Ghost — Onion Search
Tor onion search aggregator. Privacy-first, RAM-only, no tracking.
New in version 4.0.1
Fixes from external protocol review: queries with spaces or non-ASCII characters no longer get double-encoded before reaching engines; truncated engine responses now surface as errors instead of partial results; 307/308 redirects preserve POST same-origin and are rejected cross-host when carrying a request body.
Ghost is a privacy-first Tor onion search aggregator for Android. It queries 13 public onion search engines in parallel, deduplicates and ranks the results, and opens links externally in Tor Browser.
KEY FEATURES
• 13 onion search engines queried in parallel
• RAM-only session — no queries, results, or history written to disk
• Three purge triggers: panic wipe, screen lock, app exit
• VPN gate — non-dismissible, blocks queries unless Orbot VPN is active
• Tor SOCKS5 transport with remote DNS via Tor
• FLAG_SECURE — blocks screenshots and recents thumbnails
• No backend, no telemetry, no accounts, no ads
• Stop button to cancel running searches
• Consent gate with 18+ verification, shown every session
• External link handoff to Tor Browser
PRIVACY
No data collected, stored, or transmitted to any server. Queries and results exist only in RAM during the active session. Only three non-sensitive preferences persist across sessions: engine selection, snippet filter, VPN requirement.
The app never renders remote HTML. Links open externally in Tor Browser via intent. Screenshots and recent-app previews are blocked.
REQUIREMENTS
• Android 7.0+ (API 24)
• Orbot in VPN mode (for Tor transport)
• Tor Browser for Android (for opening result links)
HOW IT WORKS
1. Enter a search query
2. Ghost queries 13 onion search engines in parallel via Tor
3. Results are parsed, deduplicated, and ranked
4. Tap any result to open it in Tor Browser
5. When you lock the screen, exit the app, or hit panic — all session data is wiped from RAM
WHO IS THIS FOR
Ghost is built for researchers, journalists, and people who need access to information in restrictive environments. It is a tool for legitimate open-source intelligence (OSINT), investigative journalism, academic study, and censorship circumvention. The app is designed for adults who take personal responsibility for their research activities.
The developer maintains a portfolio of OSINT and security research tools. Ghost is the mobile extension of this research toolchain.
USE CASES
• Journalism and investigative research in restrictive environments
• Security research and OSINT analysis
• Academic study of onion services and censorship circumvention
• Access to information in regions with restricted internet
• Privacy education and digital rights research
OPEN SOURCE
MIT licensed. Source code available for independent security audit:
https://github.com/sookoothaii/digital-spyglass-android
The developer's other OSINT research projects are publicly available at:
https://github.com/sookoothaii
DISCLAIMER
This is a research tool. Search results come from public onion search engines and are not filtered. The app does not host, produce, or endorse any content. Users are responsible for complying with their local laws.
The developer is not affiliated with The Tor Project and does not operate any Tor infrastructure.
KEY FEATURES
• 13 onion search engines queried in parallel
• RAM-only session — no queries, results, or history written to disk
• Three purge triggers: panic wipe, screen lock, app exit
• VPN gate — non-dismissible, blocks queries unless Orbot VPN is active
• Tor SOCKS5 transport with remote DNS via Tor
• FLAG_SECURE — blocks screenshots and recents thumbnails
• No backend, no telemetry, no accounts, no ads
• Stop button to cancel running searches
• Consent gate with 18+ verification, shown every session
• External link handoff to Tor Browser
PRIVACY
No data collected, stored, or transmitted to any server. Queries and results exist only in RAM during the active session. Only three non-sensitive preferences persist across sessions: engine selection, snippet filter, VPN requirement.
The app never renders remote HTML. Links open externally in Tor Browser via intent. Screenshots and recent-app previews are blocked.
REQUIREMENTS
• Android 7.0+ (API 24)
• Orbot in VPN mode (for Tor transport)
• Tor Browser for Android (for opening result links)
HOW IT WORKS
1. Enter a search query
2. Ghost queries 13 onion search engines in parallel via Tor
3. Results are parsed, deduplicated, and ranked
4. Tap any result to open it in Tor Browser
5. When you lock the screen, exit the app, or hit panic — all session data is wiped from RAM
WHO IS THIS FOR
Ghost is built for researchers, journalists, and people who need access to information in restrictive environments. It is a tool for legitimate open-source intelligence (OSINT), investigative journalism, academic study, and censorship circumvention. The app is designed for adults who take personal responsibility for their research activities.
The developer maintains a portfolio of OSINT and security research tools. Ghost is the mobile extension of this research toolchain.
USE CASES
• Journalism and investigative research in restrictive environments
• Security research and OSINT analysis
• Academic study of onion services and censorship circumvention
• Access to information in regions with restricted internet
• Privacy education and digital rights research
OPEN SOURCE
MIT licensed. Source code available for independent security audit:
https://github.com/sookoothaii/digital-spyglass-android
The developer's other OSINT research projects are publicly available at:
https://github.com/sookoothaii
DISCLAIMER
This is a research tool. Search results come from public onion search engines and are not filtered. The app does not host, produce, or endorse any content. Users are responsible for complying with their local laws.
The developer is not affiliated with The Tor Project and does not operate any Tor infrastructure.
- Author: Joerg Bollwahn
- License: GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
- Issue Tracker
- Source Code
- Changelog
- Build Metadata
- Reproducibility Status
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Versions
Although APK downloads are available below to give you the choice, you should be aware that by installing that way you will not receive update notifications and it's a less secure way to download. We recommend that you install the F-Droid client and use that.
Download F-Droid-
This version requires Android 7.0 or newer.
It is built and signed by the original developer, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.
Download APK 1.8 MiB PGP Signature | Build Log
-
This version requires Android 7.0 or newer.
It is built and signed by the original developer, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.
Download APK 1.8 MiB PGP Signature | Build Log
New in version 3.0.0
v3.0.0
• Trust-weighted Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF k=10) + quality filter modifier
• Per-engine query contracts (length, term count, boolean/quote normalization)
• Fast 5 mode (5 Core + Reinforcement engines, ~60% lower search latency)
• RAM-only cross-domain entity correlation and CSV/STIX 2.1 export
• Fix chunked keep-alive socket reads (TorDex) and UTF-8 response decoding
• Ahmia MD5 hash blacklist support and updated Torch endpoint
• Trust-weighted Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF k=10) + quality filter modifier
• Per-engine query contracts (length, term count, boolean/quote normalization)
• Fast 5 mode (5 Core + Reinforcement engines, ~60% lower search latency)
• RAM-only cross-domain entity correlation and CSV/STIX 2.1 export
• Fix chunked keep-alive socket reads (TorDex) and UTF-8 response decoding
• Ahmia MD5 hash blacklist support and updated Torch endpoint