Tails |Free Download and what is Tails|

Install Tails


You need

1 USB stick

Only for Tails!

8 GB minimum

Windows 7

or later

2 GB of RAM

64-bit

a smartphone

or a printer
to follow the instructions

1 hour in total

1.3 GB to download

½ hour to install

Your steps

Download Tails

Verify your download

Download balenaEtcher

Install Tails using balenaEtcher

Restart on your Tails USB stick

Welcome to Tails!

Download Tails

Download Tails 5.8 USB image ( 1.3 GB )

or download using BitTorrent


You need

1 USB stick

Only for Tails!

8 GB minimum

macOS 10.10

Yosemite
or later

Intel processor

not Apple M1 or M2

a smartphone

or a printer
to follow the instructions

1 hour in total

1.3 GB to download

½ hour to install

Your steps

Download Tails

Verify your download

Install balenaEtcher

Install Tails using balenaEtcher

Restart on your Tails USB stick

Welcome to Tails!

Download Tails

Download Tails 5.8 USB image ( 1.3 GB )


You need

1 USB stick

Only for Tails!

8 GB minimum

Linux

any distribution

2 GB of RAM

64-bit

a smartphone

or a printer
to follow the instructions

1 hour in total

1.3 GB to download

½ hour to install

Your steps

Download Tails

Verify your download

Install Tails using GNOME Disks

Restart on your Tails USB stick

Welcome to Tails!

Download Tails

Download Tails 5.8 USB image ( 1.3 GB )


How Tails works


Tails always starts from the same clean state and everything you do disappears automatically when you shut down Tails.

Without Tails, almost everything you do can leave traces on the computer:

  • Websites that you visited, even in private mode
  • Files that you opened, even if you deleted them
  • Passwords, even if you use a password manager
  • All the devices and Wi-Fi networks that you used

On the contrary, Tails never writes anything to the hard disk and only runs from the memory of the computer. The memory is entirely deleted when you shutdown Tails, erasing all possible traces.

Persistent Storage

You can save some of your files and configuration in an encrypted Persistent Storage on the USB stick: your documents, your browser bookmarks, your emails, and even some additional software.

The Persistent Storage is optional and you always decide what is persistent. Everything else is amnesic.

Digital security toolbox

Tails includes a selection of applications to work on sensitive documents and communicate securely.

All the applications are ready-to-use and are configured with safe defaults to prevent mistakes.

Tails includes:

  • Tor Browser with uBlock, a secure browser and an ad-blocker
  • Thunderbird, for encrypted emails
  • KeePassXC, to create and store strong passwords
  • LibreOffice, an office suite
  • OnionShare, to share files over Tor
  • Metadata Cleaner, to remove metadata from files
  • and many more!

To prevent mistakes:

  • Applications are blocked automatically if they try to connect to the Internet without Tor.
  • Everything in the Persistent Storage is encrypted automatically.
  • Tails does not write anything to the hard disk. All the memory is deleted when shutting down.

Tor for everything

Everything you do on the Internet from Tails goes through the Tor network. Tor encrypts and anonymizes your connection by passing it through 3 relaysRelays are servers operated by different people and organizations around the world.

A single relay never knows both where the encrypted connection is coming from and where it is going to:

  • The 1st relay only knows where you are coming from but not where you are going to.
  • This 3rd relay only knows where you are going to but not where you are coming from.
  • The connection to the final destination is encrypted whenever possible to prevent the 3rd relay from reading its content.

This way, Tor is secure by design even if a few relays are malicious.

Tor has more than 6 000 relays. Organizations running Tor relays include universities like the MIT, activist groups like Riseup, nonprofits like Derechos Digitales, Internet hosting companies like Private Internet Access, etc. The huge diversity of people and organizations running Tor relays makes it more secure and more sustainable.

Avoid online surveillance and censorship

Tor prevents someone watching your Internet connection from learning what you are doing on the Internet.

You can avoid censorship because it is impossible for a censor to know which websites you are visiting.

If connecting to Tor is blocked or dangerous to use from where you are, for example in some countries with heavy censorship, you can use bridges to hide that you are connected to the Tor network.

 

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