Hi, I am currently using Orbot for I.P masking and am wondering if I lose anything by switching to a trustworthy VPN.

I am currently forced to use Whatsapp, which I detest (so please don't tell me to use signal without addressing my question).

I am using Whatsapp in a seperate profile with Orbot to prevent it from obtaining my I.P address. However, I can't seem to make video calls over Orbot. As I suspect that this is due to the slow speeds of Tor I am considering switching to a fast VPN.

From my research and own understanding, Orbot and a VPN would give me the same level of privacy when using Whatsapp. However, does anyone here know if there is a loss of privacy if I switch to a VPN? Advice would be greatly appreciated.

It is ok to use WhatsApp.
WhatsApp video calls are end-to-end encrypted, so using Orbot or a VPN doesn't actually make sense.

    Hulk I'm not trying to prevent anyone from seeing the messages or content I send over Whatsapp. I understand that e2e will protect me against this. I am trying to prevent Whatsapp from obtaining an identifier (I.P address) from me. Do you not think that I.P masking has any value?

      hight latency and dropped packets can effectively disable video calls over tor. try setting the orbot exit node to the country of the recipient (callee). you lose some anonymity for a potential increase in stability.

        tmp Thank you. I hadn't even thought of that.

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        Dr-M I don't think that Whatsapp + orbot is a good deal. Whatsapp has not been designed for being anonymous. It's a tool used for messaging with people who already knows you like your family and your friends.

        It could be due to WhatsApp using UDP for it, which you can't send over Tor.

          flawedworld Thank you. I've just tested it and I think you're right. Video calls and VoIP works with Signal (which uses TCP and UDP) over tor but Whatsapp (which uses UDP) doesn't. Do you know if I am going to gain any extra privacy with tor vs a VPN here? The only thing that I believe tor is doing for my use case is hiding my IP address. Is there some other benefit that I'm overlooking?