Tails 5.8 is the most important release of Tails in years. It includes both major redesign of existing features, important usability improvements, and hardened security.

This work has been made possible by donations from users like you. If you like these changes and want more, donate now to fund our work in 2023.

Donate now to fund our work in 2023.

New features

New Persistent Storage

After 2 years of hard work, we are extremelly proud to present you a complete redesign of the Persistent Storage.

The Persistent Storage hasn't changed much since its first release in 2012 because the code was hard to modify and improve. But, we learned from users that the Persistent Storage could do a lot more for you if it had more features and was easier to use.

• You don't have to restart anymore after creating the Persistent Storage or each time you activate a new feature.

• You can change the password of your Persistent Storage from this new application.

• You can choose to create a Persistent Storage directly from the Welcome Screen, if you don't have one already.

  

Wayland and better Unsafe Browser

We replaced the deprecated X.Org display system with Wayland.

Even if you won't notice any visual difference, Wayland brings more security in depth to Tails by making it harder for a compromised application in Tails to compromise or misuse another application.

For example, since Tails 4.8, the Unsafe Browser was disabled by default because a security vulnerability in another application in Tails could start an invisible Unsafe Browser , reveal your IP address, and deanonymize you.

Wayland fixes this vulnerability and makes it safe to reenable the Unsafe Browser by default. You can still disable the Unsafe Browser in the Welcome Screen.

Wayland also brings in other features that were not working yet in the Unsafe Browser :

• Sound
• Uploads and downloads
• Alternative input methods for Chinese and other non-Latin languages
• Accessibility features like the screen reader and virtual keyboard

QR code scanning of Tor bridges

We made it easier to enter new Tor bridges in Tails by scanning a QR code.

To get a QR code, you can either:

• Send an empty email to bridges@torproject.org from a Gmail or Riseup email address.

• Get bridges from https://bridges.torproject.org/ and print the QR code on paper.

We are aware that the QR codes that are currently provided are too big to be easy to scan. We are working with Tor to make them smaller and easier to scan.

Changes and updates

• Update Tor Browser to 12.0.1.

• Update Thunderbird to 102.6.0.

• Update Tor to 0.4.7.12.

Fixed problems

We fixed 3 usability issues in the Tor Connection assistant:

• Display a percentage on the connection progress bar. (#19208)

  

• Fix links to documentation. (#19172)

• Add a Bridge label in front of the line to enter a custom bridge. (#19169)

For more details, read our changelog.

Known issues

• The switches that turn on and off the different features of the Persistent Storage are very slow to respond on some USB sticks. Please report on #19291 if this happens to you.

• The top of the Welcome Screen is cut out on small displays (800×600), like virtual machines. (#19324)

You can press Alt+S to start Tails.

• When using a custom Tor obfs4 bridge, the progress bar of Tor Connection sometimes gets stuck halfway through and becomes extremelly slow. (#19173)

To fix this, you can either:

* Close and reopen _Tor Connection_ to speed up the initial connection.

* Try a different `obfs4` bridge.

This issue only affects outdated obfs4 bridges and does not happen with obfs4 bridges that run version 0.0.12 or later.

See the list of long-standing issues.

Get Tails 5.8

To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage

• Automatic upgrades are available from Tails 5.0 or later to 5.8.

You can reduce the size of the download of future automatic upgrades by doing a manual upgrade to the latest version.

• If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.

To install Tails on a new USB stick

Follow our installation instructions:

• Install from Windows
• Install from macOS
• Install from Linux
• Install from Debian or Ubuntu using the command line and GnuPG

The Persistent Storage on the USB stick will be lost if you install instead of upgrading.

To download only

If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can download Tails 5.8 directly:

• For USB sticks (USB image)
• For DVDs and virtual machines (ISO image)

Support and feedback

For support and feedback, visit the Support section on the Tails website.