Android - Tor Browser cannot connect when Orbot is connected. More details in comments

Tor Browser attemps to start the client but after a while it says circuit died due to an invalid selected path. Also says “Failed to find node for hop #1 of our path. Discarding this circuit.”

If Orbot is disconnected and VPN settings are turned off, the browser connects instantly. When the Tor Browser is attempting over and over to connect, it actually disconnects the Orbot. It claims its connected and even shows the key icon on the top of the android, but under Connect it just stays stuck at Connecting, until i close out Tor Browser. This is clearly some flaw taking place between the two apps.

Even more frustrating, when Tor Browser is closed and Orbot is connected, it constantly shows the Connect tab as Connecting, even though it appears connected by the key icon as well as my notifications saying its connected. I have no way to know if its actually working or not. The last item on the log after 100% bootstrapping says “Warn: Rejecting SOCKS request for anonymous connection to private address [scrubbed].” And oftentimes my connections freeze up on apps and I have to manually click on “Refresh” button on Orbot for things to load up. What’s up with that?

I tried not selecting a single app for the VPN in Orbot, just installing Orbot and click connect VPN, as well as selecting several apps for the VPN, in which case all unselected apps and services will operate unfiltered through TOR? I am also unable to add Tor Browser to the VPN list, obviously because they should be going hand in hand which adds to the confusion of them clashing. Is there a way to force a connection between the two?

I thought Orbot mainly focused on forcing apps to go through Tor via proxies and VPN was optional, ie only if you’re in a position where the governing body or specific apps block tor from being used. But oddly enough Orbot has one button only and that’s to turn on VPN which i find odd, forcing at least one app or all apps to run through the VPN.

Is there a way to run another VPN while using Orbot or does Orbot force its faux VPN as the only option on Android?

I’ve got the same issue.
Also Orbot has been horribly buggy in the past days.

Run orbot as a proxy through adguard. The deselect tor browser as an app that goes through adguard and it’s proxy’s.

Orbot has to run as a VPN on your device in order to route the apps you have chosen through the tor network. It can ONLY route the apps that you add to the “tor enabled apps” list and ONLY when Orbots VPN mode is enabled.

Tor browser is a browser that connects to the tor network by default. You don’t need Orbot to route tor browser through the tor network.

You can run both Orbot and tor browser simultaneously. You can’t run tor browser on Orbot.
You can’t run Orbot on a VPN because Orbot itself needs to run as the VPN in order to function properly. You can run tor browser on a VPN.

I don’t know much about your particular issue I haven’t used orbot for over 5 years when I tried using it I got prompted through endless captcha and ever since then I haven’t tried routing traffic on my Android device through tor. In orbot you do have to select the apps whose traffic you want to route through the tor network also you mentioned using a tor browser for Android thing I believe it’s cause of that it’s not working cause once you are using orbot the traffic is being routed through tor and when you try to use the tor browser with it it wouldn’t work You cannot route your traffic over the Tor network twice since relays will not allow circuits originating from exit relays(refer here for more info on that Exits should block reentry into the tor network (#2667) · Issues · The Tor Project / Core / Tor · GitLab)

Thank you for clarifying those topics. The issue I still have is that if orbot is connected, tor browser cannot connect. I must disconnect orbot as well as turn off the always-on VPN toggle, in order for browser to work. Several apps also do not work on orbot, whether all apps are going through the VPN or whether those apps specifically are chosen. My phone also gives me a notification that it cannot connect to the always-on VPN, although several apps do still work.

If I toggle OFF the “block connections without VPN” under the VPN settings within android, then those blocked apps do work. So somehow orbot cannot successfully run all apps through TOR. Then i must question which apps are leaking and which ones arent, and is there any poing in running orbot if i have to unblock apps that cant run through the VPN?

I thought there was an app called Orwall that specifically allows apps that cannot run through Orbot?

One thing I’m not certain on is, I read that if you don’t select any apps in orbot that it will default to running all apps and services through the VPN, vs if you select apps then only those apps will run in the VPN. That leaves the question, does it make sense to run everything through? You’d be going into sites where your info is personal etc. But then again I suppose if you want to do anything sensitive that you’d disconnect and only enable a single app for whatever task you want legitimate privacy, and that should be enough to anonymize you once again correct? Or does it make more sense to only run apps which you really want to anonymize like browsing and chatting? And wouldn’t an isp be able to see the non-TOR apps going into personal login pages and connect the TOR enabled apps running through the same device and just be able to connect them all together? If running orbot it would seem that you should not login to a single personal item outside of its VPN, unless all apps are running through together?

Gotcha that makes sense. Still several apps in android don’t load with orbot even if selected. Aren’t you supposed to use orwall as well for cases like these? Looks like orwall is discontinued though.

If you run half your apps in orbot and half without it, can isp or anyone else notice that each set of apps is coming from the same source?

If I disconnect orbot but the apps tied to it are closed then does it compromise anything? I’d turn orbot back on before opening those apps again.

I have the same issue with vpn connection only and tor browser dont working. And didn’t find a fix for that.