The Tails project has announced the release of Tails 7.1, a new version of the privacy-focused Linux distribution that routes all internet connections through Tor.
One of the most noticeable changes in this release is that Tor Browser now opens with a new offline home page. It looks and feels similar to the standard Tor Browser start page, but no longer loads anything from Tails’ website. This change helps reduce unnecessary network traffic and keeps the browsing session more isolated.
Tails 7.1 also now displays a clearer message when administrative privileges are required, especially when no administrative password was set during the Welcome Screen. It’s a small usability improvement, but one that prevents confusion for less technical users.
Under the hood, several key components have been refreshed. Tor Browser has been updated to version 14.5.8, the Tor client to 0.4.8.19, and Thunderbird to 140.3. The old ifupdown package has been removed, which aligns Tails more closely with modern Debian networking practices.
Finally, this update also fixes a minor annoyance that some users might have noticed—the “Your connection to Tor is not being managed by Tor Browser” message no longer appears when opening a new tab.
For those already running Tails 7.0 or later, automatic upgrades to 7.1 are available. However, if the upgrade fails or Tails doesn’t start correctly afterward, the project recommends performing a manual upgrade using their documented method.
For full technical details, refer to the changelog or the release announcement.
