How to update GrapheneOS through Tor

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Can GrapheneOS be updated covertly without installing a VPN application, so GrapheneOS can be updated via the Tor network? Must the connection configuration be inserted inside Settings?

fid02

deleted Can GrapheneOS be updated covertly without installing a VPN application, so GrapheneOS can be updated via the Tor network?

A device running GrapheneOS can update the system just fine when connected to the Tor network. But there is no built-in OS support for routing all connections through Tor. If you don't want to install an app that uses the VPN slot, I imagine you would have to do this on a network level (force all network connections through Tor).

I'm not sure what would count as 'covertly' in this regard, as I don't know what or whom you are trying to defend against. But GrapheneOS at least does not block updates that are made through the Tor network.

GlytchMeister

From what know, which is admittedly not much, GOS cannot recommend the Tor browser in general due to the Gecko engine's security shortcomings.

Their usage guide says Tor is kinda the only way to even get close to true anonymity online, but even then, that's really, really shaky.

You can certainly try to get their web installer working on Tor, but I doubt it will.
I had to use Brave, it wouldn't even work on Edge in my specific case.

You might be able to use a recommended browser for installing GOS and route traffic through the Tor network. I think I saw a Tor or Onion-related button on Brave on my laptop the other day, so maybe Brave has some Tor integration?

I know literally nothing about the other main installation methods, tho.

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GlytchMeister Can connection configuration be inserted inside the GrapheneOS Settings application to update GrapheneOS through the Tor network, without a third party application or an external computer?

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fid02 Will GrapheneOS team add feature to update through the Tor network natively? Can a VPN profile be manually configured to connect to Tor network inside Settings without installing a VPN application? Some users say to keep owner profile empty of third party applications.

GlytchMeister

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Not that I know of. Graphene has native support for 3rd party VPN apps, and I think there's something called Orbot that can use that VPN "slot" to route traffic through Tor(???) but that's still a 3rd party.

Then again, so is Tor. And so is every independent Tor node.

Graphene OS is just the Phone OS. GOS devs have to be super super careful and picky about what changes they make to AOSP and what things they add atop AOSP because they gotta keep it all up to date with AOSP, and they gotta do that really fast. So implementing a Tor... Uh... Thingy inside the OS itself is, if not wholly "out of scope," is at least the kind of add-on that would involve a whole lot of work to accomplish something that at best would have highly suspect and unreliable advantages and reliability of security and privacy.

Tor isn't the magic bullet a lot of folks think it is. It's deeply flawed in ways ICM definitely not qualified to teach about, let alone even speak intelligently about. All I know is it's too much work for not enough benefit where my threat profile is concerned. I recognize that may be different for you, of course. But with Tor being the state that it's in, I can see why GOS isn't putting the man-hours into creating native OS-level support for Tor.