Thunderbird.

For more details, read our changelog.